Australia thump India at fortress Adelaide to level series

AFP Published December 9, 2024

Indian batter Nitish Kumar Reddy edges the ball to get caught out off the bowling of Australian captain Pat Cummins during the second Test at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.—AFP

ADELAIDE: A resurgent Australia thumped India by 10 wickets to win the second Test on Sunday and level their blockbuster five-match series 1-1 after a batting and bowling masterclass at fortress Adelaide Oval.

Chasing just 19 for victory, openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney steered the hosts to the meagre target without loss on day three of the pink-ball clash.

Earlier, the tourists resumed at 128-5 after their hopes were left in tatters during a final fiery session on Saturday at the hands of an Australian pace onslaught.

They only boosted the total to 175 before meekly surrendering.

Danger man Rishabh Pant failed to negotiate the opening over from Mitchell Starc and was out without adding to his overnight 28 while Pat Cummins accounted for Ravichandran Ashwin (7) then Harshit Rana (0).

All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy made a plucky 42 before he fell to Scott Boland, who then removed Mohammed Siraj (7) to end the innings.

Skipper Cummins ended with 5-57 while Boland grabbed 3-51. Starc took eight wickets for the match.

“That’s a great week, great to level the series. We were far from the team we want to be in Perth but this was good,” said Cummins, whose side was well beaten in the series opener.

The captain reserved special praise for Travis Head after his match-winning century.

“He loves batting here, again one of those momentum-shifts, it could have gone either way when he walked out to bat,” Cummins said. “The ball does a bit more under lights, but the big thing was getting a big lead.”

Cummins warned India that Australia are pumped up and back to their best as they look to carry the momentum from a commanding win into the next Test in Brisbane.

“You know, I think we were back to our best,” said Cummins.

“That’s the kind of team that I remember, and how we want to play our cricket. So really satisfying.”

The defeat in Perth and negative media coverage made their eighth consecutive pink-ball win in Adelaide taste even better, he added.

“I think being one down, no doubt there’s a little bit more on it, trying to level up the series,” he said.

“And, you know, you get a bit more pumped up for wickets. It’s a big series, every Test match is big, every wicket is pretty big. So it’s pretty pumped out there.”

The defeat was another painful memory of Adelaide for India, who also crashed within three days in 2020 when they were bundled out for 36 — their lowest-ever Test score.

Victory capped a fighting turnaround for Australia after being crushed by 295 runs in the first Test, which sparked fierce criticism over whether the top-ranked but ageing team could still produce the goods.

While Khawaja and Steve Smith were again notable flops with the bat, the hosts largely silenced the critics — at least until the next Test starting on Saturday.

Australia were always odds-on favourites in Adelaide despite the Perth calamity, boasting far more experience of day-night Test cricket. They have now won 12 of their 13 games played under lights.

In contrast, India have a 3-2 win-loss record in the format, with both defeats to Australia in the South Australian capital.

‘DEFEAT NOT A MENTAL SCAR’

“Disappointing week for us. We didn’t play well enough to win the game,” said Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.

“There were times when we could have grabbed the opportunity but failed, which cost us the game,” Sharma said.

The Indian captain attributed the demoralising loss to sub-standard batting, but brushed off the scale of the defeat.

“Firstly, it’s not a [mental] scar, it’s just we’ve lost a Test match,” he added.

“We didn’t play well enough. So it’s important in this short time that we have before the next Test match just to figure out certain things.

“You know, if you want to bat how we want to bat, and if you want to bowl, what lines and what lengths and what kind of fields placement we need to have.

“Those are the things more than anything else. Like I said, it’s still one-all and plenty of things left in this series and definitely a way for us to get back into it.

“When you come to Australia I feel the best chance of winning a Test match is by putting runs on the board. And of course, when we won the toss, we elected to bat,” said Sharma.

“We knew that there would be challenges. But in the past, where the conditions have been a little challenging, we’ve batted really well to put runs on the board and then try and put pressure on the opposition.

“That is the disappointing part, that we didn’t bat well enough, you know, probably were 30-40 runs short with the bat in the first innings.”

SCOREBOARD

INDIA (1st Innings) 180

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 337

INDIA (2nd Innings, overnight 128-5):

Y. Jaiswal c Carey b Boland 24

K.L. Rahul c Carey b Cummins 7

S. Gill b Starc 28

V. Kohli c Carey b Boland 11

R. Pant c Smith b Starc 28

R. Sharma b Cummins 6

N.K. Reddy c McSweeney b Cummins 42