AUS vs IND: 1st Test – Talking points from eventful opening day
The highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Test series finally got underway at the Adelaide Oval on (Thursday) December 17. India won the toss and opted to bat first, after which the Aussie bowlers tested the patience of the visiting top-order. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara batted extremely well with the former scoring a half-century. It was Kohli’s wicket that turned things in the end as India ended Day 1 on 233/6.
Here are the five talking points of the day:
1. Shaw fails again
“If he does have a chink in his armour it’s the ball which does come back into him…
“Quite often leaves a big gap between bat and pad and that’s where the Aussies will target.” @RickyPonting at his peerless best for the Prithvi Shaw wicket #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/4nh67zBcpU
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 17, 2020
Despite being out of form of late, India kept faith in Prithvi Shaw and included him in the playing XI ahead of Shubman Gill and the likes. But he didn’t grab the opportunity and was dismissed off the second ball of the opening day. Shaw played a fuller length delivery with hard hands and ended up playing on to the stumps for a duck. Mitchell Starc was the man to strike for Australia first up, continuing Shaw’s bad patch.
2. Kohli’s exceptional form with the bat
On his happy hunting ground, Indian captain Virat Kohli was in his zone from the word get-go. He started off very slowly with the Aussie pacers finding the right channels. But once he was settled, Kohli came into his own, playing some crisp drives. Of all the shots he played on the day, the authoritative pull shot off Josh Hazlewood was the best. He scored 74 runs before getting out with eight fours to his name.
3. Rahane-Kohli run-out fiasco
Virat Kohli has been run-out only twice in his Test career ?
Both dismissals have come against Australia at the Adelaide Oval ?#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/dqwPrmzjMp
— Sport360° (@Sport360) December 17, 2020
After playing slowly in the first two sessions, India gained momentum with two of their best batters, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane looking extremely comfortable. At 188/3 with the second new ball only around 4 overs away, the visitors would’ve hoped for a better ending. But Rahane misjudged a single and called his partner. Half-way through, he realised he made a mistake but it was too late by then and Kohli had already covered half the distance. It could rather end up being a crucial moment in the match.
4. Impact of the new pink ball under lights
Facing the new pink ball under the lights was always going to be tough and India had a taste of it on Day 1. Ajinkya Rahane missed a straight delivery to get lbw and then Hanuma Vihari didn’t move his feet off Hazlewood to get pinned in front of the stumps. The ball swung a lot and a quite a few edges went through the slip and gully region. It was certainly a lot tougher than the whole day and India lost two crucial wickets after the new pink ball arrived and if not for luck, the situation could’ve been worse.
