ADELAIDE, Australia — The second Test match between Australia and India concluded with a resounding 10-wicket victory for Australia, marking the first five-wicket haul for captain Pat Cummins at the Adelaide Oval. This outcome has leveled the five-match series at 1-1.
Cummins was instrumental in the win, taking 5 wickets for 57 runs as he effectively dismantled India’s lower batting order, leading to the visitors being bowled out for 175 in their second innings, which allowed Australia a slim 18-run lead.
India resumed their second innings at 128-5 and needed an extraordinary performance from Rishabh Pant to set a challenging target for Australia in the fourth innings. However, Mitchell Starc disrupted those plans by claiming Pant’s wicket for 28 runs, who was caught at slip on the very first ball of the afternoon session.
Following that, Cummins continued to apply pressure on the Indian batsmen with an aggressive short-ball strategy. He dismissed Ravichandran Ashwin for 7 runs, caught behind while attempting a pull shot, and Harshit Rana for a duck, who could not handle a rising delivery which led to his dismissal at backward point.
Nitish Reddy was the top scorer for India, managing 42 runs off 47 balls before being caught off Cummins, who was trying to accelerate the scoring. Mohammed Siraj was the last batter to be dismissed, caught off the bowling of Scott Boland, who took 3-51 in his comeback match after replacing the injured Josh Hazlewood.
Throughout both innings, no Indian player scored more than 50 runs, which echoed a previous disappointing experience during the 2021 World Test Championship final against New Zealand.
With just 19 runs needed to seal the match, Nathan McSweeney (10 not out) and Usman Khawaja (12 not out) comfortably guided Australia to victory in a mere 3.2 overs.
In the first innings, India managed to score 180 runs, heavily influenced by Starc’s impressive bowling performance of 6 wickets for 48 runs. In response, Travis Head delivered a spectacular innings, scoring 140 runs off just 141 balls, helping Australia to a total of 337, which established a significant 157-run lead.
Australia’s fast bowlers decimated India’s top order in the second innings under the night skies, putting the hosts firmly in control as the match approached the third day.
India had previously taken a 1-0 lead in the series after winning the first Test by an impressive margin of 295 runs in Perth. The two teams will face off again for a third Test starting on December 14 in Brisbane, followed by matches scheduled in Melbourne on December 26 and in Sydney on January 3.
