Adelaide: Australia needed just two and a half days to shatter India’s confidence and storm back into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. With a belligerent century from Travis Head and hostile spells by Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, Australia thrashed India by 10 wickets to level the five-match series 1-1, securing a dominant victory on Day 3.
Fired up after the sting of their 295-run drubbing in the series opener in Perth, Australia came out all guns blazing to defend their pink-ball fortress. And they did so in emphatic style, ripping through the Indian batting line-up on Sunday afternoon. India were bundled out for 175, adding just 47 runs to their overnight total, as captain Pat Cummins joined the pink-ball party with a five-wicket haul.
With this emphatic win, Australia extended their unbeaten streak in pink-ball Tests at the Adelaide Oval to eight matches. For India, it marked a second consecutive pink-ball Test defeat in Australia. In 2020, they suffered an eight-wicket loss at the same venue after being infamously dismissed for 36 in their second innings.
Although India avoided a similar humiliation this time, their performance was uninspiring throughout the Test match, lacking the energy and spirit seen in their thrilling victory in Perth.
“Disappointing week for us, we didn’t play and Australia played better than us. We failed to grab our opportunities. What we did in Perth was special. We wanted to do that again, but every Test match has its own challenge,” Rohit Sharma said, reflecting on the crushing loss.