Pat Cummins led the Aussies’ second innings charge with a five-wicket haul resulting in the visitors only taking an 18-run lead, which Australia chased down in 3.2 overs. Pat Cummins‘ five-wicket haul capped Australia’s dominance in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval as they leveled the series on the third afternoon with a statement win.
Pat Cummins led from the front with a five-wicket haul as Australia flattened India in Adelaide to level the series 1-1 with a 10-wicket win. Pat Cummins claimed his 13th Test five-wicket haul as Australia bundled out India for just 175 early on Day 3. Australia needed just 19 runs to win the match and they managed to do it comfortably without losing any wicket and levelled series 1-1.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : Over the last few days, a lot of grass has been taken off. There’s still a fair amount of grass there – 6mm of grass – which will mean the new ball bowlers will have plenty of help at the start while the ball is hard and new. Adelaide pitches have been known to be very good for batting. It could actually seam around quite a lot. Pretty good batting conditions for day one and two. Bowlers then start to own in the back end of the sessions on day two and then averages go down reckons Sunil Gavaskar and Matthew Hayden.
Toss : Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat with three changes in the playing XI replacing Washington Sundar with Ravichandran Ashwin , the skipper himself in place of Dhruv Jurel and Shubman Gill in place of Devdutt Padikkal. Australian skipper Pat Cummins who already has announced his playing XI a day earlier made one change bringing in Scott Boland for Josh Hazlewood.
Day 1 : Mitchell Starc’s 6-fer headlines Australia’s dominant start in Adelaide
Mitchell Starc got his fourth five-wicket haul in D/N Tests and his 15th overall in Test cricket as Australia bowled India out for 180 on the first day in Adelaide. Australia continued to boss proceedings with the bat, albeit defensively as they erased 85 from the deficit.
With the first ball of the match, Starc had Yashasvi Jaiswal, the centurion from the first Test, playing around a full ball and being trapped LBW. It gave an underfire Australia the perfect start on their comeback trail and ought to have sowed doubts in India’s mind about batting first.
KL Rahul, got a reprieve, when he was adjudged caught behind off Scott Boland’s first ball but was asked to come back because the pacer had overstepped. Usman Khawaja also put him down in the same over at first slip. With those reprieves, and a fluent Shubman Gill at the other end, India managed to pull their way back into the game. Gill, playing his first Test of the series, showed little signs of any rustiness as he cashed in on Starc’s attacking lengths to pick up some eye-catching boundaries. After getting off the mark only off he 24th ball he faced, Rahul too began to get his eye in.
The duo put India in a position of relative comfort with a 69-run stand. But against the run of play, Australia regained control in the last half hour of the opening session. All of Australia’s pacers had stamped their presence with Cummins being the most miserly. But it was Starc, coming back for his second spell, that did the damage again. He had Rahul caught low at gully by Nathan McSweeney and a tentative Virat Kohli poking out and edging to second slip.
But the cherry on top was Boland, who got the better of Gill. The batter had countered Boland’s off-stump channel probes with a different trigger movement that allowed him to cover his offstump more and leave well. But it also exposed him to the full ball, which Boland finally deployed toward the end of the session and trapped Gill leg before. Losing three wickets in the space of fifteen balls left India down in the doldrums at the interval and kept going downhill thereafter.
Skipper Rohit Sharma, now coming in at No. 6, was done in by a sharp incoming delivery from Boland while Cummins got a solid-looking Rishabh Pant with a snorter of a short ball. Starc came back to claim his five-fer yorking both R Ashwin and Harshit Rana in the same over.
With the tail for company, Nitish Reddy picked out a few shots from the T20 playbook including an audacious reverse-scooped six off Boland. He was the last man dismissed for an innings-topping 42, trying to hit out against Starc, who finished with career-best figures of 6/48.
Australia came out to bat under tricky conditions with the light just taking effect, and typically a good time for seamers. Although India managed appreciably more movement in the first ten overs as compared to Australia, it however did not result in wickets.
Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney, who was more watchful, ground the opening spell out particularly against the Jasprit Bumrah threat largely. However, a change in angle to round the wicket finally got the better of Khawaja who ended up nicking to first slip. Bumrah could have had McSweeney too in similar fashion earlier, if not for Pant diving and dropping a catch that appeared to be heading to first slip.
Nevertheless, the opener was joined by a dogged Marnus Labuschagne, who took 18 balls to get off the mark. The duo stuck to their guns to see the day through, earning Australia the first day’s honours.
Day 2 : Travis Head, pacers put Australia in command on Day 2
Travis Head proved to be a thorn in India’s flesh yet again as he smashed a 141-ball 140 that gave Australia a first innings lead of 157. And to further wrest control, their pacers bagged five wickets under the lights as India slipped up ending the day trailing by 29.
As Pat Cummins, Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc made the pink ball hoop around and rip through India’s top order for the second time in the game, they only underlined Australia’s dominance right through which had been led by Head through the day. By the time Mohammad Siraj bowled Head off the second new ball, the left-hander had done more than enough to dent India’s confidence.
The second session saw Head press the accelerator against a tiring attack with an older ball. The time was ripe to cash in and Head did so with elan, smashing Harshit Rana threw the offside before registering a hundred off only 111 balls – the quickest-ever in a day-night Test as he powered Australia’s lead at a rapid pace.
Even against the second new ball which was India’s biggest weapon, he started off whipping and clipping Bumrah and Siraj as they missed their lines for crucial boundaries. India had a brief injury scare during this period when Bumrah was down clutching his groin but went on to bowl again. But the wicket finally came to Siraj who yorked Head and followed it up with an exchange of words with the batter.
It brought an end to a frustrating period of play for India where they were made to toil for every wicket. R Ashwin who had been their best bowler through that period despite being hit for a couple of sixes by Head had got Mitchell Marsh caught behind and saw Head being put down on 76 by Siraj.
But it was amid Head stepping it up in the company of Alex Carey (15) where they put on 74 off just 80 balls before the latter was out caught behind. The lead swelled past 150 before Siraj wrapped up the tail early into the third session leaving India with the toughest conditions to bat in a day-night Test.
KL Rahul was the first to go being surprised by a short ball from Cummins and pulling it to the ‘keeper. Yashasvi Jaiswal started confidently until he nicked behind the first ball from Boland, who proceeded to nick off Virat Kohli too soon after. Starc added salt to the wounds getting a ripping incoming delivery to flatten Gill’s middle stump.
Rohit Sharma had a torrid stay in the middle being hit on the helmet first ball and surviving an LBW call as Starc overstepped. But even as he stuck on amidst Rishabh Pant’s adventurous strokeplay at the other end, Cummins got one to sneak around his defence to hit the top of off.
At 105/5, Australia’s control over the game was as comprehensive as could be and ensured that the hard work done in a testing first session was not undone. Then, Marnus Labuschagne put away some indifferent form to fight his way to a half-century on a ground where he averages over 70. His partnership worth 65 with Travis Head for the fourth wicket helped them offset two early strikes by Bumrah.
India’s morning session was given a boost when Bumrah had Nathan McSweeney caught behind with a ball nipping away and soon after also had Steven Smith caught down the legside, putting Australia in a spot of bother at 103/3. Head was tested early with the round-the-wicket angle by both Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, but managed to see it through. Along with Labuschagne, he saw through that spell to cash in later. Harshit Rana was hit for four fours in an over as Australia cruised ahead after seeing past the initial threat.
But against the run of play, Labuschagne ended up cutting a delivery from Nitish Reddy to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully. But his departure on 68 did not dent Australia much as Head marched on, getting to his fifth Test fifty against India and second on the trot in the series. It also ensured that Australia took the lead in the first session.
India had a close LBW call against Mitchell Marsh turned down on review with the third umpire controversially deeming that there was no conclusive evidence if Ashwin’s ball had struck the pad or bat first. More replays shown by the broadcaster were indicative of the ball striking pad first but India ended up losing the review, capping off a frustrating morning session which was only exacerbated subsequently through the day.
Day 3 :Â Pat Cummins takes five as Australia draw level with crushing win by 10 wickets
Pat Cummins led from the front with a five-wicket haul as Australia flattened India in Adelaide to level the series 1-1 with a 10-wicket win. India started the day trailing by 29 with five wickets in hand and were pushed on the backfoot straightaway as Mitchell Starc had Rishabh Pant nicking to second slip with a peach of a delivery.
The onus was on Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy at the start of the third day to stitch together a partnership to give India a slight chance of mounting a comeback into the contest. But Starc managed to shut down all hopes after Starc got rid of Rishabh Pant in his first over of the day.
The Indian lower-order was then subjected to short-ball barrage by Pat Cummins in particular. R Ashwin managed to get on top of the bounce once but was soon forced to glove it down to the wicketkeeper.
Nitish Reddy was left to farm the strike with the tail for company and trickled along but it was not long before Cummins had Harshit Rana fending at an awkward short ball and ballooning it to the offside. With eight having fallen now and Jasprit Bumrah for company, Reddy took a few chances and one such slog over mid on off Boland pushed India into the lead.
Pat Cummins followed up on his brilliant performance from the previous day as he picked up the tail-enders in quick time. Reddy looked to put up some fight with some of his aggressive strokes to get some quick runs, but Pat Cummins had his man as the young all-rounder missed out on his maiden Test fifty.
He proceeded to hook Pat Cummins for a six again but the skipper had the last laugh. He pounded the short length again and had Reddy ramping it straight into the hands of the fly slip in place in the deep. The crowds were vocal when Siraj came into bat and the Aussies followed the sentiment with a barrage of short balls. Despite an odd boundary, Boland got the final wicket as India only managed an 18-run lead.
It gave Pat Cummins his 12th five-wicket haul in Tests and put his team on the brink of leveling the series. Mohammad Siraj, welcomed by loud boos across the ground after his war of words with Travis Head, was put down first ball by Alex Carey. But that luck did not last long as he ended up slogging Boland and skying a catch to Head at midwicket leaving Australia a target of just 19.
Australia’s batters made quick work of the chase with Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney chasing down the target in under four overs to level the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, 1-1. The openers knocked off the target without any hiccups marking Australia’s dominance in day-night Tests as they won their 12th out of 13 games.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Pat Cummins the winning skipper said : Great week, knew we were far away from the team we want to be in Perth. This is back to how we want to play. (On his personal form) I was happy, wasn’t too upset with how I bowled in Perth, felt really good this week and good to get a few wickets. Amazing, never that much noise within the group, we know what a good unit we are. Having someone like Starc, he’s amazing, just does it time and time again.
He’s done it for over a decade now. Feel very lucky and privileged to have him in our team. (On Head) He loves batting here, again one of those momentum-shifts, the game could have gone either way when he walked out to bat but he took it straight out of their hands. The main thing was the lead, just happened that it was a pretty good time to bowl as well. seems to do a little bit more under lights.
But the big thing was getting a big lead. Scotty just fitted in straightaway like as he does. Feels so lucky to have someone like him, he probes with every ball. Hopefully Josh’s back next week but Scotty is unbelievable. (On Lyon bowling just 1 over in the Test) He’ll jump in the ice bath, he’s had a big week.
Rohit Sharma the losing skipper said : Disappointing week for us, we didn’t play well enough to win the game and Australia played better than us. There were times in the game where we could have grabbed those opportunities but we failed to do that and that cost us the game. What we did in Perth was very special, we wanted to come out here and do that again but every Test match has its own challenge.
We knew it was going to be challenging with the pink ball. Like I said, Australia was better than us. We are quite looking forward to it (Gabba Test), there’s not much time in between as well. We want to go out there and think about what we did right in Perth and what we did last time when we were here. Some really good memories there, hopefully we understand the challenges of every Test match. We want to start well and play well.
Travis Head Player of the match for his whirlwind 140 runs said : Â Nice to get some runs again. I felt like I moved well last week, I felt like I am in good form. It’s a good dressing room to be in, it’s a tight one, most people might suggest otherwise. Putting a good performance in, nothing was ever guaranteed, nice momentum and now we have to move on with it.
It wasn’t talked about (to bowl in the final session on day two), Pat gives me great confidence. I can see the game and play the game how I want to see it. I felt like there was a good opportunity with that second new ball. Tried to get as many as we could get and put them under pressure.
It was a hot couple of days. Felt like the new ball was going to be tough work. Nice that it was able to come off. I picked the moments really well throughout the innings and we were able to get the ball rolling. (Century celebration) Did it with Miller as well, nice to have them (family) here and it’s been a nice week.
Pat Cummins’ five-wicket haul capped Australia’s dominance in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval as they leveled the series on the third afternoon with a statement win. The end was nigh for India when Mitchell Starc struck in the first over of the day with a perfectly pitched delivery to have Rishabh Pant nicking behind for his overnight score of 28. India folded for 175, a little over an hour into the first session. Needing 19, Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney knocked off the runs within four overs.
India were in danger of conceding an innings win when Cummins was banging one bouncer after another. R Ashwin, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy all fell to short balls from the Australia captain. Much to the delight of the Adelaide crowd, their hero Travis Head pulled off a tumbling catch to dismiss No. 11 Mohammed Siraj, who had become public enemy No. 1 after giving Head a send-off on day two. Australia, though, didn’t need Head with the bat in their second innings as Khawaja and McSweeney applied the finishing touches for them.
Australia’s 295-run drubbing in Perth drew some hot takes, which surprised some of their players, but they produced a near-perfect response in Adelaide to achieve parity and set things up beautifully for the rest of the series.
Pat Cummins, who didn’t look sharp enough with the ball in the first Test, was back to his best in the second. After having hit the top of Rohit’s off stump with the pink new ball under lights on Saturday, Pat Cummins dragged his lengths further back with the older ball, which wasn’t swinging or seaming as much under natural light. He had Ashwin gloving behind and Rana popping up a catch to gully with a nastier bouncer.
Reddy stood up to Pat Cummins and hooked a throat-high lifter over square leg for six, despite two men out on the leg-side boundary. But when Pat Cummins angled one across him from around the wicket next ball, Reddy ramped it straight to fine third.
Reddy finished with 42 off 47 balls – it was the third time in four innings that he had top-scored for India in his maiden Test series. The hosts ended up facing only 81 overs across both innings, which contributed to the shortest pink-ball Test in Australia and also the shortest between the two teams.
The Adelaide crowd of 33,184 had more reasons to cheer about when their adopted son McSweeney creamed a brace of fours in the slim chase and then when their favorite son Head bagged the Player-of-the-Match award.
Commanding win from Australia. They were under severe pressure coming into this Test with some even calling this game a era-defining one for this current generation of cricketers. And boy have they responded in style or what. They were asked to bowl first after losing the toss and Mitchell Starc got them off to a dream start by getting Jaiswal LBW first-ball of the game and from there they never looked back. India were bowled out for 180 as Starc took a 6-fer.
And then batting in the difficult twilight period in the evening, McSweeney and Marnus weathered the conditions and ensured Australia were just one-down when stumps were called. Day 2 began in bright sunshine and even though India took early wickets, the local boy – Travis Head made a blistering 140 to wow the packed Adelaide crowd on a Saturday.
He got help from Marnus who was battling for his place ahead of the game. He batted as well as he ever has before a fine catch by Jaiswal sent him back. The innings from Head helped Australia gain a healthy lead of 157.
Then bowling in the twilight period under the pink ball, Australia all but sealed the game with five wickets as once again the Indian batting crumbled. The rest of the formalities were completed today as they won with 10 wickets chasing down 19. A few Aussies are signing autographs and posing for photographs with the fans as we wait for the presentation.
Nice to see Siraj and Head shake hands in a friendly manner and do a mini-hug when the players went through their customary handshakes after the game. Hope that send-off from Siraj to Head does not overshadow a fine Test. Australia have made a statement of sorts after receiving a hammering at Perth. The series is set up beautifully now. India now will have to search for answers as there is not a big gap before the next Test in Brisbane. That starts on Saturday (14th) of this month. Expect another bouncy, spicy pitch there.
Both teams will now shift their focus to the third Test that is set to take place at the Gabba. India has a lot to look at going into the next game. Questions will be asked of both the batting and bowling units as they look to bounce back with a better performance to take the lead once again. With the WTC Final at stake, India will be keen on bouncing back with a win.