Former Aussie fast bowler Damien Fleming is astonished to see India bundling out for just 36 runs in their second innings at Adelaide Oval during the opening match of the four-match Test series against Australia. The visitors collapsed within the first session of their innings but with the lead of already 53 runs, India could give the target of 90 runs.
Like others, Fleming was also in disbelief to see the scorecard. The 50-year-old took a dig at Team India stating that the last time he witnessed such collapse when he was in under-12.
“I see it, I see 36, but I don’t believe it. It’s insane. The last time I saw that would have been under-12s,” the BBC quoted Damien Fleming as saying.
Damien Fleming in disbelief:
India’s early departure is being credited to Australia’s fast bowling. Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins dismantled Virat Kohli and co., picking five and four wickets respectively. Damien Fleming also believes that the pitch wasn’t that bad for batsmen but Aussie bowlers bowled the correct area to blew the visitors.
“It wasn’t excessive,” said Damien Fleming on whether there were demons on the pitch for batsmen. “But they didn’t bowl a bad ball. And India’s bowlers could rightly feel like ‘what have we done?’ I wouldn’t have wanted to see Australia chasing 180 on that.”
During the post-match presentation, India captain Virat Kohli felt that the lack of execution was the reason behind India’s miserable batting show. He stated that Australia bowled similarly in the first innings but this time India could not get their plans right.
On day three, India lost the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin for a duck. Virat Kohli was also sent back to the hut after adding a four in his tally while Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari was out for nine and eight runs respectively. No Indian batter could get a double-digit score which made the case more worse.
With the win, Australia maintained its dominance in the pink ball history. They will lock the horns in the second Test match in Melbourne, which is scheduled to begin on December 26.