Adelaide, Australia

Steve Smith continued with his poor form in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) after he was scalped by Jasprit Bumrah in the first session of Day 2 in the ongoing pink-ball Test in Adelaide. Playing on Saturday (Dec 7) at the Adelaide Oval, Bumrah got the better of Smith for the second time in the series, this time via a brilliant catch from wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. The former Australia skipper had earlier been dismissed for a golden duck by Bumrah in the first innings of the Perth Test.

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Bumrah stuns Smith

On the first ball of the 41st over that was going down the leg was nicked by Smith as it made its path away from the wicketkeeper. However, Pant dived superbly on his left to clutch Smith and get the better of him. The 35-year-old lasted for only 11 balls before he was sent packing home, having scored only two runs. The Aussie star also became the Indian vice-captain’s third wicket of the innings and he pushed for a comeback.

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At the time of writing, Australia were 168/4 with Marnus Labuschagne top-scoring with 64. He was dismissed by Nitish Reddy with Yashasvi Jaiswal taking a superb catch at the gully. Australia trailed by 12 runs with Travis Head (32) and Mitchell March (0) in the middle.

Australia had earlier started the day from 86/1 as they lost Nathan McSweeney (39) shortly after the start.

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Can India mount a comeback?

With Australia destined to take the first innings lead, India will need a healthy contribution from their batters if they are to mount a comeback. Considering India’s recent batting woes, batters like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and others will need to come good. The team will also rely heavily on the services of Jaiswal and KL Rahul who impressed in the second innings of the Perth Test.