Highlights: Watch five dismissals India would want to forget from Adelaide
Poor footwork and old habits undid India in the first Test
India will probably want to forget the entire third morning of the Adelaide Test, but which dismissals in particular during the Test were down to poor batting? Watch highlights of the five they will really rue.
Prithvi Shaw bowled by Mitchell Starc, 1st innings
Shaw's selection for the first Test was a point of contention after a poor run of form. One clear weakness he had shown was against the ball coming in, and it was exactly that type of delivery he was dismissed by in the first innings. Starc got the second ball of the Test to swing in from outside off. Shaw jabbed at it and left a big gap between bat and pad. The swing beat him, and he inside edged onto his stumps to be out for a duck.
Virat Kohli run out, 1st innings
The second-innings collapse for 36 will forever be looked at as the reason India lost in Adelaide, but they may have had more of a lead in the first innings had Kohli not been run out for 74 on the first evening with three overs to go for the new ball. Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had put on 88, and at 188 for 3, India looked in control of the Test. Then, Rahane drove to mid-off, called for a run, but then stopped after a few strides and sent Kohli back. Kohli was stranded down the wicket and had to walk off at a crucial stage of the game.
Ajinkya Rahane lbw to Mitchell Starc, 1st innings
Having been responsible for Kohli's dismissal, Rahane now had to shoulder the responsibility of seeing off the new ball under lights. Instead, he looked rattled by the run-out and did not move his feet at all to a straight delivery from Starc. There was a little bit of inswing, but it was Rahane's lack of footwork that had him trapped on the crease and plumb.
Prithvi Shaw bowled by Pat Cummins, 2nd innings
Out for a duck in the first innings, Shaw had a chance to correct the mistake he made in the second. But once again, he was out to the inswinger. The ball nipped back from outside off, and Shaw was slow with his footwork, still on the move as the ball went through the seemingly everpresent gap between his bat and pad and knocked back the stumps. The dismissal, late on the second evening, gave Australia something to feel positive about after India had taken a 53-run first-innings lead.
Ajinkya Rahane caught behing off Josh Hazlewood, 2nd innings
Cummins and Josh Hazlewood bowled some beauties during India's third-morning collapse, but they were aided by some indecisive footwork by India's batsmen. Rahane's dismissal for a duck was the worst example. Hazlewood bowled it full on off, and Rahane made a small, tentative movement with his front foot and pushed at the ball in front of his body, nicking it to the keeper.
There were some good moments for India in the first Test. They bowled Australia out for 191 in the first innings, and there were a couple of dismissals that were the result of perfect planning and execution by the bowlers
Matthew Wade lbw to Jasprit Bumrah, 1st innings
After not quite finding the right line and length from over the wicket in his first spell, Bumrah went around the wicket to the left-handed Wade in his second. The idea was to attack the stumps and bowl a bit fuller than he had in his first spell. Bumrah pitched one on a length and hit Wade right in front. The fuller length meant it was clipping the stumps rather than going over, and Wade had to go back.
Steven Smith caught off R Ashwin, 1st innings
In an excellent first spell, Ashwin had mostly attacked the stumps. Then he delivered one just outside off and without spin to threaten Smith's outside edge. Smith played for the turn and edged to Rahane at slip. It was similar to the way Ashwin had dismissed Smith in Dharamsala in 2017 and was the first of four wickets for Ashwin in the first innings.
The second Test begins on December 26.
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