Mitchell Starc puts the host-Australia in the driving seat after claiming six wickets on the opening day of the day-night test as India is bowled out for 180.
The Indian side was boosted by the return of their regular skipper Rohit Sharma ahead of the Adelaide test as they made three changes in the line-up with Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma & Ravichandran Ashwin coming into the line-up whereas Australia had one change to their line-up with Scott Boland replacing injured Hazlewood.
Rohit Sharma led the Indian side elected to bat first in the pink ball test, for Australia it turned out to be a good toss to lose. Though Rohit Sharma returned to the line-up, India didn’t disrupt their opening combination of KL Rahul & Yashaswi Jaiswal.
Mitchell Starc provided a dream start for the hosts as the left-hander Yashaswi Jaiswal was dismissed off the first ball of the innings after getting trapped in front of the stumps. Though the Visitors lost the wicket in the opening over, Shubamn Gill who came out to bat at three stitched a 69-run stand for the second wicket alongside KL Rahul.
KL Rahul had luck on his side on two occasions, first when he nicked one off Scott Boland’s bowling but was not dismissed following a no-ball & later when Usman Khawaja dropped a catch, giving him another reprieve.
But it was the left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc who was once again pivotal for the hosts as he broke the 69-run stand between Rahul & Gill after dismissing KL Rahul for 37. In the same spell, Starc’s fiery pace broke the defense of India’s star batter Virat Kohli following a short-pitch delivery.
Scott Boland’s first wicket came in the form of Shubman Gill following an LBW. Gill was dismissed for 31 with India losing their four wickets before tea with Rohit Sharma & Rishabh Pant at the crease.
In the session following lunch, Scott Boland removed the Indian skipper who was pinned plumb in front which left India’s score with 8 runs on the board halfway in the pavilion.
The visitors lost wickets at regular intervals as Pat Cummins later on joined the party after dismissing Rishabh Pant for 21.
The Indian all-rounders in the form of Nitish Kumar Reddy & Ravichandran Ashwin had stretched a 32-run stand to bring some lifeline in the favor of India before Mitchell Starc’s toe-crushing yorker trapped Ashwin for 22. In the same over Starc dismissed Harshit Rana for a duck after the left-arm pacer rattled the stumps. Following this Mitchell Starc claimed his first fifer against India in test cricket.
Nitish Kumar Reddy’s later fireworks with the bat helped the host to cross the 150-run mark. The right-handed batter smashed 42 runs whose aggregated innings included three boundaries & three sixes before being dismissed by Starc which was India’s final wicket.
Mitchell Starc finished with excellent figures of 6/48 which are also his best bowling figures in an innings in test cricket.