Nitish Kumar Reddy: Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc shined by picking 6-48, his 15th five-for in Tests, as Australia bundled out India for just 180 in 44.1 overs at tea on day one of the second Test at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.
Under overcast skies, Starc trapped Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw with the very first delivery of the game to mark a riveting start of the day-night Test. After that, India were building their innings, thanks to a 69-run partnership between KL Rahul and Shubman Gill.
But Starc struck again with his double strike, removing Rahul and then Virat Kohli, before Scott Boland trapped Shubman Gill lbw, as India went from 69/1 to 81/4 in the first session. Post dinner break, Starc used his inswinging yorkers to scythe through India’s lower order and take out Nitish Kumar Reddy, India’s top run-scorer with 42, to bag his career-best Test figures and complete an excellent phase of the game for Australia.
The first session saw India win the toss and elect to bat first, with Australia sporting black armbands in memory of Phil Hughes and Ian Redpath. Starc gave Australia a dream start by getting a down leg delivery to swing back in and trap Jaiswal lbw for a golden duck.
Gill, coming back after missing Perth Test due to a left thumb injury, got straightaway into the act with his late slashes and gorgeous drives giving him four boundaries off Starc. Rahul showed patience outside off and looked solid in defence until he fended at Boland’s first ball and everyone thought he was caught behind for an 18-ball duck.
But replays showed Rahul earned a reprieve, as Boland overstepped his crease and the snicko showed there was no edge off the bat. Five balls later, Rahul got another reprieve as Usman Khawaja dropped his catch at slip.
From there, Rahul and Gill pounced on Australia’s mistakes to bowl more outside the off-stump and stitch a stand of 69 runs for the second wicket. Just when it seemed the session would end in India’s favour, Starc returned to enforce a dramatic turnaround in the script.
He first had Rahul fending a back of the length ball to diving gully, before forcing Kohli to be caught in two minds on whether to play or leave, and have him caught in the slips. Boland, playing in his first Test after 18 months, trapping a lazily flicking Gill plumb lbw for 31, and ensure Australia ended the session on a high by picking last three Indian wickets for 12 runs in 16 balls.
Post dinner break, Boland struck by getting a fuller ball to catch Rohit Sharma in the crease and go past his inside edge to trap him lbw. India could have been six down had Nathan McSweeney held onto a catch offered by Rishabh Pant when he was on five.
Pant would add 16 more runs before a rising delivery from Cummins kicked up and took shoulder edge of the bat and was caught by gully. Ravichandran Ashwin played some eye-catching boundaries off Marsh and Cummins, but Starc trapped him lbw with a top inswinging yorker and castled Harshit Rana with another inswinger.
With wickets falling from one end, Reddy launched a stunning counter-attacking act. After middling an off-drive off Cummins for four, Reddy thumped Boland through mid-off for another boundary.
Post lofting Starc over deep extra cover for six, Reddy tore into Boland by reverse-scooping, flicking and pulling him for two sixes and a four. But Australia continued to chip in, as Cummins got Jasprit Bumrah to edge to first slip, before Starc wrapped up the proceedings by having Reddy hole out to mid-off.
With wickets falling from one end, Reddy launched a stunning counter-attacking act. After middling an off-drive off Cummins for four, Reddy thumped Boland through mid-off for another boundary.
Article Source: IANS
