Australia vs India 1st Test: Australia win by 8 wickets
The Indian cricket team under Virat Kohli faced its worst hour of embarrassment while collapsing to its lowest Test score of 36 as a rampaging Australia cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket victory inside two and half days in the opening Day/Night Test on Saturday.
Josh Hazlewood (5-3-8-5) and Patrick Cummins (10.2-4-21-4) displayed fast bowling of highest quality, the impact of which will be far-reaching with three more Tests to go.
India’s earlier lowest score was 42 at the Lord’s in 1974 against England, known in Indian cricket parlance as the “Summer of 42”.
India have now lost three successive Tests well inside three days with two being in New Zealand earlier this year.
To sum it up, the Indian batsmen failed to factor in the pitch suddenly becoming more livelier with extra bounce. The two Australian pacers bowled deliveries that the visiting batsmen had to play and the ultra-defensive mindset that they carried from the first innings didn’t help their cause.
Never has a Test match changed so dramatically in an hour’s play like it did at the Adelaide Oval on today. Worse, a collapse like this could affect the performance in the next Test match at the MCG, beginning December 26, and not to forget they won’t have a Kohli to look up to as he would be on paternity leave.
– PTI
