India 180 and 128 for 5 (Pant 28*, Cummins 2-33, Boland 2-39) trails australia 337 (head 140, Labuschagne 64, Bumrah 4-61, Siraj 4-98) for 29 runs.
After the floodlights went out twice on the opening day, Australia’s batting was in danger of going out on the second afternoon. But Head had other ideas and set the innings on fire with his no-holds-barred approach. He played and missed four of his first nine balls, but that certainly didn’t stop him from hitting the shot. He stayed true to his method of staying on the leg side of the ball and splitting it into short pockets on the offside ground square.
He also went through a longer straight boundary when he crashed R Ashwin on mid-on and then crashed a six over his head, sending a 110-metre monster crashing down on the sight screen.
Head scored his first fifty off 63 balls and took just 48 more balls to convert to 100. He celebrated the landmark with his wife and newborn among a home crowd of 51,642, waving his bat like a baby to commemorate the new arrival to his family. A hug from fellow South Australian Alex Carey was also part of the party.
Labuschagne got his 50 off 114 balls and celebrated by getting the erratic Harshit Rana to 34 off 4 balls. After an easy late cut to the bigger and faster Rana, Labuschagne found himself in the ditch when he attempted a similar shot to the shorter and slower pace Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Head was more brutal on Rana, hitting 41 off 29 balls. It didn’t really matter what happened at the Head. short. saturated. On the stump. Outside the stump. Everything has been dispatched.
R Ashwin’s only wicket was Mitchell Marsh, but that was down to luck. After struggling to defend Ashwin’s unspinning off-break, Marsh left before umpire Richard Illingworth could even raise his finger and consider a review. Snicko had none and replays showed the ball missed the outside edge.
Head also attacked the second new ball, whipping Bumrah to get a brace for four. He then picked out Siraj for an imperious six over square leg in the next over, but Siraj hit the next ball back to york head. Siraj let out some pent-up emotions and gave Head a send-off that did not sit well with him or his beloved Adelaide crowd.
There were boos, but Siraj dismissed Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland after tea to send Australia to a 337-run win. Bumrah was treated for some discomfort and took four balls with the second new ball to add to his spell. recovered to take down Cummins.
Cummins then took center stage with the ball and pressured KL Rahul to 7 off 10 balls with a lifter. Just before the stumps, he hit the top of Rohit Sharma’s off-stump with an absolute peach.
Rohit was left shaken after being hit on the helmet by Starc’s first ball. He was bowled with the next ball, but there was no ball. Cummins did Rohit just before the end of the match and there was no error in the heel position.
It was Boland who praised Virat Kohli by pushing a length ball on the fourth stump line and taking an outside edge from him. Boland had earlier dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal with the first ball, hitting 24 off 31 balls. He has slotted seamlessly into the bowling attack and could pose interesting selection questions for the Brisbane Test, although it is hoped Josh Hazlewood will return for that match.
It may have been an anomaly that Starc did not hit the pink new ball in his first spell, but he returned with the old ball and burst through Gill’s defense with a hooping inswinger that also seamed late.
But Pant continued the Pant thing. Despite the rush of wickets, he charged from the crease and created swing room to smash his first ball at mid-off for four. He then briefly countered Australia’s pace by unleashing a reverse pull and a falling scoop. He remained unbeaten on 28 off 25 balls.
If India are to pull off another heist in Australia, they will need more support from Pant and more support from Reddy.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo.
