Credits: Cricket Australia
Australian fast-bowler Mitchell Starc wreaked havoc in the second Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. After securing a huge 295-run win in the opening Test of the elite five-match competition, India locked horns with Australia in the day/night game of the series at the Adelaide Oval. The opening day of the game saw Starc running riot with the pink ball as he picked up his 15th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. He took a total of six wickets on day one of the second BGT Test.
Starc had a perfect start to the day as he dismissed India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal on the very first ball of the match. With this, he provided the team with the big wicket early on, which further set base for Aussies’ dominating performance with the ball. After Jaiswal, Starc went on to dismiss KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Harshit Rana.
Starc’s lethal bowling performance bowls out India for 180 runs
The game saw Indian skipper Rohit Sharma winning the toss, and inviting the rivals to bowl first on an overcast afternoon. The 34-year-old gave it back to 22-year-old Jaiswal who sledged him in the first match. The Indian opener was forced to walk back to the pavilion after playing the first delivery of the match. Later, Starc went on to take the big wicket of KL Rahul, who was looking solid in the middle.
India suffered a mini collapse before the tea break as they went from 69 for 1 to 81 for 4. Starc was brought into the attack when Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravichandran Ashwin had seemingly got the hang of the innings. He struck twice in an over, and sent Ashwin and Harshit Rana back into the pavilion with lethal yorkers. Starc then dismissed Nitish Reddy to finish off another memorable spell with the pink ball. By stumps of Day 1, Australia were at 86/1, and were trailing India by 94 runs.
