The Australian tail frustrated the Indian bowlers for 36 overs by adding 104 runs for the last 3 wickets, but finally gave in allowing India win Adelaide Test by 31 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the series. This is the first time in the 70-year-old bilateral Test series history that India won the first match of the series down under. Credit goes to Kohli and his boys!
Chasing a victory target of 323, Australia slumped to 187/7 at one stage. However, Pat Cummins (28), Mitchell Starc (28), Nathan Lyon (38*) and Josh Hazlewood (13) denied India an easy passage through their strong resolve and fightback that left Indian players surprised and made them toil hard for this win.
Australia bowled out for 291 and lost the match by 31 runs. Shaun Marsh was the top scorer at 60, while Tim Paine made 41. Marcus Harris contributed 26. For India, Bumrah, Ashwin and Shami took 3 wickets each. Chheteshwar Pujara who scored 123 and 71 in this Test, was declared ‘Player of the Match’.
Prasanta Patnaik