Captain Pat Cummins took a five-wicket haul as Australia defeated India by 10 wickets in the day-night Test in Adelaide and square the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 1-1 on Sunday. Chasing 19 runs to win, Australian openers Nathan McSweeney and Usman Khawaja needed just 3.2 overs to romp home in front of a sell-out crowd at the Adelaide Oval.
Starting the third day on 128/5, the Indians couldn’t resist in front of Cummins and Mitchell Starc to be all out for 175 in the second innings, thus taking a lead of 18 runs. McSweeney (10 not out) and Khawaja (9 not out) then guided the hosts to a commanding win. India had won the first Test by 295 runs in Perth.
Nitish Kumar Reddy was once again the top-scorer for India with a 47-ball 42. He had scored an identical 42 in the first innings to. Rishabh Pant (28) was the first to fall on the day, caught by Steve Smith off Starc. The tail offered little resistance, with Ravichandran Ashwin (7), Harshit Rana (0), and Mohammed Siraj (7) departing cheaply.
Cummins finished with figures of 5/57, supported by Scott Boland (3/51) and Mitchell Starc (2/60). Earlier, in the first innings, Starc’s 6/48 destroyed India as the visitors posted 180. In reply, Australia rode on Travis Head’s 140 to post 337.
With this loss, Rohit Sharma joined Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Datta Gaekwad for most consecutive Test losses as an Indian captain – 4. India had lost 0-3 to New Zealand at home before coming to Australia. Jasprit Bumrah led India in the first Test in Perth in the absence of Rohit, who missed out due to the birth of his child.
