Photograph: Michael Errey/AFP/Getty Images
That’s all for today. Geoff’s report will be on the site in the next hour so, then Jim Wallace and Jonathan Howcroft will be on OBO duties tomorrow. Thanks for your company – goodnight!
Stumps: Australia trail by 94 runs
33rd over: Australia 86-1 (McSweeney 38, Labuschagne 20) Labuschagne takes a single off the penultimate ball to give McSweeney one last audience with Bumrah for the day. He keeps it out to complete a superb day both for Australia. They rolled India for 180, with Mitchell Starc taking career-best figures of 6 for 48, then scrapped their way to 86 for 1 in what had the potential to be a horrible evening session.
India weren’t at their best with the ball, but Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne, who had such a torrid time in Perth, still had to bat extremely well to see it through to the close. McSweeney is 38 not out from 97 balls, Labuschagne 20 from 67.
If Australia get past the first half hour tomorrow, they’ll have a great chance to take a decisive grip on this game.
32nd over: Australia 85-1 (McSweeney 38, Labuschagne 19) Ravichandran Ashwin comes on for a single over (probably) before the close. It’s a pretty uneventful maiden to McSweeney, despite a few oohs and aahs from the fielders.
There’s just enough time for one more over from Bumrah.
31st over: Australia 85-1 (McSweeney 38, Labuschagne 19) Bumrah whacks Labuschagne in the thigh and goes up for LBW. Too high. That’s been Bumrah’s problem all evening. He hasn’t bowled badly, he never does, but his length has generally been a touch too short.
“I presume the black armbands the Australians are wearing are for Ian Redpath,” says Romeo. “I never got to see him live as he turned down tours to run his antiques shop in Geelong.”
Ian Redpath and also Phillip Hughes; it was the 10th anniversary of his death on 27 November so this is the closest Adelaide Test.
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30th over: Australia 84-1 (McSweeney 38, Labuschagne 19) Labuschagne shapes to hook a heavy short ball from Rana, then decides better of it. “Good pace, mate,” says Labuschagne. “Good pace.” Rana doesn’t care much for that and slams the next delivery into the pitch. Pant does well to save four byes and then Rana, who is an infectious competitor, dispenses a few hard-faced words in Labuschagne’s direction.
After Labuschagne takes a single, McSweeney pulls witheringly behind square for four. That’s a cracking shot.
29th over: Australia 77-1 (McSweeney 32, Labuschagne 18) McSweeney is beaten twice by Bumrah, the second a bona fide beauty. Australia probably have four more overs to survive tonight.
28th over: Australia 76-1 (McSweeney 32, Labuschagne 17) Another full-length delivery from Rana moves away to beat Labuschagne’s attempted drive. He has arguably been the pick of the Indian attack.
McSweeney is not out!
It was a fine deluvery from Rana, full and nipping back off the seam – but it moved so much that it would have missed leg stump. That’s excellent umpiring from Richard Illingworth.
India review for LBW against McSweeney!
It looked out to me but not Richard Illingworth. It might have done too much, or least enough for it to be umpire’s call and therefore not out.
27th over: Australia 74-1 (McSweeney 31, Labuschagne 17) Bumrah starts just back of a length to Labuschagne, then gets fuller and fuller as the over progresses. Labuschagne has no ambition beyond defence; the result is a maiden. Bumrah hasn’t been at his best today and he still has figures of 8-4-10-1.
26th over: Australia 74-1 (McSweeney 31, Labuschagne 17) Rana is back in place of Reddy. McSweeney square drives towards point, where Gill allows the ball to go between his legs for four. That brings up a vital and increasingly authoritative fifty partnership with Labuschagne.
India need at least a wicket, ideally two. Jasprit Bumrah has been given the ball.
25th over: Australia 70-1 (McSweeney 27, Labuschagne 17) Labuschagne pulls away because of movement behind the bowler’s arm. Siraj isn’t impressed and throws the ball in Labuschagne’s general direction. The pair exchange words before Labuschagne back cuts serenely for four.
Australia are well on top right now, but they have one more trial by Bumrah before they can enjoy a nice ice bath.
24th over: Australia 66-1 (McSweeney 27, Labuschagne 13) Nathan McSweeney drives and pulls for Reddy for successive boundaries, two terrific shots from a player who looks increasingly confident. At one stage he was 12 not out from 59 balls; since then he’s hit 15 from 15. India surely need to go back to Bumrah before the close.
23rd over: Australia 58-1 (McSweeney 19, Labuschagne 13) Siraj gets one to straighten past McSweeney’s defensive push. Perfect line but, as Michael Vaughan says on commentary, still have a yard too short.
Then again, when he does pitch it up McSweeney clips confidently through midwicket for three. He’s played nicely and with enviable calmness; the 19 runs are nice but the 68 balls are even more valuable to Australia.
22nd over: Australia 55-1 (McSweeney 16, Labuschagne 13) Labuschagne clips Reddy over square leg for four to move into double figures. It was a good shot but a rank bad delivery.
Reddy produces one nice delivery to beat Labuschagne; everything else is too wide and easily left.
21st over: Australia 51-1 (McSweeney 16, Labuschagne 9) McSweeney stands tall to time Siraj through backward point for four, a fine stroke that demonstrates his growing confidence. If Australia can get to the close one down, they’ll have had an outstanding day.
20th over: Australia 47-1 (McSweeney 12, Labuschagne 9) Nitish Kumar Reddy replaces Harshit Rana (5-2-6-0). “India need to try to get a couple of more wickets tonight, or tomorrow could be a hurtful day for them,” says David Warner on commentary.
The upside for India is that the scoreboard isn’t getting away from them, a point that Reddy reinforces by starting with a maiden to Labuschagne. This isn’t thril-a-minute cricket but it’s quite fascinating.
19th over: Australia 47-1 (McSweeney 12, Labuschagne 9) Labuschagne gets off the mark from his 19th delivery by turning Siraj behind square for two, then gets his first boundary with a clip to fine leg.
Siraj, who hasn’t bowled well tonight, strays onto the pads again and is clipped for three by Labuschagne. None from 18 balls, nine from the next five.
18th over: Australia 38-1 (McSweeney 12, Labuschagne 0) After a couple of minutes of hardcore banter, the lights come back on and play resumes. Rana completes a maiden to McSweeney.
Floodlight failure in Adelaide
17.4 overs: Australia 38-1 (McSweeney 12, Labuschagne 0) There are still 27 overs remaining, though we’ll do well to get 15 of them.
Rana goes wide of the crease to beat McSweeney with a superb inswinger – and now the lights have gone out! A few of the crowd wave the torch on their phones as if they’re at a Coldplay concert. Australia won’t mind if the lights stay off for the final hour.
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17th over: Australia 38-1 (McSweeney 12, Labuschagne 0) McSweeney shoulders arms to a wide ball from Siraj. “Too easy to leave,” fumes Harsha Bhogle on commentary. “Too easy to leave!” That’s been a recurring theme of this session, even if Bumrah founs his range towards the end of his spell.
Labuschagne punches a square drive without piercing the field: 0 from 18 balls now. But he does look busier, and better, than at Perth.
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16th over: Australia 37-1 (McSweeney 11, Labuschagne 0) Sheeshorama. Labuschagne leaves Rana on length and is… actually fair enough, it wasn’t as close as it looked in real time. He still can’t get off the mark, though, and has faced 16 balls now.
15th over: Australia 36-1 (McSweeney 10, Labuschagne 0) After seven overs of ever increasing menace, Bumrah is replaced by Siraj. His first ball swerves down the leg side and away from Pant for four more byes. As I type, byes are responsible for 36 per cent of Australia’s 36 runs, 13 to be precise.
Labuschagne looks busier than in Perth but he’s still stuck on nought after 12 balls. His strike rate in the series is 7.24 runs per 100 balls.
14th over: Australia 32-1 (McSweeney 10, Labuschagne 0) McSweeney pulls Rana emphatically for four to move into double figures. It hit slightly high on the bat but he got more than enough of it. Whether McSweeney makes it as a Test opener, nobody knows, but he’s shown admirable temperament under the kind of pressure he’d never experienced before.
13th over: Australia 28-1 (McSweeney 6, Labuschagne 0) Labuschagne defends the ball back down the pitch, then shouts “come on!” as Bumrah collects it in his follow through. Bumrah smiles, goes back to his mark, beats Labuschagne with an absolute snorter and does a silly little dance. Labuschagne, eyes wide, stares down the pitch. This is great stuff.
12th over: Australia 24-1 (McSweeney 6, Labuschagne 0) The hitherto strokless McSweeney has a wild pull at Rana and drags it back onto the body. This is a dangerous period for Australia, with the ball starting to zing off the pitch under the lights. One such delivery looks set to go for four byes until Pant leaps to make a fine stop.
A maiden from Rana. McSweeney has 6 from 37 balls, and now it’s time for Bumrah v Labuschagne.
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11th over: Australia 24-1 (McSweeney 6, Labuschagne 0) That would probably have been Bumrah’s final delivery had he not taken a wicket.
WICKET! Australia 24-1 (Khawaja c Rohit b Bumrah 13)
Bumrah strikes with the last ball of his sixth over! Khawaja, who survived a big LBW appeal earlier in the over, fenced at a really good delivery outside off stump and edged it straight to first slip. He had to play at that, or at least he felt he had to play, and Rohit took the catch.
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10th over: Australia 22-0 (Khawaja 13, McSweeney 5) Harshit Rana replaces Siraj and starts with a mighty seaming lfiter that beats Khawaja. Harshit gives him a nice long stare then stomps back to his mark. Khawaja takes a single before McSweeney leaves a straight ball on length. I think it was a good leave, though Harshit’s body language suggests it was pretty close to trimming the bails.
9th over: Australia 21-0 (Khawaja 12, McSweeney 5) Bumrah hits McSweeney on the thigh, turns to appeal for LBW and then registers that it was far too high. He’s been better in the last couple of overs without recapturing the menace of the first Test.
On commentary, Ravi Shastri makes the point that Australia have a very one-paced top three now that David Warner has retired. I guess Sam Konstas will address that in due course but for now they risk getting stuck. I don’t think it’s a problem tonight; their first task is to survive Bumrah’s first spell.
8th over: Australia 21-0 (Khawaja 12, McSweeney 5) A shortish delivery from Siraj is put away through square leg by Khawaja, who has started with calm authority. The moment I type that he’s beaten outside off, but that’s an occupational hazard against the new ball. He’s playing well; McSweeney is hanging in there.
7th over: Australia 17-0 (Khawaja 8, McSweeney 5) Saying which, McSweeney has been dropped! Bumrah squared him up with a lovely delivery that straightened off the seam to take the edge. Pant dived to his right but could only fingertip the ball onto the wrist of Rohit at first slip. Rohit is in pain but seems okay to continue.
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6th over: Australia 13-0 (Khawaja 8, McSweeney 1) McSweeney thick edges Siraj to get off the mark from his 17th delivery. There’s aprecautionary run-out referral against the non-striker Khawaja but he's fine.
So far so good for Australia. There have been one or two false strokes but it’s been nothing like that torrid first evening in Perth.
5th over: Australia 9-0 (Khawaja 5, McSweeney 0) A single from Khawaja gives Bumrah his first crack at McSweeney. He spears an inswinger down the leg side for four byes to continue an unusually scruffy start – but then, out of nothing, he produces a jaffa that vrooms past the outside edge. McSweeney has 0 from 15 balls, Khawaja 5 from the same.
4th over: Australia 4-0 (Khawaja 4, McSweeney 0) Another maiden from Siraj to McSweeney. That’s fine for Australia, who just want to get through this new-ball spell. As in the previous over, McSweeney only had to play one of the six balls.
3rd over: Australia 4-0 (Khawaja 4, McSweeney 0) Bumrah switches around the wicket to Khawaja, who is trying to leave as much as possible. It’s a maiden, with Khawaja only needing to play one of the six deliveries. At first I thought the poor balls were part of the set up, but I suspect Bumrah hasn’t found his rhythm. Yet.
2nd over: Australia 4-0 (Khawaja 4, McSweeney 0) Mohammed Siraj, whose terrific performance in the first Test was inevitably overshadowed by Bumrah, shares the new ball. McSweeney is beaten by a snorter and thick edges another delivery well short of slip. The rest is defended or left without alarm. Whether he plays five Tests or 50, batting will rarely be as tough as it has been in the last fortnight.
1st over: Australia 4-0 (Khawaja 4, McSweeney 0) Bumrah, 31 today, starts with a couple of easy deliveries for Khawaja to leave. The third shapes back ominously, with Khawaja again offering no stroke, and for a split second he must have feared the death rattle.
Khawaja flicks a fuller, straight delivery through midwicket for four to get off the mark, offers no stroke to the fifth ball and defends the sixth six. A positive start for Australia.
The players are back on the field, and Pete Salmon is thumping the tub. “Australia 6/74 at stumps,” he writes. “Hold me to that.”
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Mitch Starc’s reaction
I feel like the ball’s been coming out all right for the last while. I didn’t feel like we [the bowlers] did a lot wrong last week in Perth, they just played a lot better than us. Coming into this game we wanted to take some momentum back.
[On the first-ball wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal] Nothing really changes from game to game, I’m always trying to hit the stumps. I managed to sneak one past him and it was a pretty good start.
With the pink ball you feel like you’re always in the game as a bowler. It goes through weird patches – sometimes it won’t do much and then it decides to start moving again. Apart from being a little wide in the first hour I thought we were very good.
WICKET! India 180 all out (Reddy c Head b Starc 42)
Australia’s field for Reddy is the kind usually reserved for a rampant Ben Stokes, with almost everyone on the boundary. But it works straight away when Reddy wallops Starc high in the air and is taken at mid-off.
Starc finishes with career-best figures: 14.1-2-48-6. They don’t flatter him.
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44th over: India 180-9 (Reddy 42, Siraj 4) Siraj not only survives the rest of the over, he clips Cummins through midwicket for four like Mark Waugh in his pomp.
Okay, that’s a disgraceful exaggeration but it was a pretty good shot, and crucially it ensures Reddy has another chance to cause some carnage.
WICKET! India 176-9 (Bumrah c Khawaja b Cummins 0)
Pat Cummins does the job with a length delivery that Bumrah edges straight to first slip. Starc deserves an assist for that wicket after ensuring Cummins had a full over at Bumrah. He needed only three balls.
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43th over: India 176-8 (Reddy 42, Bumrah 0) Starc bangs the last ball down the leg side to ensure Reddy can’t keep the strike.
42.5 overs: India 176-8 (Reddy 42, Bumrah 0) Reddy tries to hook Starc and takes a nasty blow on the helmet. He seems okay but there will be a break in play while he’s tested for concussion.
42nd over: India 175-8 (Reddy 42, Bumrah 0) Scott Boland has disappeared for 21 runs in one over! Reddy reverse ramped six over the slips, tickled four to fine leg and hooked another six over midwicket. Lyon, on the boundary edge, tried to knock the ball back into play but it burst through his hands.
There were two no-balls as well, adding to the growing sense that the mood of the match is changing. For the second match in a row, Reddy has top scored in India’s first innings.
Now THIS is entertaining stuff from Nitish Kumar Reddy!#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/JgsupvPUkN
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2024
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41st over: India 154-8 (Reddy 23, Bumrah 0) Reddy clatters Starc over extra cover for six, and why not. That’s a ridiculous shot!
He tries an uppercut later in the over but is beaten for pace and almost falls over as he staggers backwards. A single off the penultimate ball allows him to keep strike.
“I can’t be the only Australian wishing Starc would take a bit more time with the tail?” says Jordan White. “I’d rather have them struggling under lights than McSweeney and Khawaja trying to face up against Bumrah with the pink ball... does this make me a bad sport?”
The twilight session adds a fascinating element to pink-ball Tests doesn’t it? It feels like the closest our generation will get to watching cricket played on uncovered wickets. Maybe Australia should reverse their batting order like Don Bradman’s team at the MCG in 1936-37.
40th over: India 146-8 (Reddy 16, Bumrah 0) Reddy thumps Boland – back on in place of Marsh – over extra cover for four. A single off the penultimate ball allows him to keep strike.
“India is on its way to match the same score that they were bundled out for in Perth,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Cricket enthusiasts are full of superstitions (I used to never leave my seat when India was batting, waiting for the drinks break) and they may well fancy a similar result too.”
As the old saying goes, you should never judge a pitch until Jasprit Bumrah has bowled on it.
39th over: India 141-8 (Reddy 11, Bumrah 0) A double-wicket maiden for Starc, whose figures are now 12-2-39-5. He could easily end up with career-best figures here – at the moment his best performance is 6 for 50 at Galle way back when.
WICKET! India 141-8 (Rana b Starc 0)
Five wickets for Mitchell Starc! Harshit Rana is bowled neck and crop by another beautiful inswinger. It’s Starc’s first five-for in a home Test since 2019.
The inswinging peach of a yorker gets Mitchell Starc his fifth wicket!#AUSvIND | #DeliveredWithSpeed | @NBN_Australia pic.twitter.com/SwVIHFiNhK
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2024
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WICKET! India 141-7 (Ashwin LBW b Starc 22)
Mitchell Starc strikes with the second ball of a new spell. It was a classic Starc dismissal, a very full inswinger that hit Ashwin on the shin in front of middle stump. Ashwin reviewed, presumably because he fancies winning the award for the worst review in history: it was hitting middle a quarter of the way up.
Absurd review on that, that was a handy innings from Ashwin, a breezy run-a-ball 22.
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38th over: India 141-6 (Reddy 11, Ashwin 22) Four more to Ashwin, pinged over square leg when Marsh drifts onto the pads. These are handy runs for India – and handy balls too, because every over increases the chance of Australia’s openers having to start against Jasprit Bumrah as the light is fading.
Marsh is struggling here, as figures of 4-0-26-0 suggest.
37th over: India 133-6 (Reddy 11, Ashwin 15) Ashwin plays another jaunty chip shot, this time lifting Cummins over mid-on for four. It’s easy to forget that Ashwin has six Test hundreds, the same as MS Dhoni, Hansie Cronje, Imran Khan, Warwick Armstrong and Stan McCabe.
36th over: India 126-6 (Reddy 11, Ashwin 8) Thanks Geoff, evening everyone. Mitch Marsh almost strikes with the first ball after the drinks break; Ravichandran Ashwin edges a leaden-footed drive just wide of the diving McSweeney in the gully and away for four. It might even have brushed his fingertips but he had no chance of catching it.
Ashwin chips three more over mid-on. There were a few shouts of “catch!” but it cleared Scott Boland pretty comfortably.
35th over: India 118-6 (Reddy 11, Ashwin 1) Reddy bails out of facing as Cummins delivers the ball, and Cummins, a bit steamed, lets fly the replacement delivery at the batter’s head. Reddy gets something on it – not bat, it’s called as leg byes – that sends the ball over the keeper for four. Then a single, before Ashwin walking into a drive gets his first run.
And that is drinks. Meaning that Rob Smyth is on his way in. Give him a guard of honour.
34th over: India 112-6 (Reddy 10, Ashwin 0) Reddy picks off a few runs from Marsh: two to the leg side, one to the off, just getting forward and nudging. Ashwin is just staying in at this stage.
Disappointment now for Gervase Green, who a while back wrote to me, “I don’t want to sound “unAustralian”, but the best thing about Australia taking four wickets early is that my two favourite cricketers - Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant - are at the crease.
Pant especially is the most fun to watch since Virender Sehwag hung up his long-suffering bat. And Rohit just oozes authority at the crease, even when in a rut.”
33rd over: India 109-6 (Reddy 7, Ashwin 0) Ravichandran Ashwin to the crease, then. Leaves the sixth ball of the over.
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WICKET! Pant c Labuschagne b Cummins 21, India 109-6
Nasty ball! Cummins doesn’t need to hit the stumps to get a wicket, he reminds us. Does the opposite. Goes upstairs, having only bowled a couple of short balls today. This one leaps from a short length that wasn’t crazy short. Pant tries to cover it and play it down, but the bounce is too high. Up near the shoulder of the bat, perhaps even the base of the handle, it crashes into the stick and loops to the cordon. Labuschagne running forward can’t add another drop to the Australian tally with a catch that easy.
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32nd over: India 107-5 (Pant 20, Reddy 6) Moment of truth, Mitch Marsh to bowl. Ideally you’d want him trying something with the newer ball, to see if he could find swing. Might still get something here. But not if he drops short to Pant, who punts him over square leg for four. Slight bit of movement to Reddy, who plays for it and drives square for two.
“Siva here from Toronto, Canada. Big fan of your podcast. Is it time to bring on Marnus yet?” Siva gives the sarcasm symbol. “Also, whats up with Australian fielding these days? I don’t ever recollect seeing so many catches going down from any Aussie side.”
It’s a strange one. Most Australian sides have had great individual fielders. I’m not sure this side does. Smith probably still is one, Labuschagne has become one in terms of boundary riding and covering ground. But Khawaja never was one, Head isn’t, Marsh isn’t very mobile, and they lose a lot with Green out of the gully for the much smaller McSweeney.
31st over: India 100-5 (Pant 15, Reddy 4) Cummins is back. Hasn’t had a bad day, 21 runs from his first seven overs, but hasn’t quite been his relentless self. And that continues, driven through mid off by the right-handed Reddy for four! Just straight of the fielder. Cummins bowled an uncharacteristic number of those overcooks in Perth as well, you don’t see him getting driven down the ground often. India to triple figures.
Aditya is right that the Rohit-era pitches have often been the most severely turning, except occasionally when they want a really flat one, like Ahmedabad last year when a draw would win India the series against Australia. There’s nothing wrong with a turning pitch per se, as long as it’s not falling apart from ball one, but it does neutralise India’s current advantages of good pace bowlers and good strokeplaying batters.
30th over: India 95-5 (Pant 14, Reddy 0) Boland keeps working away at Pant, making him play at the ball consistently. Finally off strike with one run.
29th over: India 94-5 (Pant 13, Reddy 0) Starc to Pant, who does what he had to do in Perth too, playing an un-Pant-like defensive knock before finding another brace to the leg side, nicely turned towards midwicket.
Aditya Anchuri is planning development strategy. “I feel that it’s so important we stop making big spinning tracks unnecessarily in India. We can win on normal wickets, even just traditional Indian wickets unlike the Bunsens we’re seeing now. Batsmen like KL and Gill are just so natural looking, it’s crazy we sometimes have to go overseas to see the best of them. It’s gotten worse since Rohit’s captaincy for whatever reason.”
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28th over: India 91-5 (Pant 10, Reddy 0) Ooooohhh another missed chance for Australia! This time a non-review. Boland smashes Nitish Kumar Reddy on the pads, but the angle looks like it’s heading down leg. Reddy’s front pad is angled itself, diagonally towards the leg side, which accentuates the visual suggestion. And maybe the umpire thinks there was an edge? But the replay shows that it clips both pads, making two sounds, and would have hit leg stump flush. Three reds.
27th over: India 90-5 (Pant 9, Reddy 0) Starc bowling to Pant, who isn’t doing anything aggressive at the moment. Gets beaten, drives a couple of runs, then one.
26th over: India 87-5 (Pant 6, Reddy 0) One ball for Reddy to survive. He leaves.
WICKET! Rohit lbw Boland 3, India 87-5
Boland back, and dropped again! Second one goes down off the returnee. Tough catch to complete, because McSweeney only gets one hand to it in the gully, but might have moved better initially, enabling him to reach it with two hands? Anyway, Boland isn’t mad for long, because four balls later, after Pant gets off strike, Boland cuts a ball back into the right-handed Rohit that nails him in front of off stump, and is angling in to hit the timber. Given on the field, again no review. India have been good with adjudicating their own lbws today.
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25th over: India 86-4 (Pant 5, Rohit 3) Here comes Starc, on the long lope to the crease. Pant flicks a single.
Jono Haylen is on the email. “Assuming KL Rahul was correct in thinking he edged Boland’s first delivery, do India send a message out to the batters and say don’t walk on any fine edges and review any fine edges given out? With the theory that Snicko is broken. Then, Australia doing the same. We’ve seen Amazing Adelaide, could this be The Broken Snicko Test?”
It’s possible for it to be faulty. I just thought he didn’t hit it. Was trying to turn the bat in his hands, and it might have slightly missed. Then again, the sound tech doesn’t pick up every edge. Famously, the first pink-ball Test here in 2015, Nathan Lyon was given not out after clearly edging the ball sweeping because he was so far down the wicket that the microphones didn’t catch it. There was a Hot Spot on his bat and a deviation, but the protocols and the umpire’s interpretation of them combined to botch the call. It was Nigel Ll-ll-ll-ll-ll-llong in the booth. Lyon went on to make a match-defining score and NZ lost the Test.
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24th over: India 84-4 (Pant 4, Rohit 2) Scott Boland starts us off, and Rishabh Pant gets off strike with a deflection off the pad. Rohit glances a single.
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Had a sprinkle of rain here over the break, but the covers are off and we’ve restarted on time.
Dinner - India 82 for 4 after choosing to bat
It was a strange session. A wicket first ball of the Test, Australia running around. Then KL and Gill got India right back on top, before a couple of strange dismissals trying to leave, and the lbw.
Here’s a number from the Viz tracking. Cummins didn’t bowl a single ball that session that would have hit the stumps. Starc and Boland bowled three each, two of which got lbw dismissals. Maybe… worth trying that more?
Anyway. Australia now in a good spot, but many a team has let an innings slip from four down.
Meanwhile, if you want to catch up on the other Test, Harry Brook made yet another Test hundred off about 90 balls.
23rd over: India 82-4 (Pant 4, Rohit 1) Starc to India’s captain, the biggest threat today, and Rohit is trying to defuse it by playing across his pad repeatedly, trying to work the ball to leg. That doesn’t work, a fielder is set at short midwicket, so Rohit drives chancily on the up and nearly nicks one angled across. Then serious bounce from Starc takes the next up past the shoulder of the bat.
“Keenly following proceedings from cold and windy Germany where the few cricket enthusiasts like me are braving the chill to keep up with the pink-ball drama. I guess the contrast couldn’t be starker — while Adelaide Oval is abuzz with energy under the summer skies, Germany’s freezing winter adds a layer of coziness to late-night match-watching sessions, with warm drinks in hand and hopes as high as the stakes in this rivalry.”
When you said braving the chill, Dasika, I thought you meant watching it outdoors! That would be commitment.
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22nd over: India 82-4 (Pant 4, Rohit 1) So the skipper comes out, Rohit Sharma back batting at six, where I think he batted here in 2014. And some work to do, along with his keeper. Gets started with a single to square.
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WICKET! Gill lbw Boland 31, India 81-4
Finally! A non-Starc wicket, and Boland gets one after the two botched attempts in his first over. That’s as dead as they get when it comes to lbw. Full pitch, angled in, looks like it keeps a bit low as well? And hits Gill on the ankle in front of off stump, on the crease, on a moderate angle. He doesn’t bother to review.
The game has turned. It’s getting cooler and gloomier outside, not the easiest for batting.
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21st over: India 81-3 (Gill 31, Pant 4) Now Pant gets going with a boundary! Second ball, flicks it square. Wickets and fours for Starc today. He now has 69 wickets at 18 in pink-ball cricket, with three so far here.
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WICKET! Kohli c Smith b Starc 7, India 77-3
What is going on here! Another wicket to the attempted leave. Kohli has the bat up, then starts to come forward, then wants to lift it back up over the rising ball as he detects the line outside off stump. But the bounce is too high, the pace too great. The ball clips the toe of his bat in its backlift, and dips through to second slip where Smith takes it well, low down.
Mitchell Starc sends Virat Kohli packing!#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/2AzNllS7xT
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2024
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20th over: India 77-2 (Gill 31, Kohli 7) Nearly a run out there, as Gill sprawls into his ground at the non-striker’s end after calling for a tight run to the leg side. Kohli loves a fast single. It gets him on strike, and just as the other two kept doing, he fidns the boundary aerially through gully. Dicey method, but it’s not costing them. Kohli steps forward at Boland and drives three more through cover, with a solid clunk of ball meeting bat.
19th over: India 69-2 (Gill 30, Kohli 0) The customary cheer for Virat Kohli as the star player comes to the middle. Made his 30th Test century in Perth. Defends and leaves his first two balls here.
WICKET! Rahul c McSweeney b Starc 37, India 69-2
Relief for Australia! McSweeney is pumped up, bellowing and red-faced after taking the low catch. Strange shot from KL Rahul. We’ve seen the one where he runs the ball off the face while holding the bat in the backlift. This one starts that way, but the angle goes across him, the bounce is high, and perhaps by instinct, he follows the ball from that backlift position. Just shifts his wrists towards the line, waving the bat in a small circular motion, as through drawn to try dabbing it away somewhere or other. And the ball comes off the face of the bat, facing the ground, and into the gully.
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18th over: India 67-1 (Rahul 35, Gill 30) Early spin, but it doesn’t stop Rahul scoring, Drives Nathan Lyon through cover for four as well.
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17th over: India 61-1 (Rahul 30, Gill 29) Cummins has been scored from too easily today, between good balls. Driven by Rahul through covers for another four.
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16th over: India 56-1 (Rahul 26, Gill 28) Gill has calmed down now, quietly taking a couple of runs to cover, then one more. How much might that earlier Boland over haunt Australia? No threat from this one.
“It is 4.40 am and like all the best people, I’m a nocturnal test cricket fan. I’m several thousand miles away in a grotty and dismal UK and I’m trying to keep an eye on both Tests that are going on. One on the radio and the other via a live stream. Is Adelaide now the de facto day/night test place in Australia?”
Not exactly, John Goldstein. More of them have been played here than elsewhere, but we’ve also had a few in Brisbane and one in Perth and Hobart. Melbourne will host the women’s Ashes Test as a day-nighter this coming January. And next year the men’s Ashes has a day game here and a night one at the Gabba.
15th over: India 53-1 (Rahul 26, Gill 25) That’s gorgeous. His best shot of the day. Better than any of Gill’s, now that I think of it. Rahul leans back and plays a late cut to pace, a stylish flourish of the bat, using the pace from Cummins to send the ball racing away safely on the bounce through gully. Entirely deliberate, that one. Then a more workmanlike forcing shot goes through backward point and makes it to the rope as well. These shots are after running two, making this an expensive over. Things are looking threatening for Australia despite the early wicket.
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14th over: India 43-1 (Rahul 16, Gill 25) Oof, shot! Lovely cover drive from KL, sending Boland to the fence. Then tries to cut and misses, before being beaten again pushing with a straight bat. Squeezes away a run to leg.
13th over: India 38-1 (Rahul 11, Gill 25) Cummins is hitting the pitch hard without extracting any lateral movement that I can see, the first few balls. Does manage to bowl a maiden to Gill though, which today takes some doing.
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12th over: India 38-1 (Rahul 11, Gill 25) Boland follows the tactical hydration interval, with Rahul again happy to block until he can nudge a couple of runs. Now that the ball is past its very new stage, will it offer less?
11th over: India 36-1 (Rahul 9, Gill 25) Cummins is back, with that intensity, and he draws an edge from Gill, but like the others it ends up at the boundary. This time scooting onto the ground through the cordon again, McSweeney at gully seeing it go by. Then adding two more, out to cover.
Drinks, after 11 overs and one wicket. They’re supposed to bowl 15 an hour, for reference.
10th over: India 30-1 (Rahul 9, Gill 19) Scotty Boland making the pink ball do stuff. This time it’s off the same and jagging into the pad, via Rahul’s inside edge. Then passing him on the outside edge, making him draw inside the line.
Phil Withall writes in. “Cummins seems to have started the day with a composed menace, like the silent enforcer from a Guy Ritchie film, confident, a man at ease with his ability to disrupt and demean. A man of intensity. Looking forward to watching how this develops.”
He does make a point of seeming relaxed for media spots, but he’s an intense competitor.
9th over: India 29-1 (Rahul 9, Gill 18) KL has decided that Gill can’t have all the fun, and hurls his bat at width from Starc. Carves the drive up and over the cordon, streakily. Safer as he drives two through cover. So, India scoring alright despite teh early loss. Smells like rain is coming, with the windows open here at the Oval. The breeze has become much cooler in the last 10 minutes.
8th over: India 23-1 (Rahul 3, Gill 18) Time for an early bowling change. Cummins likes doing this – normally it’s him coming on for Hazlewood now – so that he can bring back the replaced opener in a few overs from the other end. This time it’s Scott Boland…
taking a wicket with his first ball! Hasn’t played at home in two years, and nicks off Rahul. Smashed onto a length, rising sharply, past the shoulder of the bat as KL twists the handle. Carey appeals, KL Rahul immediately tucks the bat and walks off, Boland glances back at the umpire for confirmation and gets a nod, the Aussies celebrate…
and then the no-ball is called. Overstepped by a fraction. And just as he’s about to commence several hours of kicking himself, the soundwave graph comes up and shows no spike. Nothing. Saying that KL didn’t hit it. But he thought he did.
KL gets off the mark with two runs through square, then he’s dropped at slip! Another missed chance for Australia, pushing at the ball, Boland’s fuller length and steep lift drawing the nick, but Khawaja set quite deep at first slip can’t get across far enough. Collapses his right leg under his body trying to fall across to the dipping ball, gets the fingers of his right hand to it but that’s all. Difficult one, but does Khawaja have the agility and reaction speed you need at slip?
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7th over: India 19-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 18) Gill scored heavily off Starc in Brisbane in 2021, and he’s doing it again here. Squeezes out a square drive through that gully gap again, though that comes after Starc swung a ball savagely back into the right-hander and smashed his pad. Too high and maybe swinging towards leg.
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6th over: India 15-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 14) Cummins then, with three slips and a gully set quite close to them. Rahul essays the leave-play shot, getting the ball down off the face into the cordon while holding the bat in his backlift. Then drops a rising ball off the sticker down near his feet, unsure where it went at first. Tough over.
5th over: India 15-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 14) Can’t stop Gill scoring! On the up, but he leans into a cover drive with minimal follow-through and connects perfectly. Risk in the stroke but it brings him four. There’s a Starc overstep in the over as well.
4th over: India 10-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 10) Cummins making the ball sing again! Beats the edge a couple of times. But KL is picking up where he left off in Perth, letting those balls pass him without chasing them, leaving the safer wider ones, defending where he can. Soaking up the quality early over.
Rowan Sweeney is editing on the fly. “Last summer seems like a rather wasted opportunity to blood new talent, and this series could get a little brutal for Australia. I’m picking Jaiswal to make anot Never mind, then. How’s your day going, Geoff?”
It took a long time for this game to start, but glad to be underway.
3rd over: India 10-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 10) Starc to continue, nearly gets Gill with a rising ball on a narrow angle across, but Gill doesn’t edge it. Does drive a brace, opening the face through cover. Such a productive scorer even under pressure.
Andrew Benton emails in. “Have Australia reset/rebooted themselves these past ten days, and if so, how? Do they have a new gameplan, have they made some tweaks for victory? Wicket. Oh. They do, and have.”
Well, they got Jaiswal for a duck in the first innings in Perth, too, and it didn’t much help them when he made a massive ton in the second.
2nd over: India 8-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 8) Cummins will share the new ball, with Hazlewood out. And he cuts KL Rahul in half with a ball that buzzsaws in from outside the off stump, Rahul yanking the bat across and eventually getting it inside the line of the seam movement.
That makes 35 Tests that have started with a wicket. Starc and Pedro Collins the leaders with three instances. Twice for Geoff Arnold, Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, and Suranga Lakmal.
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1st over: India 8-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 8) So Shubman Gill effectively has to open, and he does so by flashing a cut through gully for four! Might have carried to a catcher but it’s in the gap. Then when Starc pitches fuller he’s driven through mid off for another. Quite the eventful first over.
That’s the third time Starc has taken a wicket with the first ball of the match. Rory Burns, of course, at the Gabba, and when he was monstering Big Frank – Dimuth Karunaratne – during the 2016 tour of Sri Lanka.
The first player to do it was Arthur Coningham, who had a fascinating troubled life. We did a Story Time podcast about him if you want to dig that out.
WICKET! Jaiswal lbw Starc 0
Wicket first ball of the match! Starc does it, as the stattos scramble for the precedents. A fierce delivery with the new hot-pink ball. Bowling to a left-hander, it angles towards leg stump and then swings back markedly. Pitches in line with middle and leg, and continues towards leg stump, hitting it flush on the ball-tracking. Jaiswal doesn’t review.
FIRST BALL OF THE TEST!
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2024
Mitchell Starc sends Adelaide into delirium.#AUSvIND | #PlayOfTheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/pIPwqlX3dJ
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We’re underway…
The anthems, then the commencement bell is rung by Tim May. A name that rings out in concert with this ground and with South Australian. Bowled good offies for Australia, 42 not out in the one-run loss to West Indies on this ground, and won the Shield final here in his last first-class match.
Harbhajan Singh and Ricky Ponting carry the trophy out together. Memories of how Harbhajan tormented Ponting in 2001. His series went 0, 6, 0, 0, 11, and during the 11 he got dropped on 0.
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The pitch, you all cry. What about the pitch? It looks decent. Not as grassy as some in previous years. The curators here trust the pink ball now to keep its shine, so they don’t leave the luxuriant leafage of the first few years. This strip has a few tinges down the edges but is straw toned down the business section. The grass here does go that colour while it’s still alive though, so there might be some grip for the bowlers, make it move sideways a touch. And then there’s the hope of swing. We’ll see.
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Teams
Ashwin is back! And the rest goes as expected.
India
KL Rahul
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Shubman Gill
Virat Kohli
Rishabh Pant +
Rohit Sharma *
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Ravichandran Ashwin
Harshit Rana
Mohammed Siraj
Jasprit Bumrah
Australia
Nathan McSweeney
Usman Khawaja
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Travis Head
Mitchell Marsh
Alex Carey +
Mitchell Starc
Pat Cummins *
Nathan Lyon
Scott Boland
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India win the toss and bat
The coin falls for the visitors! Rohit is back as skipper after Bumrah’s successful match deputising. He wants to put up a score.
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As for India, there are so many ways that could go. We now know that KL Rahul will remain as opener, and Rohit Sharma will bat “somewhere in the middle,” as he offered yesterday at his captain’s press conference. So Dhruv Jurel is the omission that would accommodate that. Devdutt Padikkal will be the one for Shubman Gill if they make that change at No3.
The bowling is more interesting to me. Ravichandran Ashwin has 536 Test wickets. Ravindra Jadeja has 319. They were both left out in Perth for Washington Sundar, who has 24 wickets. And yeah, he batted ok, but India’s great spinners can both bat as well. So, surely they have to give Ashwin a chance in Adelaide? It’s criminal leaving him on the bench.
Young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy probably did enough to keep his spot, maybe at No7, then for the quicks, Jasprit Bumrah certainly plays, Mohammad Siraj should although you never know what India’s selection gambles may be, and the main question is whether they might prefer the swing of Akash Deep rather than the pace and bounce of Harshit Rana, which worked well in Perth but might have been a pick based on conditions.
How about a preview? I wrote one yesterday focusing on the Australian bowlers, let’s have that.
Preamble
Hello! Here we are in Adelaide. It’s crunch time for Australian cricket. The reaction was explosive after the home team got hammered by India in Perth in the first Test. Having ten days between engagements has helped things simmer down, but that simmer will soon return to a boil if India turn up the heat again. (Ok, we’ll not stretch this metaphor any further.)
It’s a five-Test series, so going 2-0 down is not technically the end of it, but from memory teams have only come back from that deficit twice in Test history. So if Australia’s struggling batting gets rocked again here, they’re in major strife. In their favour is the day-night format with the pink ball, which Australian players have seen more of than those of any other country.
It’s stinking hot outside, as it has been the last few days, with a fan-forced oven sort of wind blustering across the city, but the clouds have come over today, which will give some respite to the side bowling. We may have some stormy precipitation at some stage in the afternoon. Who knows. Late last night the sky was flickering with dry lightning like a series of paper lanterns, but nary a drop fell.
