Pat Cummins' Australia team found themselves in a strong position at the end of Day 1 of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test which is being played at the iconic Adelaide Oval, on December 6 (Friday). They first bowled out the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team on a modest score of 180 with the help of a stunning six-wicket haul and later also took a firm stand with the bat at stumps.
Mitchell Starc wreaks havoc
Australia's premium pacer Mitchell Starc had a picture-perfect start to the pink-ball Test as he dismissed Yashavi Jaiswal on the very first ball of the match. He provided his team with the big wicket early on which later set the base for their remarkable performance with the ball.
After India lost Jaiswal on the first ball of the match, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill helped India take a steady stand. Both of them joined a crucial 69-run partnership. However, soon after their partnership came to an end, India lost couple more wickets in quick successions. Rahul, Gill, and Virat Kohli all returned to the dugout in the first session itself.
Nitish Reddy's fightback
After India kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and went from 69/2 to 109/6 quickly, Nitish Reddy took charge and played a valiant knock of 42 runs off 54 balls. It was an innings that showed the class and confidence of the young Indian star and provided India with a major boost at the end.
However, it was not enough in front of fire-breathing Starc who was a man on a mission. He took a total of six wickets and completely walked through the Indian batting line-up.
Aussie batters take strong stand
Just like the Perth Test, everyone was expecting the Indian bowling unit led by Jasprit Bumrah to turn around the game with the ball and he did show a glimpse of it after dismissing Usman Khawaja early on. However, Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney firmly held their end and joined an unbeaten 62-run stand by stumps.
Both of them ensured that India did not find any more breakthroughs and remained wicketless for the rest of the day. Labuschagne is batting at 20 off 67 balls and McSweeney is on the other end with 38 runs to his name off 97 balls. Both of them will resume the game tomorrow for Australia. The hosts ended stumps day 1 at 86/1 and are currently trailing by 94 runs.