Live Report - Starc's career-best 6 for 48 makes it Australia's day

1h ago

I'll leave up with a teaser from the report, which will be up shortly. Al Muthu and Gnasher will have every other angle covered from the Adelaide Oval. Same place same time tomorrow. Ciao

Mitchell Starc’s sizzling spell with the pink ball headlined the opening day of the day-night Test in Adelaide as Australia responded to their 295-run drubbing in Perth by dismissing India for 180. Jasprit Bumrah then got rid of Usman Khawaja in the twilight but the under-pressure Marnus Labuschagne and rookie opener Nathan McSweeney navigated a tricky passage of play to guide Australia to stumps without any further damage. Their unbroken 62-run partnership helped Australia cut their deficit to under 100 and ensured that the first day in Adelaide belonged to them.

The first ball from Starc was a portent for what was to follow. He struck in the first over of each of his three spells, asserting his supremacy in pink-ball Tests. He came away with career-best Test figures of 6 for 48, which extended his pink-ball tally in Australia to 72. It is twice as many as Pat Cummins (36) has taken and 29 more than what Nathan Lyon, Cummins’ closest contender in pink-ball Test cricket in the country, has managed.

1h ago

2h ago

Labuschagne needed 19 balls to get off the mark and McSweeney 18, but both batters have dug in under the twilight to stabilise Australia's reply after they had lost Khawaja to Bumrah. After having seen off the new-ball spells of Bumrah and Siraj, McSweeney picks off Reddy for back-to-back fours.

As for India, R Ashwin is back on the field but hasn't bowled yet. He copped a blow on his foot when Starc yorked him. Matt Howard said on the TV commentary that it was an external injury, but no signs of Ashwin with the ball yet. The Australia batters, meanwhile, build on the gains made by Starc and co. earlier in the day.

2h ago

While collectively Australia's top order is underperforming, Labuschagne is the one squarely in the spotlight after two ugly innings at Optus Stadium. On the first day he laboured to 2 off 52 balls before missing a straight delivery from Mohammed Siraj and on the third evening left a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah that would have smashed the stumps.

The twin failures left Labuschagne with 123 runs from his last 10 innings of which 90 came in one knock against New Zealand in March. Overall this year he is averaging 24.50 in Tests to follow a 2023 where that figure was 34.91 having been above 60 in three of the previous four years.

3h ago

After switching the angle to around the wicket, Bumrah gets a length ball to angle in, kick up and seam away from Khawaja. He can only waft at it and edge it behind, with Rohit holding onto a more straightforward catch this time. Khawaja falls for 13 off 35 balls, with the pink ball doing a bit more under lights. This could be a fun, little session under the twilight.

Namooh Shah, our statsman, notes that this is Bumrah's 50th Test wicket in 2024, the most by any bowler this year.

The under-pressure Labuschagne joins rookie McSweeney in the middle. Rana is also getting the ball to seam around and bounce at the other end. He is also engaging in some verbal volleys with the Australia batters. These Indian youngsters won't back down from any challenge. McSweeney responds by firmly pulling a short ball over midwicket.

3h ago

Al Muthu from Adelaide Oval: A lot has been made of the adjustments India's batters have to make against the pink ball. The challenge the bowlers would face hasn't really been discussed. It's been too much of a good thing actually, in the first few overs. The movement and the bounce have been so substantial that Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney have been able to leave 18 of the first 30 balls they faced.

India usually start on about fifth stump and then go closer and closer to off stump. Here, when they start on fifth stump, and the ball decks away after pitching, it seems too wide. Bumrah tried to go straighter and gave away four byes. Australia's lbws and bowleds came off really pitched up balls. India haven't explored that length yet because what they've discovered is the ball responds better when you hit a length. Which it does, just that it hasn't been to their benefit yet.

3h ago

With the twilight approaching, Bumrah angles one into McSweeney and then it leaves the batter later. Bumrah squares up McSweeney and catches the outside edge. It seems like it’s Rohit’s catch at first slip, but Pant throws himself to his right and goes for it only to shell it. Rohit can’t grab it on the rebound either as the ball swerves away, hits his wrist and goes down. McSweeney was on 3 at that point. Can he make India pay for the drop?

4h ago

Reddy gave India hope of getting to 200 with his six-hitting, but they eventually fall 20 short of the mark, being dismissed for 180. It's that man Mitch Starc once again. He had the first say in this innings by trapping Jaiswal lbw with the old ball. He has the final say in this innings by having Reddy holing out with the old ball. Starc comes away with 6 for 48, his new career-best figures. A stiff challenge under twilight, though, awaits Australia's batters. Can they solve the Bumrah problem?

4h ago

Despite wickets falling at the other end, Nitish Kumar Reddy continues to counterattack. When Starc fires a full, fast one outside off, Reddy lines it up and smokes it over extra-cover for six. He then lines up Boland for a sequence of 6,4,6 in the next over, bowled by Boland.

The first six was an outrageous reverse-swat. Boland had bowled a blameless length delivery that was destined to hit the stumps until Reddy's reverse-swat intervened. He brought his fast hands into play and nonchalantly lifted it over the third-man boundary, one of the bigger pockets of the ground. I needed some time to pick my jaw up from the floor. No wonder Mitch Marsh is his fan. Bumrah exchanges smiles with Reddy. He certainly enjoyed it from the other end. Reddy is pushing India towards 200.

Reddy had top-scored in his debut innings in Perth and has top-scored for India once again in this pink-ball Test.

There’s no stopping Mitchell Starc with the pink ball in Australia. Ashwin had played some eye-catching strokes off Marsh and Cummins, but Starc blasts him out with an inch-perfect inswinging yorker. It thuds into Ashwin’s front boot even before he could bring his bat down. Full, fast and plumb once again. Another Starc special. Not sure why Ashwin had reviewed this.

He then cranks it up to 144.5kph and storms through the defences of Harshit Rana with another inswinger. Starc holds the ball aloft and celebrates his five-wicket haul. It's his first five-for against India in Test cricket and fourth in pink-ball Test cricket. Adelaide loves it

Al Muthu reports from Adelaide: "Twilight is approaching. That is the period where the new pink ball is at its most potent. Most people seem to agree on that. It is perhaps with that in mind that Australia brought back Mitchell Starc. If his simple, tried, tested, deadly full and straight stuff could topple India's top-scorer in Perth, they should do for their lower order.

"Exposing two new batters to Jasprit Bumrah in twilight might not exactly be ideal, even though Australia have India pinned in terms of runs on the board. So maybe if they can go bang-bang now, and allow their under-pressure top order some time at the crease before the sun sets, maybe they'd be able to deal with the chaos that is soon to come a little bit better.

"And guess what, it's working.

"A reason why the ball's misbehaved even during the day time might be because it's been a bit humid and cloudy out there."

Shiva Jayaraman puts numbers to Rohit's defence

Rohit Sharma doesn't have the tightest of defence in Tests. Even during his best phase as an opener, from the time he began to open in October 2019 to the end of the 2023 season, his control while playing defensive shots was 83.27%. Among 45 batters to face at least 1000 deliveries during that period, only Zak Crawley had lower control while defending. However, perhaps because Rohit had faster reflexes that allowed him to adjust at the last moment, he got away with low control. Out of the 1823 balls he defended during that phase, Rohit was dismissed only 12 times. That’s one dismissal every 152 balls.

But Rohit’s defensive technique seems to have been thrown off since he began attacking more in white-ball cricket with the ODI World Cup in 2023. In Tests post that World Cup, Rohit has been dismissed an equal 12 times defending from just 414 balls. So, a dismissal every 34.50 balls down from one every 152 balls. Among 70 batters who’ve defended at least 200 balls, only Tom Blundell and R Ashwin have a lower balls-per-dismissal rate. Interestingly, Rohit's control percentage hasn't come down noticeably - by less than one percentage point to 82.85% from earlier.

However, something else suggests that this weakness of Rohit’s might have something to do with slowing reflexes, given his feet movements have always been minimal. Against spinners, Rohit’s control has been 87.68 percent post the World Cup; he has been dismissed four times in 203 balls. Against pacers his control comes down to 78.19 percent. He has been dismissed 8 times in 211 balls.

5h ago

Cummins leaves India six down and sinking. He gets a back-of-a-length delivery to rise up to the ribs and has Pant flapping this prancing delivery to gully. How do you even play this?

McSweeney dropped Pant on 5. Pant adds 16 to his tally before Labuschagne catches him. India slump further to 109 for 6.

Cummins had looked underdone in Perth. He didn't threaten the stumps enough with the new ball today, but blasts one of India's key batters out with the old one. He celebrates it with a roar. Adelaide roars with him.

In his next over, Cummins digs in another bouncer to almost rip out Nitish Reddy's glove.

Post-dinner musings Al Muthu: "For a player who is known for finding loopholes in the laws for physics all to but a piece of wood on leather, Rishabh Pant's defensive skill is top notch. The same hand-eye coordination that enables him to pull off those fall-away scoops and sweeps probably play a part here as well because he doesn't really move his feet. It was very obvious at the nets two days out from the Adelaide Test, where his quick judgment of length, and minimal footwork, meant it almost looked like he was waiting in position with a dead bat for the ball to come and hit it.

"Some of the top-order batters weren't able to pick up which balls to defend and which to attack - Kohli and Rahul for example fell trying to play shots to balls they then realised could be left. Pant, on the other hand, is batting right now with 88% control. That, of course, is mitigated by the fact that the ball is getting older and softer."

6h ago

Andrew McGlashan from the Adelaide Oval: "Scott Boland has produced a reminder of what made him such a threat when he burst into Test cricket three seasons ago against England. It’s remarkable to think it’s his first home Test since late 2022 but as Pat Cummins said yesterday, no one fell over last summer. It was his own error that prevented a first-ball wicket yet even that, the late nip away off the seam, was trademark except for the placing of his heel. Striking the pads of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma has been route one from him – on a good length, or just back of it, and nipping the ball around. When he claimed Rohit, it took his average in Australia back under 20."

6h ago

Before Friday, the last time Rohit batted at No.6 in Test cricket was back in 2018 at the MCG, where he scored a first-innings 63 to help set up India’s victory. It helped India retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Six years on, Rohit has pushed himself down the order even though he’s the captain now to let Rahul slot in at the top as India aim to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Rahul started well but couldn’t quite convert it into a substantial score. The onus was on Rohit to repair the innings at No.6, but he, too, falls for 3 after the dinner break. Boland skids a full one into Rohit’s pads to catch him on the crease and trap him lbw. It’s so plumb that Rohit does not even bother about a review. India could’ve been six down had McSweeney held onto a catch offered by Pant when he was on 5.

7h ago

Boland might have not played this Test had Hazlewood been fit. His last Test match was in July 2023.

He came back and could've struck first ball but the luck went Rahul's way. Boland, however, marks his return by darting one into Gill's pads and having him lbw for 31 off 51 balls. Boland and Starc have ensured that this is indeed Australia's session. Chaotic passage of play for India just before lunch as they lose three wickets for just 12 runs. They are 82 for 4 at the dinner break. No.6 Rohit and Pant have plenty of work to do in the middle session.

"There's some rain lurking just to the south of the ground at the moment," Andrew McGlashan says from the Adelaide Oval. "The groundstaff bring out the hessian cover which is currently parked near the pitch."

7h ago

7h ago

7h ago

Gill and Rahul have settled India after that first-ball strike from Starc. They have latched onto anything that was remotely full and wide of off. Whenever Australia’s quicks veered away from the stumps, the pair has looked to take advantage of it. Like when Gill caressed Starc through the covers in the early exchanges. And like when Rahul stroked Boland through the same region later in the 14th over.

Gill, in particular, has been positive and has showed no signs of ring rust. He missed the Perth Test with a fractured thumb, but recovered in time for the pink-ball tour game in Canberra and worked his way back with an unbeaten 50.

As for Rahul, he continues to do his thing at the top. After having blunted the new ball, and after having some luck going his way, he is opening up against the older ball and playing more shots.

7h ago

By Shiva Jayaraman

Shubman Gill isn’t a big leaver of the ball. Against pacers, Gill has left alone 16.90% of the balls he’s faced. Since his Test debut, 47 batters in the top three have faced 500 or more balls from pacers in Test cricket. Among them, Gill’s leave percentage ranks the seventh lowest. He’s more circumspect against left-armers though. Against them, his leave percentage goes up to 21.72%. Gill predominantly stays legside when playing the ball, and perhaps because of that, the angle from left-armers bowling from over the wicket makes it easier for him to not offer a shot: unless the ball is coming in, it quickly moves outside the line of his head and Gill is able to judge his leaves better.

The difference in how much he leaves left-arm pace as against right-arm pace is stark early in his innings. In the first-20 balls of his innings, his leave percentage against left-arm pacers is higher at 32.80. Against right-arm pacers this halves down to just 16.00.

This could be one reason why Gill is more successful against left-arm pacers than he’s against right-armers. Coming into this match, Gill averaged 46.25 against the left variety as opposed to 30.00 against right-armers. Perhaps this also explains why he’s been so successful against Mitchell Starc, scoring 134 off 144 balls without getting dismissed by the bowler even once. Before this Test, he had not offered shot to 28 of 144 balls from Starc – most he’s left any other pacer in his career. In the first hour, Gill didn’t offer shot to 10 out of 24 balls he faced from Starc in the first hour, but managed just two leaves from 17 balls from the right-armers.

8h ago

Al Muthu from the Adelaide Oval: "The last time India were here, every mistake they made led to a wicket. Three years later, their luck seems to have changed. To the extent that KL Rahul has got two lives in the space of an over. He was walking without nicking one - there was no spike on Snicko - and was brought back because of a no-ball call. Then he did nick one to first slip but Usman Khawaja wasn't able to collect the catch.

"The idea of having Rahul up the order is because he can see off these good balls, absorb the pressure when Australia are bowling tight, and then hit back. But it looks like the conditions might be asking him to make a slight change. The good length and just back of a good length ball are moving off the seam quite sharply. But the full ones aren't really doing a whole lot. Rahul is on the lookout for the full one. He got it from Starc soon after getting those two lives from Boland and he lashed him backward of point for four. India are going to have to be alert to run-scoring opportunities here as well because pink-ball Tests are decided by batting first and batting big."

8h ago

Rahul was on 0 off 18 balls. Cummins had bowled three maidens to him. Rahul showed patience outside off until he fended at Boland's first ball - a length delivery that seamed away and reared up to threaten the shoulder of the bat.

Everyone thought Rahul was also out for a duck - even he was walking off - but he has a reprieve. Five balls later, Rahul gets another reprieve with Khawaja dropping him at slip. No dearth of drama at the Adelaide Oval.

8h ago

Andrew McGlashan's thoughts from the Adelaide Oval: "Mitchell Starc loves an early wicket. He’s not shy in celebrating, either, but there was something extra visceral as he roared at Yashasvi Jaiswal’s wicket. It was matched by the sound that went around Adelaide Oval which had yet to completely filled with fans still coming into the ground. It was the third time Starc had struck with the first ball of the Test, the previous one being the memorable start to the 2021-22 when he uprooted Rory Burns’ leg stump at the Gabba. Australia have faced considerable heat in the days between Tests and it was the perfect start. But now they need to keep it up. As an aside, Jaiswal is averaging 53.67 in the series from three knocks, two of which have been first-innings ducks."

9h ago

It's not for nothing that Mitch Starc is the most successful bowler in pink-ball Tests in Australia. On cue, Starc strikes with the very first ball of this Adelaide Test to pin Yashasvi Jaiswal.

This first-ball had Starc written all over it. Perfectly-pitched full ball. Fast. Right on the money. Angling in and swinging in late from left-arm over the wicket to have Jaiswal falling over and crashing into his front pad. It was always threatening leg stump and Jaiswal has to go for a duck. What a start for Australia. It elicits a huge roar from the Adelaide crowd.

In the lead-up to the Perth Test, Australia seemed a bit undercooked and questions were raised around the limited prep of some players, but they have certainly hit the ground running here in Adelaide.

Starc also challenges the outside edge of new man Shubman Gill and hits it as he wafts one past gully for four.

Here's Sampath Bandarupalli with a stat nugget: Mitchell Starc is second bowler after Pedro Collins to take a wicket on first ball of a men's Test on three occasions. All the three instances of Collins have come against Hannan Sarkar.

9h ago

Rohit wins the toss and elects to bat first as has been the trend in pink-ball Tests. "Batting in the middle order, which is different, but ready for the challenge," he says. He has been listed to bat at No.6. India bring back R Ashwin for Washington Sundar. No Jadeja. Padikkal and Jurel, meanwhile, make way for Rohit and Gill.

Cummins had confirmed Australia's only change on the eve of this Test: Boland in for Hazlewood, who is nursing a side strain.

Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Nathan McSweeney, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith,5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Alex Carey(wk), 8 Pat Cummins(capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Scott Boland

India: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rishabh Pant(wk), 6 Rohit Sharma (capt), 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj

10h ago

10h ago

Andrew McGlashan reports: "It’s an overcast, muggy day so far although the sun has tried to emerge. Temperature down a little on yesterday’s sweltering 40 degrees. The threat of rain and storms has receded somewhat although there’s still a chance we get one or two. Mitchell Marsh has had a brief bowl in the warm-ups and there’s confidence he will be able to play a role with the ball. The pitch has a good tinge of green on it – the groundsman said he was leaving 6mm of grass. Generally you bat first here in day-night Tests. Australia have spoken of their surprise at some of the criticism that has come their way after one loss, but make no mistake this is a massive game for them."

10h ago

Last month India had suffered their first 3-0 whitewash at home. They went into the Perth Test without their regular captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. They entered that Test without having played an official match on tour. They responded with a 295-run victory, a bona fide contender for India’s all-time great wins.

It’s time for the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. Both Rohit and Gill are back, having had a crack at the pink ball in the tour game against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra. On the eve of the game, Rohit confirmed that KL Rahul will continue to bat at the top alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal and that he will slide down to the middle order. Though he’s the skipper, he’s open to bat out of position and let Rahul do his thing at the top.

Even in Perth, India had made some bold selection calls, leaving out R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for Washington Sundar, who, perhaps, offers more with the bat. India, however, might not have happy memories of the pink-ball at the Adelaide Oval: the last time they were here, they were skittled for 36.

As for Australia, they have a formidable record in pink-ball Tests, having won all seven at the Adelaide Oval and all but one of the 12 day-nighters at home. This time they will have to do without Josh Hazlewood, but Scott Boland can be just as accurate with his lines and lengths. If Australia lose this one, they would need a comeback only seen once before in Test history: the 1936-37 Australia side, led by Don Bradman, is the only one to come from 2-0 down to win a five-match series, as Andrew McGlashan points out in his preview.

How will the pink ball behave at the Adelaide Oval? Can Australia strike back to square the series? Will Washington keep his place in India’s XI? How can India and Australia make the WTC final? Every question will be answered and every angle will be covered on ESPNcricinfo.