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Ravichandran Ashwin of India in action against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on December 18, 2020.
Ravichandran ashwin pocketed four wickets as a dominant India held a 62-run lead on the stumps on day two of Adelaide’s day-night event after Australian captain Tim Paine ran out of hitting partners.
Paine was stranded at 73 not out when the Australian innings ended at 191 to be behind India’s 244 by 53 runs.
Ashwin had figures of 4-55 while Umesh Yadav took 3-40.
In the stumps, India in its second inning was one down of nine with Mayank Agarwal in five and night watchman Jasprit Bumrah is yet to score. Under pressure Prithvi Shaw, who went out for a duck in the first inning, was thrown by Pat Cummins for four.
Fifteen wickets fell on the day that began when Cummins and Mitchell Starc took just 25 deliveries to defeat India’s last four batters.
Australia, in turn, struggled to advance as Bumrah, Ashwin and Yadav worked their way up the batting order.
“It was certainly not our best performance, but you have to admit that India has played very well,” Paine said.
“They put us under pressure and we just couldn’t build momentum or build partnerships together. But anything can happen tomorrow.”
“The main thing is to keep the score under control and hopefully one of our great bowlers runs a bit and picks up momentum.”
Even with India pouring out five chances, they never allowed Australia to get away from a determined Paine who hit his eighth half century, helped in part by being eliminated by Agarwal on the 26th.
It was Paine’s only misstep and he raised his 50 of 68 deliveries with a cut assured to the limit.
As his confidence grew, he produced a reverse sweep to move to 60 on an Ashwin four.
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After Australia grabbed 28 balls to make their first runs on the board, Bumrah stepped forward to eliminate makeshift starter Matthew Wade and out of form Joe Burns by eight apiece before dinner.
Ashwin’s spin captured the grounds of Steve Smith, Travis Head and rookie Cameron Green between dinner and tea with Smith, the world’s best hitter, facing 29 deliveries for his only career.
In the final session, Yadav caught Marnus Labuschagne and Cummins to expose the tail and teamed up with Ashwin to take the last two wickets from Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood.
Labuschagne survived long enough in the middle to be Australia’s second top scorer with 47, but his wicket was always under threat.
They dropped it three times before his luck ran out after tea when Yadav caught it in front of him.
It was a fruitful finish for Yadav, who eliminated Cummins before he could score.
“I’m so happy to be playing test cricket again, it’s been a long time, I felt like I was making my debut again,” Ashwin said.
“Obviously Steve Smith was a great terrain, in the context of the game very important terrain.”
India’s first innings ended quickly on the second morning with the last four wickets adding just 11 runs on 25 balls.
But the trouble for the tourists began in the final session the day before at 188-for-three, when Virat Kohli ran out to cause a spectacular collapse that saw his last seven wickets fall over 56 races.
Starc and Cummins, who shared the last four layoffs, were chosen by the Australian bowlers, Starc finished 4-53 and Cummins 3-48.
