India were restricted to their lowest score ever in an innings of a Test match by Australia on day 3 of the first Test against Australia at Adelaide. They were all out for 36/9 when Mohammed Shami was retired hurt after taking a blow on his right wrist from Pat Cummins and could not bat while in severe pain. The batting order was turned into a shambles as they beat the historical grim figure of 42 which they had registered in 1974 in the playing days of Sunil Gavaskar.
It all began with the wicket of Jasprit Bumrah who was promoted as a night watchman and it kicked-off mayhem that ended only with the complete collapse of the tall batting order that had promised to be a lot stronger and tighter in techniques.
Australian bowlers were on the money and found the devastating fuller lengths straightway and Pujara was the first to go among the specialist batsmen. Cummins was looking threatening from his first spell on day 2 and he made Pujara rooted to the crease and playing for a ball that looked like coming into him with the angle. Turned out, the ball seamed away after pitching and took Pujara’s edge to Paine behind the stumps.
Josh Hazlewood was brought in as the first change and he proved to be the most lethal weapon the Australians had in the store for the Indian batting line up. He struck twice in his very first over and sent both Mayank Agarwal and Ajinkya Rahane packing to the pavilion. Both the batsmen were caught rooted to the crease and Hazlewood, as he always does, was on the mark with fuller length and the ball jagged away to take the edge of the bats.
From 15/1, India went to 15/4 in a matter of balls and then it was resting on Virat Kohli’s shoulders’ to lift the team from the hole they found themselves in. But, it was not to be as Kohli looked to get amongst the Aussies and drove a ball that he should have left keeping in mind the situation of the game. An outside edge was snaffled by Cameron Green in the gully after a brief fumble.
Hazlewood returned with another over where he took two wickets and this time, it was Wriddhiman Saha and Ravichandran Ashwin to go back to the pavilion on consecutive deliveries. Although Umesh Yadav denied him a hattrick, the pacer returned in the next over to produce yet another unplayable delivery to Hanuma Vihari and collected a much deserving fifer that turned the game on its head on the morning of day 3. His bowling spell read 5-3-8-5 and it emphasized the annihilation he along with fellow pacemen Cummins has carried out on the Indian batting line up.
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