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The bump and flick of a captain’s tail have given Australia some hope of victory in a day and night event that is up for grabs after two eventful days at the Adelaide Oval, where India is 9-9. 1 in his second inning and leads by 62 runs.
Tim Paine led from the front with an undefeated 73 on Friday, producing arguably his biggest blow since helping Australia salvage a draw against Pakistan after the Cape Town cheating scandal.
A 32-run endurance between Paine and Marnus Labuschagne (47) was shamefully the hosts’ biggest partnership. Paine, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood rallied their team from 111-7 to 191, yet it remained Australia’s lowest first-inning total in a day-night event.
Paine released a nosedive catch, giving Mayank Agarwal a life in two during a hectic flurry of six over after the inning change. Pat Cummins was entrusted with the new ball and messed with Prithvi Shaw’s stumps, while undefeated night watchman Jasprit Bumrah faced 11 deliveries.
Virat Kohli will be pleased with his chances of setting an imposing target, but India could already be in a much more dominant position, having granted pardons to Paine, Labuschagne and Starc.
Paine was 26, and Australia in deep trouble at 113-7, when Agarwal dropped a catch deep. Labuschagne fell on the 12th and 21st, by Bumrah and Shaw respectively.
Paine regained his half-century on 70 balls, scoring with a degree of freedom that contradicted every other inning of the game. The wicketkeeper raised his test batting average to 33.4 in the process, leaving Adam Gilchrist as Australia’s only glove with a higher average.
The Paine side started day two with a bang, needing just 22 minutes and 4.1 overs to capture four wickets and roll the tourists by 244. Starc, who was granted an exemption from SA Health because he had been isolated at his home in the northern suburbs of Sydney before flying to Adelaide, he cleared his tail to enhance his reputation as the world’s best pink ball bowler.
However, Australia’s top six hitters failed to take advantage of the advantage created by their bowlers. Bumrah turned the momentum into an inspired opening spell, causing a 7-95 collapse when he caught out-of-form hitter Joe Burns and improvised starter Matthew Wade lbw amid a gorilla blitz.
Kohli grabbed a magnificent catch to end Cameron Green’s first hit at 11, giving Ravichandran Ashwin a third scalp after roulette eliminated Steve Smith and Travis Head. Umesh Yadav claimed Labuschagne’s all-important scalp early in the night session, churning out a ball that stayed incredibly low and caught the pound-pound batter.
