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The first match of the series down under witnessed India dominating the Aussies and taking a valuable 1-0 lead in the four-match series. Here is how the match panned out.
Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first on an Adelaide pitch which was expected to get better as the day progressed. India started their innings on a dismal note as both the openers perished early chasing balls wide of their reach.
What followed was an absolute shock as the Indian captain, Virat Kohli, fell prey to an outstanding catch by Khawaja. Middle order failed again and India found themselves 127-6 with Pujara holding one end firmly. He formed a crucial partnership with Ashwin and played a few shots with the tail, taking India to a fighting total of 250 and in the process scoring magnificent innings of 123.
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Australia’s reply to India’s total started on a very poor note as Ishant Sharma cleaned up Finch off only the third delivery of the innings. Wickets at regular intervals ensured that Australia were never able to play freely and scored runs very slowly. It was only because of the rearguard action by Travis Head and the tale which ensured that they closed in on India’s first inning total and fell short only by 15 runs.
India started their second innings cautiously with openers seeing off the first 10 overs. Once KL Rahul got his eye in, he flaunted his class alongside his wide range of shots and scored an important 44 runs. Both the openers again fell in quick succession but this time Pujara and Kohli built a valuable partnership with the later being dismissed on the brink of stumps on Day 3.
Day 4 started with hope for Australia as they had Kohli back in the dugout and a fragile Indian middle order in front of them. But all hopes were put to rest and India’s no. 3 alongside India’s vice-captain scored a pivotal partnership of 87 runs and ensured that India had enough in the bank to give Australia a very tough fight. A late order collapse meant that India lost their last 5 wickets for just 59 runs and gave Australia a daunting target of 322 to win the match.
Openers were again a disappointment from the Australian side. Their mainstay In Usman Khawaja also played a silly shot and went, leaving his team in more trouble. Then it was some sensible batting from the pair of Head and Marsh as they saw off the remaining day without gifting away any wickets to India.
Day 5 started with Ishant picking up Travis Head early and soon after that Marsh fell to a peach from Bumrah. Australian captain, Tim Paine showed some intent and played a positive knock of 41 runs but he too fell victim to Bumrah. The tail tries showing some resistance but to no avail as India’s complete performance helped them take the early lead in the series.
Let's see what the captains had to say:
Tim Paine, Australian captain: It's pretty shattering really. Proud of the fight from the lower order. A well-deserved win for India. We thought we could win, no doubt about that, we saw how the pitch is playing and told ourselves we are gonna dig deep, but unfortunately, myself, Travis and Shaun couldn't bat long as long as we should have. That's (Pujara's innings) the difference between the two sides. Really hard to get him (Pujara) out. We gotta cope with the belief that we are going to win this Test series, we just need someone in our top six to go big. My finger is fine
Virat Kohli, Indian captain: These things happen in Tests, ups and downs through a game. You need to just stay calm. Odds were stacked against them. They fought really well but we executed our plans well and got that last wicket which were intending to get. I wouldn't say I was cool as ice but you just don't try to show it. Jasprit was getting worked up in his last over but I just told him to relax. Super proud, to have four bowlers and take 20 wickets is a great achievement. Something that we haven't done in the past. Shows us batsmen that if we step up, we will be gunning for a win in every Test match. Collectively we were the better team and deserved to win. Priceless from Pujara, we were down and out at lunch on day 1. His grit and determination brought us back in it. We always knew that runs on the board would make a home side tentative. Any lead was gold and we got 15. In the second innings again, he and Rahane batted well. I think our lower middle order and lower order could have done better. We could have added another 30-35 runs more which could have taken the game totally beyond Australia. So these are things that we have to think about going to Perth but if someone had told me before the series that I would be 1-0 up as soon we started the series, I would have taken it with both hands.
Here's how the world reacted:
Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Michael Vaughan
Irfan Pathan
Boria Majumdar
Jatin Sapru
Harsha Bhogle
Aakash Chopra
Bharath Seervi
Gautam Bhattacharya
Laxman Sivaramakrishnan
Ayaz Memom
Gaurav Kapur
Sambit Bal
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