Agency
New delhi, Dec 6
Mitchell Starc’s sizzling spell with the pink ball headlined the opening day of the day-night Test in Adelaide as Australia responded to their 295-run drubbing in Perth by dismissing India for 180.
Jasprit Bumrah then got rid of Usman Khawaja in the twilight but the under-pressure Marnus Labuschagne and rookie opener Nathan McSweeney navigated a tricky passage of play to guide Australia to stumps without any further damage. Their unbroken 62-run partnership helped Australia cut their deficit to under 100 and ensured that the first day in Adelaide belonged to them.
The first ball from Starc was a portent for what was to follow. He struck in the first over of each of his three spells, asserting his supremacy in pink-ball Tests. He came away with career-best Test figures of 6 for 48, which extended his pink-ball tally in Australia to 72. It is twice as many as Pat Cummins (36) has taken and 29 more than what Nathan Lyon, Starc’s closest contender in pink-ball Test cricket in the country, has managed.
It all started with that first ball to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had told Starc that he was “coming on too slow” in Perth. On Friday in Adelaide, Starc let rip a full, fast inswinger that swerved late and thudded into his front pad. It was so plumb that Jaiswal didn’t even bother to review. Starc roared at the departing Jaiswal and had over 36,000 spectators – the biggest crowd for an India-Australia Test in Adelaide – roaring with him. Shubman Gill, who returned to India’s Test XI after missing the Perth Test with a hand injury, and KL Rahul then briefly settled India’s innings with a 69-run stand for the second wicket. Gill showed little signs of rust and laid into drives whenever Australia’s quicks veered away from their lengths and the stumps.
At the other end, Rahul was more circumspect, playing out Cummins for three maidens. He then lost his patience and fended at Scott Boland’s first ball, which reared up to threaten the shoulder of his bat.
Rahul walked off, thinking he had nicked it behind but a front-foot no-ball from Boland earned him a reprieve. There was nothing on the Snicko either. Five balls later, Boland hit Rahul’s outside edge but Khawaja grassed the chance at first slip.
Rahul’s luck, however, ran out when Starc returned for his second spell and struck with his fourth ball. He extracted extra bounce and had Rahul edging it to gully for 37 off 64 balls. In his next over, Starc took out Virat Kohli for seven off eight balls with a similar prancing delivery. Soon after, Boland nipped one into Gill’s pads as India lost 3 for 12 in a chaotic 15-minute period before the dinner break.
India’s slump continued after resumption, with Boland pinning Rohit Sharma’s pads this time. Playing in his first Test match in over a year, in place of the injured Josh Hazlewood, Boland kept it on a good length, or just back of it, and kept gleaning seam movement. Rohit, who had slid down the order to No. 6 to accommodate Rahul at the top alongside Jaiswal, fell for 3 off 23 balls.
Cummins then joined the fun when he bounced Rishabh Pant out, with a back-of-a-length delivery that kicked up at his ribs, for 21 off 35 balls. It meant so much to Cummins that he celebrated it with a big roar. The Australia captain had looked underdone in Perth and wasn’t sharp enough with the new ball on Friday, but redeemed himself with the big scalp of Pant. Despite wickets falling at the other end, Nitish Kumar Reddy remained unfazed and rolled out the big hits. When Starc pitched one too full, Reddy audaciously drilled him over extra-cover for six and in the next over he lined up Boland for a sequence of 6,4,6.
The first six was jaw-dropping reverse-swat over the slip cordon, which cleared one of the biggest boundaries of the ground at deep third. It even put a smile on Bumrah’s face, but the joy was short-lived as Starc combined with Cummins to wrap up India’s innings.
After having top-scored for India in his debut innings in Perth, Reddy did the same in the first innings in Adelaide, finishing with 42 off 54 balls, including three fours and a six. Reddy was the last Indian batter to be dismissed, with Starc having him hole out to mid-off.
R Ashwin, who was picked ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, looked good during his run-a-ball 22 before Starc made him look silly with an inch-perfect inswinging yorker with a 39-over old ball. The blow to his foot kept him off the field for the start of Australia’s innings, but India’s team management must have been relieved when he bowled the penultimate over of the day without any apparent discomfort. Bumrah was potent with the new ball and produced India’s only breakthrough on the day when he went around the wicket and had Khawaja jabbing behind with a beauty for 13 off 35 balls. India also had a chance to dislodge McSweeney cheaply when Bumrah found his outside edge as well, but a diving Pant shelled it. Rohit, at first slip, couldn’t grab it on the rebound either, with the ball hitting his wrist and going down.
McSweeney was on 3 at that point, having got off the mark after 17 balls. At the other end, Labuschagne, who is facing considerable heat for his recent lean run, needed 19 balls to get off the mark.
A freebie on his pads from Mohammed Siraj then got him going.
Harshit Rana lobbed some verbal volleys at the Australia batters and banged the pink ball into the pitch. But McSweeney was ready to fight fire with fire and firmly pulled him over midwicket for four.
After having seen off the new-ball spells of Bumrah and Siraj under twilight, McSweeney picked away five fours off Rana and Reddy and set Australia up for a batting day against the older ball under natural light on Saturday.
