Brief Scores: India 244 and 36 all out (Josh Hazlewood 5-4, Pat Cummins 4-21) lost to Australia 191 and 93/2 by 8 wickets
'Cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream!', Australia's pace predators whispered into India's ears as a procession of batsmen walking in and out left them staring down the barrel of defeat. Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins read the riot act via painstakingly immaculate line and lengths to capture five and four wickets respectively, pummelling India to 36/9 - their lowest total in Test cricket and the seventh-worst overall - with last man Mohammed Shami dismissed retired hurt. An effective target of 90 was then reached without a sweat courtesy Joe Burns' 51* as Australia came from behind to arrest early honours in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Such was the magnitude of India's abject surrender that it ushered the fans towards a gap in belief, where they couldn't grasp what their eyes were absorbing in. Cummins set the nosedive in motion with nightwatchman Jasprit Bumrah falling prey to his well-disguised off-cutter. The assassin in blonde hair then uncorked an away-seaming jaffa to get Cheteshwar Pujara nicking behind for a duck. Refused a bite of the brand-new cherry, Hazlewood trumpeted his arrival with a twofold strike comprising of rocks Mayank Agarwal and Ajinkya Rahane, both squaring up to a hint of lethal lateral movement. Virat Kohli was India's solitary branch of hope in the jam they found themselves in but Cummins plucked it with disdain as Cameron Green at gully latched onto the erroneous execution of his trademark cover drive. You live by the sword, you die by it.
The remorseful scoreline of 19/6 was the lowest India had ever stooped to at the fall of the sixth wicket. Hazlewood threw them to the knacker's yard by dismissing Wriddhiman Saha and Ravichandran Ashwin off consecutive deliveries before drawing curtains on Hanuma Vihari's vigil with another of those nibbling balls. Shami copped a blow flush on the forearm and the bruise proved to be the final nail in India's coffin.
Handed a pea-sized amount of runs to play with, India's attack asked a few questions of Wade and Burns initially but couldn't keep their foot on the opposition's throat for long. Whatever little pressure had mounted during the new-ball burst was released with a flurry of boundaries and forthwith, all the hosts had to do was play percentage cricket and avoid indulging in schoolboy stuff. Australia stood on the brink of victory when Wade danced down the track and flicked Ashwin only to suffer a bizarre run-out thanks to a ricochet off forward short leg's pads and a smart piece of glovework by Saha. Perchance looking to get rid of his anxious impulses given the win almost in the bag, Marnus Labuschagne wrapped his wicket with a silver ribbon and perished to an agricultural hoick.
Having watched these tremors from the other end, Burns took matters in his own hands and hooked Umesh Yadav over fine leg to seal the deal. It was also fitting that the winning stroke served as the last in the series of dropped catches as Hanuma Vihari tipped the flat hit over the bar, an ultimate reminder of their woes in the field which cost them a slice of glory alongside the most inexplicable batting implosions since time immemorial.
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