Rohit Sharma survived an injury scare as a dropped catch of Nathan McSweeney hit the Indian captain on hands on the first day of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide. The incident took place on the seventh over of the Australian innings at the Adelaide Oval. Jasprit Bumrah, who was bowling that over, banged it short of length which McSweeney had no other chance but to play.
The ball leaves McSweeney late and gets an outside edge. India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant stretched to his right on the dive to reach the ball it but pink cherry kisses Pant’s gloves on his way to Rohit Sharma, who was standing at the first slip at a fiery speed.
Rohit winched and clutched in pain as it as the ball hit his right palm before deflecting to the third man.
Meanwhile, McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne survived the Indian pace trio of Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana as Australia ended Day 1 at 86/1 in 33 overs in reply to India’s 180 all out. The only Australian wicket to fall was Usman Khawaja, who was bowled out by Bumrah for 13. Australia are still 94 runs behind.
McSweeney and Labuschagne are unbeaten at 38 and 29 respectively. Earlier, Mitchell Starc made the most of a moving pink ball for a career-best 6/48 to give the hosts upper hand. Notably, it was Starc’s maiden five-wicket haul against the Indians in Tests.
Opting to bat first, India were off to a disastrous start, losing Yashasvi Jaiswal on the very first ball of the Test match. However, Shubman Gill (31) and KL Rahul (37) put on 69 runs to revive the Indian innings.
The dismissal of Rahul triggered a mini-collapse as India slumped to 82/4 in no time from 69/1 at one stage. With India starting at 82/4 after tea, Australia took the last six wickets at the cost of 98 runs.
Starc sizzled with his trademark inswingers to remove Ravichandran Ashwin and Harshit Rana while Pat Cummins used the short ball effectively. Rohit Sharma, who was batting at No.6 after six years, managed just three while Rishabh Pant too couldn’t score more than 21.
Nitish Kumar Reddy was the lone positive for India as he top-scored with 42 to take India past 150-run mark.
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