Australia v India: Men’s Second Test Day One – Live | Australia cricket team

5th over: India 15-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 14) Can’t stop Gill from scoring! On up, but he leans into a tire drive with minimal clearance and connects perfectly. Risk in the stroke, but it brings him four. There is also a Starc over in the over.

4th over: India 10-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 10) Cummins makes the ball sing again! Beats the edge a few times. But KL picks up where he left off in Perth, letting those balls pass him without chasing them, leaving them safer, wider and defending where he can. Soak up the quality early.

Rowan Sweeney edits on the fly. “Last summer seems like a rather wasted opportunity to blood new talent and this series could be a bit brutal for Australia. I choose Jaiswal to do something So indifferent. How’s your day going Geoff?”

It took a long time for this game to start, but it was great to be up and running.

3rd over: India 10-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 10) Starc to continue, almost gets Gill with a rising ball at a tight angle across but Gill doesn’t edge it. Drives a brace, opens the face through the cover. Such a prolific goalscorer even under pressure.

Andrew Benton sends an email. “Has Australia reset/rebooted themselves in the last ten days and if so how? Do they have a new game plan, have they made any adjustments for the win? Wicket. Oh. They do and have.”

Well, they got Jaiswal for a duck in the first innings in Perth and that didn’t help them much when he made a big ton in the second.

2nd over: India 8-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 8) Cummins will share the new ball with Hazlewood out. And he cuts KL Rahul in half with a ball that buzzsaws in from outside off-stump, Rahul moves the bat across and finally gets it inside the line of the seam.

That makes 35 Tests that have started with a wicket. Starc and Pedro Collins the leaders with three cases. Twice for Geoff Arnold, Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev and Suranga Lakmal.

1st over: India 8-1 (Rahul 0, Gill 8) So Shubman Gill actually has to open and he does by flashing a cut through the gap for four! Maybe carried to a catcher, but it’s in the gap. So when Starc hits fuller, he’s run mid on to another. Quite eventful at first.

This is the third time Starc has taken a wicket with the first ball of the match. Rory Burns, of course, at the Gabba and when he monstered Big Frank – Dimuth Karunaratne – during the 2016 tour to Sri Lanka.

The first player to do so was Arthur Coningham, who had a fascinating troubled life. We did a Story Time podcast about him if you want to dig it up.

WICKED! Jaiswal lbw Starc 0

We are underway…

The hymns, then the commencement bell is rung by Tim May. A name that resonates with this land and with South Australian. Hit good offies for Australia, 42 not out in the one-run loss to the West Indies on this ground, and won the Shield final here in his last first-class match.

Harbhajan Singh and Ricky Ponting carry the trophy together. Memories of how Harbhajan tormented Ponting in 2001. His series went 0, 6, 0, 0, 11 and during the 11 he was dropped for 0.

The track, you’re all crying. What about the track? It looks decent. Not as grassy as some previous years. The curators here now trust that the pink ball will keep its luster, so they don’t leave the first few years of lush leaves. This strip has a few nicks down the edges, but is toned down in the business section. However, the grass here has that color while it’s still alive, so there can be some grip for the bowlers, so it moves sideways a touch. And then there is the hope of swing. We’ll see.

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India win the toss and bat

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As for India, there are so many ways that could go. We now know that KL Rahul will remain as the opener and Rohit Sharma will bat “somewhere in the middle”, as he offered yesterday at his captain’s press conference. So Dhruv Jurel is the omission that would accommodate that. Devdutt Padikkal will be the one for Shubman Gill if they make that change at no. 3.

Bowling is more interesting to me. Ravichandran Ashwin has 536 Test wickets. Ravindra Jadeja has 319. They were both omitted in Perth for Washington Sundar, who has 24 wickets. And yes, he batted ok, but India’s big spinners can bat too. So surely they have to give Ashwin a chance in Adelaide? It is criminal to leave him on the bench.

Young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy probably did enough to retain his place, perhaps at no. 7, and then for the quicks, Jasprit Bumrah definitely plays, so should Mohammad Siraj, although you never know what India’s game of choice might be and the main question is whether they might prefer the swing of Akash Deep to the pace and bounce of Harshit Rana, which worked well in Perth but was perhaps a choice based on the conditions.

How about a preview? I wrote one yesterday focusing on the Aussie bowlers, let’s get it.

Preamble

Geoff Lemon