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Australia v India, First Test live coverage from the Adelaide Oval: Aussies bury the ghosts of Leeds

The Australians corrected one mistake from the disaster at Headingley last year but not before they repeated another, as a shocking Kohli run out costs India.

Peter Lalor and Adrian McMurray
16 min read
1:36PMDecember 17, 2020.
Updated 8:47AMDecember 18, 2020
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Nathan Lyon celebrates with Josh Hazlewood on day one of the first Test against India in Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images
Nathan Lyon celebrates with Josh Hazlewood on day one of the first Test against India in Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

India are 6-233 at stumps on day one of the first Test against Australia at Adelaide Oval. Review how the day unfolded below, and listen to Gideon Haigh and Peter Lalor’s analysis in the latest Cricket, Et Cetera podcast.

Peter Lalor 10.50pm: Aussies bury the ghosts of Leeds

The Australians corrected one mistake from the disaster at Headingley last year but not before they repeated another that allowed Virat Kohli to put on important runs which allowed India off the hook.

The visitors finished on 6-233 and will want to put on a bit more on Friday.

Few will ever forget those anxious last overs of the match where Ben Stokes put in an incredible performance to win one of the best Test matches ever staged.

The Australians did themselves no favours in that game when wasted their last review on a Hail Mary DRS and then found themselves without one when Stokes was trapped in front by Nathan Lyon.

Had that gone upstairs Australia would have won the game and taken an unbeatable 2-0 series lead with two games to play.

Had Nathan Lyon held onto a simple return throw in the field a ball earlier they would also have won the match.

The brilliant spinner didn’t make any mistake when Kohli set off for a single in the 77th over on Thursday only to be sent back by Ajinkya Rahane who had called “yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no”.

Josh Hazlewood lobbed the ball back to the bowler who removed the bails. Kohli glared at his teammate before walking off.

Kohli was on 74 at the time, but he was on only 16 and the game delicately balanced when his opposite number Tim Paine decided not to review a caught behind appeal from the bowling of Lyon.

Matthew Wade seemed to think there was something in it and the technology revealed the slightest of touches on the gloves. It was the finest of contacts, but teams have three unsuccessful review calls not two in this series because there are no neutral umpires.

It’s a tough call on Paine, but when you’ve got priors you get judged differently. He has never had much luck with the system.

The Australians had to be patient and persistent on Thursday. Their efforts paid off after the run out when the new ball was taken.

Rahane would have been hoping he could stay out there until stumps then leave with the crowd. Possibly find alternative accommodation. He was, however, out LBW to Starc for 43 and had to go back and face his captain in the dressing rooms.

Soon after the new ball did its thing again when Josh Hazlewood picked up his first wicket, trapping Hanuma Vihari for 16.

When Mitchell Starc scattered Prithvi Shaw’s stumps with the second ball of the day the home side might have got the impression they were here for a good time and not a long one.

They did not count, however, on the determination of new – or the resistance of old – India.

Australia’s bowlers teased, threatened and challenged through the day. Pat Cummins was relentless, nibbling the ball this way and that. The delivery that got through Shaw’s opening partner, Mayank Agarwal, would account for many a good cricketer.

The quick who is paid $3m to wang a few down in the IPL bowled the tightest of lines and was next to impossible to get away. His first 10 overs went for 10 solitary runs and gained Australia an early wicket.

Old India, in the form of Cheteshwar Pujara, responded as expected. He soaked up deliveries, insisted bowlers run in time and time again and occasionally roused himself to score a run.

He let 34 early deliveries pass without scoring. He spent the best part of three hours and 160 deliveries on his way to 43 before falling to the wiles of Australia’s best ever off spinner.

Lyon has a magnificent record at Adelaide and across his career. He will soon notch up his 100th Test match for his country and is in touching distance of 400 wickets.

He got Pujara here in the second innings in 2018-19 on his way to a match winning six wicket haul which included Kohli.

The Indian captain, who formed the resistant partnership with Pujara, declared himself a representative of New India in a recent interview.

New India rides its luck and faces the world with a confidence perhaps not so apparent among previous generations.

Luck was not with the Australians as chances fell short or went to vacant parts of the field, but sometimes you have to make your own luck and they did not do that.

Two early edges from Pujara fell in front of a the cordon early, but that wasn’t because they were set too deep so much as the batsman controlled the ball as much as one can by playing with soft hands and an angled blade.

Edges fell short all day suggesting maybe the cordon could have advanced a little.

Adrian McMurray 10.36pm: Momentum with Australia at stumps

Big chance for a late wicket, when Ashwin is troubled by Cummins. Big hook from Ashwin heads towards Hazlewood, who screams across to long leg, but he can’t get a hand to it. It bounces just before the rope for four.

Saha finds the boundary in the last over the day, and after 88 overs India finish day one 6-233 with Saha 9* and Ashwin 15*. The Kohli dismissal was the turning point, with the momentum all the way of the Australians in the third session. Pujara and Kohli could have set up a monster total, but the hosts will be pleased with where they’re at at stumps.

Thanks for joining us – we’ll be back for day two on Friday afternoon.

Adrian McMurray 10.10pm: Aussies tearing through middle order

Things have picked up! Big shout for lbw against Vihari, but it's not given. Paine sends it up for review, but DRS shows it’s missing and the original call remains. Good to finally see some swing!

The next over though, Vihari is on his way for 16! Another lbw, Hazlewood this time. India 6-207 with six overs to go today.

Adrian McMurray 9.54pm: Starc does damage as India implode

WICKET! Or is it? Starc traps Rahane lbw with the new ball, beautiful full delivery. As Rahane walks, Vihari urges him to challenge, and he does! The review clearly shows no bat involved, absolutely plumb from Starc. The review is lost, Rahane is gone for 42, India 5-196 with nine overs remaining today. Crazy period for India.

Adrian McMurray 9.38pm: Mix up ends Kohli’s innings

Warne says he senses a wicket isn’t far off. Rahane has other ideas, smacking a Cummins short ball for six over deep backward square leg. He didn’t look completely in control there, but hey, they all count.

The very next over: RUN OUT! Rahane calls for the run, Kohli makes it half way down the pitch before he tells him to head back. But it’s too late: Hazlewood collects and finds Lyon who whips off the bails. Wow, what a way for Kohli (74) to depart! He is not happy. I wouldn’t like to be Rahane when he heads back to the rooms later. India 4-188 and the new ball isn’t far away.

Adrian McMurray 9.20pm: Warne takes aim at the umpire

India move to 3-166 at the drinks break, Kohli 67* and Rahane 27*.

Meanwhile, Shane Warne has fired up over this call from umpire Bruce Oxenford.

Oxenford ruled that Kohli was short of the line. As you can see above, he got there.

“Can India say they want to review that? Because that’s wrong,” Warne says on Fox Cricket.

“That sort of pettiness from an umpire drives me crazy.”

Adrian McMurray 8.52pm: Rahane avoids run out

Is Kohli gone here? Big shout for lbw off the bowling of Hazlewood, but it was way off. The next ball there’s a tight run out call. Direct hit from Head at the striker’s end, but upon review Rahane just makes it – nice dive.

Kohli adds another boundary the next over off Starc. The Indian captain moves to 63*, Rahane 18*, India 3-148 after 67 overs.

8.24pm: Kohli brings up 50

How about that record at Adelaide Oval?

Adrian McMurray 8.12pm: How do Australia get under Kohli’s skin?

Lyon resumes after the break, with Cummins down the other end. Will be fascinating to see how Cummins challenges Kohli and Rahane. In commentary with Fox Cricket, Shane Warne suggests the Aussies unsettle Kohli with some chat. He says the Indian captain hasn’t come out with his usual swagger, and just wants to bat this one out.

Kohli and Rahane grab a boundary each off Lyon and it proves to be a fairly costly over, 10 runs from it. India 3-119 after 58 overs.

Adrian McMurray 7.42pm: India 3-107 at tea

Who’s ready for some part-time leg spin? Labuschagne is thrown in for the last over of the middle session, but Rahane (2*) and Kohli (39*) get through to the break. So, India 3-107 at tea. They added 66 runs for the loss of a wicket in that session. The last few hours have been a real tussle – perhaps more the Test cricket we remember than some of the more free-flowing Test action we’ve been treated to in the past few years.

Adrian McMurray 7.26pm: Lyon gets the breakthrough

They’ve been patient, but Kohli and Pujara begin to pick things up. First Kohli finds space next to second slip to reach the boundary, then Pujara gets his first four of the innings the next over off Lyon. It took him 148 balls to get it! And he follows up with another the very next ball.

Big shout for caught behind for Pujara off Lyon, but it’s not given. But just two balls later – WICKET! Lyon gets his man. It appears to balloon up off his pads to Labuschagne, who takes the catch. Not given but sent for review after Pujara starts to walk, and DRS overturns the decision, the inside edge onto the pads clear. Pujara gone for 43, India 3-100 and Rahane is out there now.

Adrian McMurray 6.58pm: Kohli hurt as runs dry up

Jeez, the runs have really dried up. Three consecutive maidens for Australia (Lyon-Starc-Lyon) as Pujara and Kohli plod along.

There’s a big appeal at the end of a Lyon over! But the umpire is unmoved and … there wasn’t much doing there. Pujara padded it to silly point.

Starc does some damage to Kohli the next over. The Indian captain has hurt his thumb and calls for attention. There’s a bit of blood around the nail, and he’s right to continue.

He finishes the over with a boundary, and moves to 27*. Pujara is on 28* from the 139 balls he’s faced. India 2-77 after 43 overs.

Adrian McMurray 6.32pm: Chance to dismiss Kohli goes begging

The Aussies go up for Kohli caught behind off Lyon’s bowling. Looks like it’s gloved to Paine. The Australian captain is torn whether to send it up for review, but decides not to. Wade is keen to send it up, and he has a perfect view. Hot spot replay suggests there was glove involved … have Australia let the Kohli wicket slip?! India 2-71 after 38 overs.

Adrian McMurray 6.15pm: India start to find runs

Kohli and Pujara start to go to work, improving the run rate. It was hovering around the 1.50 mark for a while, but is starting to look slightly healthier at 1.77. Paine turns to Lyon for the first time this match, and the spinner immediately troubles the Indian pair. This is a real arm-wrestle. India 2-60 after 33 overs.

Adrian McMurray 5.50pm: Kohli’s nervous moment to start the session

We’re back! Hazlewood gets us going for the first session. Pujara’s trademark patience on display as he faces all six balls for no runs. Cummins back down the other end almost gets the wicket of Kohli on 5*! Wade takes a catch at short leg, but it bounced off Kohli’s glove, into his pad before ballooning up to Wade. Two maidens to start the session then, India 2-41 after 27 overs.

Peter Lalor 5.07pm: The view from Adelaide Oval at dinner

Honours about even after a great first session at Adelaide.

Australia have knocked over both openers which is a good start, but they’ve only trimmed the edges not mowed the lawn.

At the crease Cheteshwar Pujara is digging in, happy to hang around for long periods when he doesn’t score and he’s on 17 from 88 balls.

Che can bat all day and often does. He was at the crease for around 20 hours in the last series here.

This second session should be best for batting as the pink ball gets soft and the early life goes out of the wicket.

Virat Kohli is the other man at the crease and we all know what he can do. Four centuries in the 2014-15 series. He’s got one chance here and he will want to make the most of it.

We saw Cameron Green bowl a couple of overs without success, but that bounce was there and the kid just looks at home on a cricket field.

Go and make a sandwich: this is the 40 minute break this year as they’ve switched them around.

Adrian McMurray 5.05pm: India 2-41 at dinner

India navigate their way through the last two overs of the session and head to the dinner break at 2-41, with Kohli 5* and Pujara 17*.

The Australians will be pretty happy with that first session.

Mitch Starc says it was a nice way to start the contest.

“Pretty disciplined, we’re just trying to capitalise on that now,” he tells Fox Cricket.

“It’s quite a strong breeze, Josh and I felt like we were both running into it. Maybe that’s contributed to no swing. Generally in the pink ball Tests it starts to swing a bit more in the period before the second break.”

Adrian McMurray 4.54pm: Green’s first over in Test cricket

Here we go! Green handed the ball, replacing Cummins. His first delivery in Test cricket is … a no ball. Hah! He just steps over. Lovely ball, though. Great length all over, a promising start. India 2-38 after 23 overs.

Adrian McMurray 4.34pm: Cummins rewarded, Kohli at the crease

WICKET! Agarwal is gone for 17, Cummins bowls him. The Aussie quick manages to get it to nip back in through a gap between bat and pad, and the opener is on his way. That brings Virat Kohli to the middle. No runs in the over, India 2-32.

Adrian McMurray 4.28pm: Tidy work from Cummins

Starc is back at the other end and Australia string together three consecutive maidens after the drinks break.

That all ends as Agarwal hits a pretty wild four over gully off Starc.

It looked as though Green was about to get his first crack in Test cricket, taking the ball, but Cummins pulls rank and continues.

He produces another maiden – his third – and India have just one run from his four overs. Very tidy from the world’s No 1 Test bowler. India 1-31 after 17 overs.

Adrian McMurray 4.00pm: India start to score

Agarwal hits India’s first boundary of the innings! It came at the end of the 10th over, a lovely drive through the covers for four.

Australia make their first change, with Cummins introduced and Starc given a rest.

India 1-25 at the first drinks break.

Peter Lalor 3.47pm: Starc makes a strong return

Interesting to see how well Starc is going and how wide he is getting on the crease in his delivery when coming around the wicket. He’s exploiting the angle against Pujara but Paul Reiffel has had a word to him about keeping his foot inside the return crease.

Looks like the plan is to get him caught at leg gully as happened in Drummoyne and twice in the last series.

Starc is bowling magnificently on return from compassionate leave.

Picture: AFP
Picture: AFP

Adrian McMurray 3.45pm: Chances for Australia

Nervous moment for Agarwal, who’s almost caught by Travis Head at short leg. He can’t get down to his right quickly enough.

BIG edge from Pujara in the next over, but it bounces in front of Smith in the slips.

The Aussies opt to switch things up, with Starc now bowling around the wicket. And it almost pays off moments later, as an inside edge flies past Lyon, who made a spectacular but ultimately unsuccessful diving effort.

India 1-16 after nine overs.

Adrian McMurray 3.27pm: Pujara’s sight screen problems

Australia are still very much in control during this first session, and Pujara seems agitated by the crowd around the sight screen at Starc’s end. He’s had a bit to say about it, which seems unusual given how wide it is!

Agarwal produces a lovely cover drive off Hazlewood’s bowling, but some great work from a diving Wade at the boundary around cover saves the four.

India 1-7 after five overs.

Peter Lalor 3.17pm: Shaw lasts just two balls

Two years ago we were denied the chance to see Prithvi Shaw make his debut in the corresponding match, today he lasts two balls.

Starc brought a screamer back through the gate and scattered the 21-year-old’s stumps.

Perfect start for Australia.

FYI, I’d written this piece the day before Shaw fell over last tour.

He is one of the great rags to riches stories in cricket. They should make a movie about him. They did include him in the documentary Beyond All Boundaries.

Adrian McMurray 3.06pm: Starc strikes with second delivery

WICKET! Starc strikes on the second ball of the day! Big inside edge onto the stumps and Prithvi Shaw is gone for a duck. What a start for the hosts. India 1-0.

Two balls later Pujara nicks one that falls just short of first slip – and a diving Paine.

Hazlewood begins with a maiden down the other end. Very tidy start for Australia.

Peter Lalor 2.54pm: India’s best chance for victory

Adelaide was always going to be India’s best chance and things look even better for Virat Kohli’s men after the skipper won the toss and chose to bat.

Young Prithvi Shaw will take the bowling on early, the Indians will control the declaration and can put Australia in later if they get there.

It’s hardest to bat under lights against the pink ball.

In Australia’s favour is a fresh pitch and the potential for early swing with some cloud cover.

Australia went with Joe Burns ahead of Marcus Harris and he will partner with Matthew Wade despite all the speculation that Tim Paine would do the job. Madness!

Picture: Getty Images
Picture: Getty Images

Interestingly Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara did not opt in for the pink ball tour game in Sydney and have only ever played one short game at this level.

If the openers can get the shine off the ball though the afternoon is the best time to bat here.

While India has Kohli for this match, Australia does not have David Warner.

“It has been a little bit different with COVID and then a few injuries,” said Paine said at the toss.

“The message from us is to keep things as simple as we can. We know exactly what’s expected and we’ve got to come out now and execute our plans. We’re glad to be bowling first, there might be a bit in it.

“We would have liked to have batted first but I think our attack will perform in all conditions. First day there’s always enough in the wicket if we can challenge them in the right areas and I’ll back our guys to do that.”

Adrian McMurray 2.35pm: India win toss, Australian XI confirmed

India has won the toss and will bat first.

Tim Paine confirms Joe Burns and Matthew Wade will open. He says he’s happy to bowl first.

“I would have liked to bat first, but we’ve done well in all conditions, and if we can challenge them in the right areas, we back our bowlers to do well,” he says.

Indian captain Virat Kohli says the wicket looks nice and hard.

“Runs on the board are priceless, especially away from home,” he says.

“We’ve prepared really well, the boys have had a lot of time in the nets, a couple of tour games as well. A bit of cloud cover here, so we have to be more solid up front.”

Australia: Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (c, wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

Peter Lalor 1.30pm: Left-field opening option ‘madness’

Joe Burns has survived and will open, Marcus Harris was on standby for Steve Smith, but should not be necessary and the notion Tim Paine could be a makeshift opener instead of Matthew Wade refuses to go away, but is madness.

Tim Paine (left) and Joe Burns look on during an Australian net session yesterday. Picture: Getty Images
Tim Paine (left) and Joe Burns look on during an Australian net session yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

It could have been an option for one Test but with David Warner unlikely to be fit for Melbourne it becomes too big a task.

Opening with Paine seems a strange call given he bats at No 7. The thinking was that it was the least disruptive way of covering for the absence of Warner and including the talents of Cameron Green.

A captain wicketkeeper has an enormous job, but giving yourself 10 minutes to get the keeper’s pads off and the opening batsman’s pads on to tired legs would be a massive strain.

As reported previously here, Paine came unstuck attempting to do just that when he began playing first class cricket for Tasmania. And he was a good 15 years younger.

Read Peter Lalor’s full analysis here.

Ben Horne 1.15pm: How Wade became Australia’s Mr Fixit

The man who two years ago started a carpentry apprenticeship thinking his career was over, is set to don the blue overalls for Australia.

Matthew Wade. Picture: Getty Images
Matthew Wade. Picture: Getty Images

Matthew Wade’s incredible transformation from cricketing cast-off to the square-jawed warrior Australia is poised to call on as their top order saviour for the first Test against India, has become one of the game’s best and most underrated comeback stories.

When Tim Paine was recalled from the wilderness for the 2017-18 Ashes summer, selectors sacked Wade from all formats and essentially marked his cards never to play again.

Wade saw the writing on the wall, rolled his sleeves up and got back on the tools working for his best mate’s building company.

Fast forward to today — and in the space of 10 days, Wade has captained Australia in a Twenty20 game, and today is set to be first man through the gate to open the batting in a Test match for his country.

Read the full story here.

Catherine McGregor 1pm: Indians our blood brothers in Testing times

When the Australian and Indian teams take the field at the Adelaide Oval for the first Test, they will carry the weight of history on their shoulders.

India played its first Test ­cricket match as an independent nation against Australia. Yet victory over Australia here in a Test series eluded them until 2018-19.

There is fresh urgency to the ­rivalry this year. India exorcised their demons on their last visit, and the current Indian team is determined to cement its dominance. But Australia, as Tim Paine wrote on Wednesday, is thirsty for revenge. It promises to be a fiercely contested series between two proud nations.

Yet the burden of the past extends beyond the pitch. “Before we were competitors, we were comrades. Indians and Australians fought wars together on the same side.” That reminder came from Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid in his Bradman Oration in ­December 2011. That night, Dravid mesmerised the audience with his gentle, lilting cadences as he delivered an oration for the ages. His rhetoric soared to heights ­worthy of the venerable Lancaster bomber behind him.

Read the full story here.

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