Mitchell Starc’s career-best haul put Australia on the front foot after the opening two sessions of the second Test and unlike the series opener in Perth, the batters did not undo the good work of the bowlers.
India were rolled for 180 after Starc bagged 6-48 in a high class display of swing bowling which ripped the heart out of the touring line-up.
Usman Khawaja fell cheaply to Jasprit Bumrah but rookie opening partner Nathan McSweeney and under-fire first drop Marnus Labuschagne battled away to make it to stumps with Australia at 1-86.
Josh Hazlewood raised a few eyebrows in Perth by saying “you probably have to ask one of the batters that question” when asked about the top order failing in both innings and while much was made of his comments, he was not wrong and as captain Pat Cummins said before this match, there is no division within the home team’s dressing room.
And that’s how they played to get the upper hand in Adelaide to put themselves in prime position heading into day two when batting conditions should be at their best for the Test.
Clock ticking for Khawaja
Khawaja is due to celebrate his 38th birthday on the final day of the next Test at his adopted home ground, the Gabba.
Unless he can prove otherwise in the second innings of this Test, he could be entering the next match on his last chance to show he is not a spent force.
With his dismissal for 13 to Jasprit Bumrah on the first evening of the second Test, he now has a paltry 25 runs in three innings this series.
“Possibly the last ball of the spell,” Adam Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket as Bumrah wheeled in for the final delivery of his sixth over in what had been a wicketless innings.
After angling his two previous deliveries into the left-hander, this one, according to Ravi Shastri “pitches, straightens, bounces” and finds the outside edge of his blade before being pouched by Rohit Sharma at first slip.
In the nine matches since last year’s Ashes, Khawaja is averaging just 29.5 at a pedestrian 41.33 strike rate and has just two half-centuries during this slump.
After spilling a chance in Perth, he dropped another low snick at first slip on day one in Adelaide.
The slow scoring rate, the dropped catches and most importantly, the plummeting average appear to be signs of age having an effect on reflexes.
Batting in Test cricket is hard enough when players are at the peak of their powers but when veterans are just a split-second slower than usual it can cause a rapid decline for the final stage of a career.
Khawaja probably has one more match to show that’s not the case because with a young gun in Sam Konstas in red-hot form banging out an unbeaten 55 in quick time for NSW an hour or two earlier on Friday against WA, he may not get the chance to retire on his own terms either at the end of this summer or after next year’s Ashes.
Besieged duo dig in
Expectations were low for McSweeney and Labuschagne with Bumrah and co getting the pink ball to move both ways in the air during the final sessions.
McSweeney should have been departing the centre on three when he was squared up by Bumrah but Rishabh Pant grassed a diving chance which ricocheted into Rohit Sharma’s wrist at first slip.
His former Queensland teammate took 18 balls to get off the mark but he started to find the middle of the bat with a couple of leg-side clips to the boundary and started looking like the Labuschagne of old.
They had to endure a couple of brief blackouts when the lights went out at the stadium, which halted their momentum just as they were starting to get on top.
McSweeney finally looked comfortable at the elite level after fighting through the first 20 overs, hitting Nitish Kumar for back-to-back boundaries with a glorious cover drive followed up with a powerful pull through midwicket.
He then peeled off another crisp boundary to deep backward square leg with a swivel as he pulled the ball away which earned the nod of approval on Seven commentary from no less than Ricky Ponting, the modern master of the shot.
They still have a long way to go with McSweeney on 38 and Labuschagne on 20 at stumps but the number next to their name is secondary to the fact that they are both not out with their 62-run union giving them a much-needed shot of confidence while also taking the wind out of India’s sails.
Aussies do complete 180 to rout India
All the momentum was with India after their 295-run first Test win in Perth but the Aussies reversed that inside the first two sessions at Adelaide Oval.
Starc was conjuring up prodigious swing with the pink ball in the afternoon sun – although the conventional wisdom is that it swings more at night, there is not much difference in terms of runs per wicket at the venue in day-nighters between the three sessions.
He revived memories of his first-ball Ashes dismissal of England opener Rory Burns three years ago by removing Yashasvi Jaiswal with the opening delivery of the Test. Starting on leg stump and straightening down the line perfectly to trap Jaiswal in front.
It was his second duck in three innings but fortunately for him, they are bookending a majestical 161 in the second innings at Optus Stadium.
Scott Boland, in for Hazlewood (side strain), should have snared KL Rahul with his first delivery but the straightforward snick was scrubbed off due to a no-ball revealed after the fact by the third umpire.
Rahul’s 69-run stand with Shubman Gill ended when Starc induced an edge which was held by a diving McSweeney in the cordon to send the opener on his way for 37.
Virat Kohli came and went quickly, also falling to Starc via Steve Smith’s safe hands in the slips for seven and Gill was also back in the pavilion before the first session ended when he was trapped in front by Boland on 31.
Boland claimed returning skipper Rohit Sharma LBW for three in the unfamiliar position of six and when Rishabh Pant could not control a Pat Cummins short ball on 21, the Indians had lost their top six with only 109 runs on the board.
Nitish Kumar Reddy backed up his promising Test debut in WA with three fours and just as many sixes in belting 42 from 54 deliveries as India’s tail wagged enough to add 30 more runs than their first Test day-one total.
But with Starc swinging the pill at high pace, it was too much for recalled spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshit Rana and ultimately Reddy to handle.
Starc not the typical all-time Aussie great
Perhaps it’s the lingering effect of Shane Warne annually questioning his place in the team at the start of every summer but Starc has never unanimously been given the seal of approval as the spearhead of Australia’s attack.
But he has been delivering for 13 years now and with his career-best 6-46 on Friday, he has risen to 23rd all time for Test cricket wickets on 367 and only Warne (708), Glenn McGrath (563) and Nathan Lyon (532) have claimed more scalps for Australia.
The 34-year-old has never conformed to the stereotype of a gruff Aussie quick.
Mitchell Starc celebrates with teammates after dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Starc is articulate, enjoys a laugh with opposing batters and has never copped the ire of umpires for sledging.
He’s never possessed the fear factor that Dennis Lillee or Mitchell Johnson commanded, the aggression that Glenn McGrath and Merv Hughes brought to the bowling crease or the raw pace of a Brett Lee or Jeff Thomson.
Even the fact that he’s a leftie makes him a rarity – for no apparent reason, Australia have not produced as many southpaw bowlers as other countries with Johnson and legendary all-rounder Alan Davidson (186) the only others in the top 20 honour roll who weren’t right-armers.
But with 15 five-wicket hauls in 91 Tests, an average of 27.5 and a strike rate of 48.29, Starc’s record compares favourably with the greatest with ball in hand of those who come from a land Down Under.
Continuing the theme of bucking the trend, Starc loves Adelaide Oval – a ground that was previously a graveyard for pace bowlers.
The advent of the day-night Tests over the past decade has been a god-send for him – in the South Australian capital he now has 45 wickets midway through his eighth pink-ball contest at an average cost of just 15.48, striking every 32.7 deliveries on the way to collecting three five-fors.
If he can add four more wickets to his tally in the second dig, Starc will go past Warne as the second highest wicket-taker in Adelaide Tests.
Sadly, Warnie is no longer around to praise Starc for becoming one of Australia’s greatest ever bowlers and after all the doom and gloom in Perth, giving the home side the upper hand on the opening day of the second Test.
