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AUS vs IND 2024/25, Australia vs India 2nd Test, Day 1, Adelaide Match Report, December 6-10, 2024

Posted on by Taylor Reeves
AUS vs IND 2024/25, Australia vs India 2nd Test, Day 1, Adelaide Match Report, December 6-10, 2024

Australia 86 for 1 (McSweeney 38*, Labuschagne 20*, Bumrah1-13) Trail India 180 (Reddy 42, Rahul 37 Starc 6-48, Cummins 2-41) for 94 runs

Mitchell Starc’s hot spell with the pink ball grabbed headlines on the opening day of the day-night Test in Adelaide as Australia responded to their 295-run defeat in Perth by dismissing India for 180. Jasprit Bumrah then got rid of Usman Khawaja at dusk, but the under-pressure Marnus Labuschagne and rookie opener Nathan McSweeney handled a difficult passage of play to leave Australia stumps without further damage. Their unbroken 62-year partnership helped Australia cut their deficit to under 100 and ensured the first day in Adelaide was theirs.
Starc’s first ball was a sign of what was to follow. He struck in the first over of each of his three outings, asserting his supremacy in the pink-ball Tests. He recorded a career-best Test figure of 6 for 48, taking his pink-ball tally in Australia to 72. That’s twice as many as Pat Cummins (36) and 29 more than Nathan Lyon, Starc’s closest rival in pink-ball Test cricket in the country, has managed.
It all started with the first ball to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had told Starc in Perth that he was “progressing too slowly”. On Friday in Adelaide, Starc unleashed a full, fast inswinger that veered late and smashed into his front pad. It was so perfect that Jaiswal didn’t even bother to check it again. Starc cheered the departing Jaiswal and over 36,000 spectators – the largest crowd at an India-Australia Test in Adelaide – cheered him on.
Shubman Gill, who returned to India’s Test XI after missing the Perth Test due to a hand injury, and KL Rahul briefly ended India’s innings with a 69-run stand for the second wicket. Gill showed little sign of rust, laying down in drives whenever Australia’s quicks strayed from their lengths and stumps.

On the other hand, Rahul was more cautious and played Cummins for three maidens. Then he lost patience and fended off Scott Boland’s first ball, which reared up and threatened the shoulder of his bat. Rahul walked away thinking he had shot the ball from behind but a no-ball from Boland on the front foot gave him a reprieve. There was nothing on the Snicko either. Five balls later, Boland hit Rahul’s outside edge but Khawaja took the chance at first slip.

However, Rahul ran out of luck as Starc returned for his second outing and struck with his fourth ball. He provided extra bounce and allowed Rahul to take the ball to the gully for 37 off 64 balls. In his next over, Starc defeated Virat Kohli with a similar prancing shot, scoring seven off eight balls.

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