After India’s dominant win in the first Test, hopes were high for the team to carry the momentum and confidence into the second Test. However, as always, the Australian team bounced back strongly. Let’s discuss the second match step by step.
Toss and Team Changes
India won the toss and elected to bat first. The team made several changes to their playing XI:
- Rohit Sharma returned to the squad and opted to play in the middle order to maintain the successful opening pair of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal from the first Test.
- Shubman Gill was back after recovering from his injury.
- Ravichandran Ashwin re-entered the playing XI, while Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, and Washington Sundar were benched.
Fun Fact: Rohit Sharma began his Test career as a middle-order batter. The last time he played in the middle order was during the Melbourne Test of the 2018-19 India-Australia series.
Australia made one change, bringing in Scott Boland for the injured Josh Hazlewood.
Day 1: A Rocky Start for India
This Test was a day-night match starting at 2:30 PM local time.
India’s openers, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, walked out to bat. However, Jaiswal was dismissed LBW by Mitchell Starc on the very first ball he faced, marking a dramatic start to the game.
KL Rahul looked comfortable, scoring 37 runs before falling to Starc as well. Virat Kohli, who has an impressive record in Adelaide—15 innings, 957 runs, an average of 73.61, with 5 centuries and 4 half-centuries—could not make an impact and was dismissed by Starc too.
Shubman Gill showed glimpses of brilliance, scoring 31 runs before being trapped LBW by Scott Boland. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, and others couldn’t contribute much. Nitish Reddy shone under pressure , scoring a crucial 42 runs before falling to Starc. Ashwin added a handy 22 runs, but India was bowled out for a modest 180 runs.
In the final session, Australia began their innings with Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney. Jasprit Bumrah struck early, dismissing Khawaja for 13. Under the lights, the ball started swinging, making batting difficult, but McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne weathered the storm, ensuring no further wickets were lost.
Day 2: Travis Head Dominates
India needed quick wickets on Day 2 to stay in the game. Bumrah delivered in his opening spell, dismissing McSweeney and Steve Smith.
However, Travis Head, India’s nemesis, walked in and changed the momentum with his aggressive batting. Head and Labuschagne built a solid partnership until Labuschagne was dismissed for 64 by Nitish Reddy.
Head, unfazed, continued to attack, eventually scoring a match-defining 140 runs before being bowled by Mohammed Siraj. Australia ended their innings with a commanding total of 337 runs, taking a significant lead.
India’s second innings began with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, but KL departed early for just 7 runs. Jaiswal and Shubman Gill formed a small partnership of 30 runs before Jaiswal fell to Boland. Kohli, Gill, and Rohit couldn’t make notable contributions, leaving India in a precarious position. At the end of Day 2, India was struggling, having lost 5 wickets.
Day 3: A Quick Collapse
The day began with Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy at the crease. While Pant played some audacious shots, he was dismissed by Starc. Nitish once again batted brilliantly under pressure, scoring 42 runs, but he lacked support from the other end.
India’s second innings ended at 175 runs, leaving Australia with a target of just 19 runs to win.
Australia’s openers, Khawaja and McSweeney, comfortably chased the target in just 3.2 overs, securing a 10-wicket victory. The match concluded within the first session of Day 3.
Possible Reasons for India’s Defeat
- Lack of Experience in Day-Night Tests
Australia has played 12 day-night Tests, winning 11 of them, while India has played only 4, winning 3. The lack of experience was evident as Indian batters struggled during the twilight sessions when the ball was swinging more. - Inconsistent Batting
India’s batting order has been struggling to post competitive totals for a while. The lack of substantial partnerships put immense pressure on the bowlers. - Australian Tactics
Australian batters like Labuschagne and McSweeney showed great discipline by leaving deliveries during challenging conditions, while Indian batters were more prone to playing risky shots. Additionally, Australian bowlers consistently bowled in the right areas, exploiting India’s weaknesses.
What’s Next?
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is always an intense and thrilling series as India and Australia are arguably the best teams in the world. Beyond the prestige of the series, India’s qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) final hinges on the outcome of the BGT.
For India to bounce back, the batting order needs to step up and support the bowlers. With three Tests remaining, it’s still anyone’s series to win.
