India pulled off a spectacular victory in the first test against Australia by 31 runs, which was played at the Adelaide oval in Adelaide. Day 5 belonged to Jasprit Bumrah who picked three wickets and removed dangerous looking Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine and Pattrick Cummins to keep India in the game.
Earlier in the match, India posted a challenging total of 250 runs in the 1st innings courtesy Cheteshwar Pujara’s fighting 123 runs. Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the Australian bowlers who picked 3 wickets.
In return, Australia’s middle order scumbled but was rescued by the lower order who brought them close to the 250 runs figure but fell short by 15 runs. Travis Head was the top scorer for hosts who scored 72 runs.
With the match remaining even stevens after the first innings, it was all upto the Indian batsman to take their team to the victory by posting a big total on board. Openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay started cautiously and added 63 runs for the first wicket. After the departure of Vijay and Rahul, skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara took the total close to 150 runs. The spin twist of Nathan Lyon(6/122) then took over the proceedings as he went through the Indian middle order with the visitors struggling at 282/6 at one stage.
Three Indian lower order batsman could not open their account as Virat Kohli and co got bundled out on 307 runs to set a target of 323 runs for Australia.
Australia’s second innings
Surprise pick of the game- Aaron Finch(11) again continued his flop show in the Adelaide test as he was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin. Lot was expected from Usman Khwaja but he could just manage 8 runs, leaving Australia in some sort of bother. Shaun Marsh(60) held one end of the wicket and formed partnerships and took Australia close to the target. After the departure of Marsh, the onus was on the lower order batsman to contribute and take the hosts to an unreal victory.
The lower order trouble
India lost the series in England and one of the reason was the Indian bowlers not dismissing the tail quickly and the rise of lower order batsman like Sam Curran. The same story was set to repeat today as Australian lower order was in no mood to give up the chase despite losing all their top order batters.
Australia was 187/7 after the departure of skipper Tim Paine(41) but Pat Cummins(28) and Mitchell Starc(28) added 41 runs for the 8th wicket to bring the uneasiness in the Indian camp. Mohammed Shami(3/65) removed dangerous looking Starc that brought Nathan Lyon to the crease. The lower order continued to trouble the Indian bowlers as Lyon(38*) and Cummins continued to played their shots that got them over the 250 run mark.
Jasprit Bumrah(3/68) removed Cummins and India fancied their chance of winning only their 6th ever test match in Australia with the hosts still needing 64 runs. The last wicket partnership showed lot of resistance and took the aggressive approach that brought them close to the total. Nathan Lyon troubled the Indian batsman in the second innings with the ball and was set to again take down the visitors with his batting prowess but his determination was finally broken with the wicket of Josh Hazlewood(13) who was dismissed by R. Ashwin. India registered a historic victory by 31 runs and managed to win their 6th ever test in Australia.
Stats corner
India is the second Asian side to win the first Test of a series in Australia after Pakistan at the MCG in 1978/7.
India registered a first test victory in a four match test series in SENA countries after Hamilton, 2008/09 (1-0)
(SENA- South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia)
Man of the match: Cheteshwar Pujara (194 runs in 2 innings)
