Adelaide, Dec 6, 2024
Former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist feels that India captain Rohit Sharma’s front foot was stuck which led to his lbw dismissal off Scott Boland in the opening day of the pink-ball Test against Australia at Adelaide Oval.
Rohit, who missed the Boarder-Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Perth, returned to the middle order after six years but failed to make an impact in India’s shattered first innings.
With Hazlewood ruled out of the second Test due to injury, Boland was the sole change in Australia’s playing XI.
“Hazlewood was Australia’s best bowler in Perth but having Boland playing here as his replacement is not bad. Boland is tall, but you wonder if the ball would have hit the stump if it had been Hazlewood. Boland has the ability to skid the ball through. It did so here. Rohit Sharma’s front foot was stuck and that’s a good night,” Gilchrist said on commentary.
India were struggling at 82/4 in 23 overs at Dinner break with Rohit and Rishabh Pant on the crease.
Post dinner break, Boland struck by getting a fuller ball to catch Rohit in the crease and go past his inside edge to trap him lbw. India could have been six down had Nathan McSweeney held onto a catch offered by Pant when he was on five.
Pant added 16 more runs before a rising delivery from Pat Cummins kicked up and took the shoulder edge of the bat and was caught by gully. Ravichandran Ashwin played some eye-catching boundaries off Marsh and Cummins, but Starc trapped him lbw with a top inswinging yorker and castled Harshit Rana with another inswinger.
With wickets falling from one end, Reddy launched a stunning counter-attacking act. After middling an off-drive off Cummins for four, Reddy thumped Boland through mid-off for another boundary. Post lofting Starc over deep extra cover for six, Reddy tore into Boland by reverse-scooping, flicking and pulling him for two sixes and a four.
But Australia continued to chip in, as Cummins got Jasprit Bumrah to edge to first slip, before Starc wrapped up the proceedings by having Reddy hole out to mid-off.
India were bundled out for 180 in their first innings after opting to bat first. Starc returned with the figures of 6-48 to take his first five-fer against India in Tests, and his fourth (in 13 matches) with the pink-ball–the most five-fer by any pacer.(Agency)
