Adelaide, Australia
Australia ran out India captain Virat Kohli on 74 and restricted the tourists to 233-6 on the opening day of the test series at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Kohli notched his second slowest test fifty in terms of balls in a productive last session for the home team. The skipper hit eight fours during a 180-ball knock before being dismissed in a mixup with Ajinkya Rahane.
Kohli, renowned for free-flowing stroke-making, quickly adjusted to Australia’s accurate pace attack after he won the toss and opted to bat.
After the openers were out, Kohli was involved in a half-century stand with Cheteshwar Pujara (43) and 88 runs with Rahane (42).
Just when India looked like defying the pace bowlers and Nathan Lyon’s spin, Australia claimed three late wickets for 18 runs under lights in the day-night match.
At stumps, Ravichandran Ashwin was 15 not out and Wriddhiman Saha on 9. Kohli reached his half-century off 123 balls, but was run out from the non-striker’s end when Rahane told him too late to go back. Australia was further rewarded with two more wickets with the second new ball.
Mitchel Starc, who took an impressive 2-49, had Rahane leg before wicket off a full-pitched delivery and Hanuma Vehari was out on 16 plumb lbw off the back foot by Josh Hazlewood.
Australia’s disciplined bowling also won it the opening two sessions by limiting India to 107-3. Lyon claimed the only wicket of the middle session, the wicket of Pujara, and Australia never allowed Kohli to score freely.
Kohli could have been dismissed on 16 in the offspinner’s third over when video suggested the skipper gloved a leg-side catch behind the wickets, but Australia didn’t go for a television referral.
Kohli needed brief on-field treatment when his right thumb was injured by a short-pitched delivery from Starc. The captain pulled the left-arm fast bowler for a midwicket boundary in the same over.
Pujara showed immense temperament to not get his first boundary until the 148th delivery he faced. He hit Lyon for back-to-back fours.
However, he fell for the 10th time to Lyon in tests when Australia referred Marnus Labuschagne’s two-handed diving catch at leg gully. The ball clearly ballooned off Pujara’s bat on the leg side.
The success broke the 68-run stand between Kohli and Pujara as Australia allowed India only 66 runs in the middle session.
Kohli aimed to put pressure on the home team by batting first. But Starc set the tone by clean bowling Prithvi Shaw off the second ball, and Pujara edged Starc in the same over just short of diving Australia captain Tim Paine behind the wickets.
Hazlewood, who shared the new ball with Starc and Pat Cummins, also bowled to a steady line and length as Australia conceded only two boundaries in the entire two-hour first session.
Cummins pinned down the openers by bowling four successive maiden overs before he knocked the top of Mayank Agarwal’s middle stump off a delivery which nipped back into the right-hander. Agarwal made 17 off 40 balls.—AP
