India lost KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill in the space of 16 balls in a manic passage of play right before the end of the first session of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide. Led by Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland, Australia came roaring back into the day-night Test after a fluent partnership between KL Rahul and Shubman Gill, where both batters rode their luck but never failed to seize an opportunity to pepper the boundary.
Starc dismissed in-form opener Yashasvi Jaiswal with the first delivery of the pink-ball Test, and then returned to send back KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in the second hour of play as Australia finished the session in a dominant fashion. At the first interval, returning skipper Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 1 and Rishabh Pant was 4 not out. Starc took 3-31 in eight overs.
Star gave a heart-racing start to the day-night Test by giving marching orders to India’s in-form opener Jaiswal for a platinum duck. It was a full delivery and Jaiswal, expecting an away-swinger at the start of the Test, played all around it.
Shubman Gill (31) and Rahul (37) then added 69 runs for the second wicket. Gill appeared to be in fine touch despite missing the first test due to a thumb injury and scored five boundaries.
India were 36-1 after the first hour, with Rahul starting slow again and survived two chances off Scott Boland’s first over.
He was adjudged caught behind in the eighth over, only for it to be deemed a no ball, and then was dropped at slip four balls later as Usman Khwaja failed to latch on.
India lose Rahul, Kohli and Gill in manic 16 balls
Rahul faced 64 balls before he was finally caught at gully off Starc in the 19th over. That is where the Test match started to take a different turn. The right-hander, for whom captain Rohit Sharma sacrificed the opening position, failed to control the extra bounce that Starc generated and nicked it to Gully.
Extra bounce troubled Virat Kohli as well, and he was caught at slip for seven. Once again, Kohli’s forward press brought about his downfall. He did not have enough time to transfer his weight onto the backfoot and ride the bounce. Former Australia opener Justin Langer said, Kohli was unsure whether to play at it or not.
“Even the greatest of players… they punch it through covers or get hands away from it. It’s a hard thing to do. Virat Kohli was unsure whether to play or leave it,” Langer said on commentary.
Things went from bad to worse for India as Boland struck at the other end, trapping Gill lbw as India lost three wickets for 12 runs across 16 deliveries to surrender its early advantage. Much like Jaiswal, Gill was guilty of walking across and missing a full and straight delivery.
Rohit Sharma and Gill’s returns were two of three changes to the India lineup that convincingly won the series-opening match in Perth last week.
Australia made one change, with Boland recalled to replace the injured Josh Hazlewood, who sustained a side strain while taking match figures of 5-57 from 34 overs in Australia’s heavy 295-run defeat in the first Test.