Three things India must do to comeback during 2nd day of Adelaide Test

Team India faced a rejuvenated and fired-up Australian side on the opening day of the Adelaide Test on Friday. The home team led by left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc’s 6/48 bowled out India for a mere 180. In response, Australia had seen out the day with the score reading 86/1 and still in arrears of India’s total by 94 runs. 

The day belonged to Mitchell Starc who bamboozled the opposition with his pace and swing. The left-arm pacer dented India with a wicket in the very first ball of the game as Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his first-ever duck in international cricket. Except Nitish Reddy none of the other batters put up a fight. 

Usman Khawaja was the only wicket to fall as he was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah for 13 runs. Nathan McSweeney was looking steady with the bat as he survived a hostile spell from Bumrah at the end of the day. Marnus Labuschagne who had failed with the bat in the 1st match was not out on 20 at the stumps. 

Here are three things India must do to come back on 2nd day of Adelaide Test

3- Better fielding 

Team India must do better in the field than what it had done on the opening day of the game on Friday. Rishabh Pant dropped an easy chance to give Nathan McSweeney an early life. Shubman Gill misfielded to give Australia four easy runs during the final hour of play. Such mistakes can come to haunt India after having posted a small total on the board. Most of the Australian batters apart from Travis Head are still under pressure after having failed in the first game of the series. 

2- Employ R. Ashwin when the ball is old

Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin came to bowl the penultimate over of the day. There was decent spin and bounce on offer for the 38-year-old. Ashwin came into the game for Washington Sundar and did reasonably well with the ball. During the last day and night game at the same venue, Ashwin had picked 4/55 to become India’s best bowler. Rohit Sharma will know that with the ball getting old and no reverse swing on offer, Ashwin will prove to be a handful to the Aussie batters. 

1- Intent in the first session of play

Jasprit Bumrah bowled the final over of the day, which means either Mohammed Siraj or Harshit Rana could begin proceedings. One of the key factors for India to take wickets is to bowl straight. Australian bowlers were steady with their lengths and had Indian batters in trouble. The onus will be on Bumrah, Siraj, and Rana to keep taking wickets and put pressure on Australian batters in the first hour. With just a 94-run lead in hand, India must at least get 3-4 wickets before the first session break to put the home team under pressure.