All eyes were on the face-off between Mitchell Starc and Yashasvi Jaiswal on Day 1 of the second Test between Indian and Australia in Adelaide, especially what happened in Perth. The hype was palpable in the Day Night Test after Yashasvi Jaiswal sledged Australia's premier pacer by saying 'bowl is coming too slow' in the series opener, which India ended up winning by a big margin of 295 runs.
But it was Starc's turn to give it back to India's batting sensation, and he did exactly the same on December 6, with his first-ball strike at Adelaide Oval.
Mitchell Starc explains strategy behind Yashasvi Jaiswal's first-ball wicket
Meanwhile, Starc has now revealed his straightforward strategy behind dismissing Jaiswal on the first ball of the pink-ball Test. Tasked with bowling the opening over, Starc executed his plan flawlessly, sending the young opener back to the pavilion on a golden duck. This early breakthrough set the tone for Starc's impressive performance on Day 1. He finished the day with remarkable figures of 6 wickets for 48 runs, his best Test bowling performance to date. India's batting crumbled as a result, being all out for a meager 180 runs.
After the day's play, Starc explained his strategy which was to target the stumps and aim for Jaiswal's pads. His execution of this simple yet effective strategy proved to be decisive.
“At the stumps, hit the pads. That's it. Nothing special,” said Starc in the post-day press conference.
Starc also shared his approach to bowling the first over. He emphasized the importance of attacking the stumps early on to pick up wickets.
“That’s been my role for a while: to attack the stumps and try and make early inroads. Pleased to sneak one past today. We know how important it is to make early inroads into this batting lineup. It’s always a nice way to start. It is a big Test match, it’s a big series,” added Starc.
Starc commended Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne for the way they steadied Australia's boat after losing Usman Khawaja early and navigated the challenging third session under the pink-ball conditions.
“It’s a good way to finish the day. A good day all out. But inarguably, the hardest time to bat is that third session with the brand new pink ball. So, to finish the day one down, particularly from Marn and McSweeney, to fight through sustained pressure from a quality bowling attack and to come out the other end,” said Starc.
“We have a chance to go on tomorrow, it was fantastic from them. Obviously, a fair bit of outside noise. Very pleased for them,” he concluded.
Australia dominate India in Adelaide Test
At the end of the opening day of the pink-ball Test, Australia reached 86/1 in their first innings, trailing India's total of 180. Nathan McSweeney (38*) and Marnus Labuschagne (20*) were the unbeaten batsmen at the crease.
India's batting faltered on the first day of the second Test against Australia, as they were bundled out for 180 runs in 44.1 overs, thanks to Mitchell Starc's sizzling six-fer. After opting to bat first, India lost four wickets in the first session and six more in the second, failing to capitalize on promising starts.
Nitish Reddy top-scored for India with a quickfire 42 runs, while KL Rahul and Shubman Gill contributed 37 and 31 runs, respectively. However, the early dismissals of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, and captain Rohit Sharma, along with the relatively brief innings of Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin, hindered India's progress.