Kohli’s 74 the highlight as India and Australia remind us why we love Test Cricket

Well, safe to say, Test Cricket, we have missed you. A day/night of cricket which had everything we expect from a day of hard-fought Test Cricket ended with Australia having their noses slightly ahead in the game. The graft of the Indian batsmen, Aussie bowlers not giving an inch, and session after session of topsy-turvy Cricket - it had it all.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, India would have hoped for their openers to blunt out the Aussie fast bowlers over the first hour, while the middle order could put their feet up on the balcony of the Adelaide Oval’s visitors’ pavilion. Nope, not happening, said Mitchell Starc. By the third ball of the day, Cheteshwar Pujara was out in the middle, marking his guard while Prithvi Shaw in desolation walked off. The next hour and a half produced 2 boundaries and ball after ball of “Oohs” and “Aahs”. It took the perfect in-dipper from Pat Cummins to knock back Mayank Agarwal’s stumps.

This was the battle that everyone was waiting for. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara against the famed Aussie bowling lineup. The going was tough. It would have taken tremendous effort, at least for Captain Kohli, to curb his natural instinct, put his head down, and work for every run. The Aussies made the Indian duo earn each one of them. The 25 overs of the first session had yielded only 41 runs - a rarity in the post-T20 era, but India had gone into the dinner break further unscathed.

If India had hoped that the Aussie bowlers would tire under the late afternoon sun, they would be wrong. There was no respite - the intensity was still up. With every run fought for, India had just nudged the 100-run mark. In the meanwhile, there was a terrific battle brewing - Nathan Lyon with his classic offies, drift, and bounce keeping Cheteshwar Pujara honest. Just as the clock hit an hour mark post the break, Lyon and the Aussies had their man - Pujara had edged one onto his pads to Marnus Labuschagne at leg-slip.

The sun was beginning to slowly set, and the Captain and the vice-captain knuckled down to the task in hand. Virat Kohli brought up his 23rd Test half-century, while Ajinkya Rahane supported him ably. The duo put on 86 for the 4th wicket when disaster struck. Just when Captain Kohli was looking fully in control, and just 4 overs to go for the second new ball, a mix-up ended his stint. 

Ajinkya Rahane had expressed his wariness over the Twilight time. And his fears were to come true. A horror half an hour’s play which had begun with Virat Kohli’s run-out, followed by Ajinkya Rahane completely missing his first attempt at playing the second Pink cherry, ended with Hanuma Vihari being caught in the crease by a Hazlewood top-of-off corker. What had appeared to be India’s day at 186/3, now stood at 206/6. 

India’s hopes of putting up a competitive first innings total now lies in the hands of Wriddhiman Saha and R Ashwin, with the duo having already accumulated 27 runs for the 7th wicket. The score dons a slightly more respectable look at 233/6. It is far from being called India’s day; nearer yet still a fair distance away from being completely Australia’s day either. A good first session of Day 2 for either team will tilt the balance in their favor.