AUS vs IND 2024/25, Australia vs India 2nd Test, Day 2, Adelaide Match Report, December 06 - 10, 2024

India 180 and 128 for five (Pant 28*, Cummins 2-33, Boland 2-39) path Australia 337 (Head 140, Labuschagne 64, Bumrah 4-61, Siraj 4-98) by 29 runs

A whirlwind century from hometown hero Travis Head blew India’s assault away and thrilled the Adelaide crowd on day two of the pink-ball Check. Head’s 140 off 141 balls swelled Australia’s first-innings result in 157, leaving India going through a difficult ultimate two hours below the floodlights. The guests fell additional behind after they misplaced half their facet throughout that interval when the pink ball was at its most potent. At stumps, India had been 128 for five, nonetheless 29 runs behind.

Head had walked out to beneficiant applause from his house crowd and right into a little bit of hassle within the center after Jasprit Bumrah had taken out each Nathan McSweeney and Steven Smith in an area of 13 balls. Whereas McSweeney nicked a Bumrah particular behind to Rishabh Pant, after managing so as to add only one to his in a single day tally of 38, Steven Smith was caught down the leg facet for two.

After the floodlights had blacked out twice on the opening day, Australia’s batting threatened to black out on the second afternoon. Head, nevertheless, had different concepts and torched the innings along with his no-holds-barred strategy. He performed and missed 4 of his first 9 balls, however that definitely did not cease him from enjoying his pictures. He stayed true to his methodology of staying leg-side of the ball and cracking it away into the shorter pockets of the bottom sq. on the off facet.

He additionally cleared the longer straight boundary when he crashed R Ashwin over mid-off after which over his head for sixes, together with a 110-metre monster hit over the sightscreen.

Head scored his first fifty off 63 balls and took solely 48 extra balls to transform it into 100. He celebrated the landmark by rocking his bat like a child in tribute to his household’s new arrival, along with his spouse amongst a 51,642-strong house crowd. A hug from fellow South Australian Alex Carey was additionally a part of the revelry.

Indian followers could be sick of the sight of Head by now. Since 2023, he has hit 1052 runs in 19 innings towards India throughout codecs at a mean of 61.9 with three centuries, together with tons within the earlier cycle of the WTC ultimate and 2023 ODI World Cup ultimate.

Head had set to work on Saturday by including 65 with Marnus Labuschagne after which 74 with Carey. Labuschagne’s innings was as fluent as Head’s however it was one which he wanted to work his method again into type after having managed simply 123 runs in his final ten Check innings, of which 90 got here in a single knock towards New Zealand, earlier than the Adelaide Check. Having been afforded some pretty comfy leaves on the primary night, India’s seamers made Labuschagne play much more on the second afternoon. Each time they erred too straight or into his pads, Labuschagne picked them away with compact drives and flicks.

Labuschagne received to his fifty off 114 balls and celebrated it by taking the erratic Harshit Rana for 3 fours in 4 balls. After having late-cut the taller, faster Rana with ease, Labuschagne was caught at gully when he tried an identical shot off the shorter, slower tempo of Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Head was extra brutal on Rana, hitting him for 41 off 29 balls. It did not actually matter what got here down at Head. Quick. Full. On the stumps. Exterior off stump. Every thing was dispatched.

Mohammed Siraj, although, gave India some management and backed Bumrah up. He picked up his first wicket within the recreation when he extracted additional bounce and coaxed an out of doors edge from Carey.

R Ashwin’s solely wicket was Mitchell Marsh however that was all the way down to some success. After shaping to defend a non-turning offbreak from Ashwin, Marsh walked off even earlier than umpire Richard Illingworth raised his finger and did not even ponder a evaluation. There was nothing on Snicko, with replays additionally indicating that the ball had missed the skin edge.

Head attacked the second new ball as effectively, whipping Bumrah for a brace of fours. He then picked Siraj up for an imperious six over sq. leg within the subsequent over, however Siraj struck again the following ball to york Head. Siraj launched his pent-up feelings and gave Head a send-off that did not go too effectively with him or his beloved Adelaide crowd.

The boos rang out however Siraj proceeded to dismiss Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland quickly after tea to wrap up Australia for 337. Bumrah, who had gone down with some discomfort, which prompted medical consideration, 4 balls into his spell with the second new ball, recovered to knock Cummins over.

Cummins then took centerstage with the ball and cramped KL Rahul with a lifter for 7 off 10 balls. Simply earlier than stumps, he hit the highest of Rohit Sharma’s off stump with an absolute peach.

Rohit had a shaky keep, having been struck on the helmet by his first ball from Starc. He was then bowled subsequent ball, however a no-ball reprieved him. Cummins did Rohit in simply earlier than the shut of play, with no error within the inserting of his heel.

It was Boland who had prised out Virat Kohli by pushing a size ball on a fourth-stump line and drawing an out of doors edge from him. Boland had earlier struck along with his first ball to dislodge Yashasvi Jaiswal for twenty-four off 31 balls. He has seamlessly slotted into the bowling assault and will pose an attention-grabbing choice query for the Brisbane Check although Josh Hazlewood is hopeful of returning to motion for that fixture.

Starc not hanging with the pink new ball in his first spell is likely to be an aberration, however he got here again with the older one to storm by way of the defences of Gill with a hooping inswinger.

Pant, nevertheless, continued to do Pant issues. Regardless of the frenzy of wickets, he charged out of the crease and manufactured swinging room to smash his first ball over mid-off for 4. He then unfurled the reverse pull and the falling scoop to counter Australia’s quicks briefly. He remained unbeaten on 28 off 25 balls.

India will want extra of this from Pant – and extra help from Reddy – if they’re to in some way pull off one other heist in Australia.

Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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