Five years ago on this day – on December 19, 2020, the Indian Test team, under their charismatic captain Virat Kohli, came face to face with their worst nightmare Down Under. On the third day of the opening match of their four-match series in Australia, India batters tumbled like a pack of cards against the spirited bowling of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins at the Adelaide Oval. They were bundled out for their lowest score ever in the history of Test cricket – 36 all out in 21.2 overs.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Such was the collapse that no Indian batter managed to touch the double-digit mark and there were three ducks, including that of middle-order mainstays Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Cummins started the mayhem and Hazlewood finished off the Indian defence with precision as they shared nine wickets between them.
That day, India broke their previous lowest total of 42 against England at Lord’s, scored way back in 1974. And it still remains their lowest point in Test cricket, before the team came close to match the horror show four years later in Bengaluru against New Zealand, when they were bowled out for 46 in 2024 – their lowest total at home.
The Adelaide Test India would like to forget
It was a sombre Saturday morning, India were in the driver’s seat after taking 53 runs first-innings lead at the Adelaide Oval. At stumps on Day 2, India had lost their opener Prithvi Shaw early in the second innings to Cummins and reached 9/1, a lead of 62 runs with nine wickets in hand, little did the visitors know what was in store the next day.Opener Mayank Agarwal and nightwatchman Jasprit Bumrah were on crease for India on Day 3. On the last delivery of the second over of the day, Cummins opened the floodgate by removing Bumrah – caught and bowled for 2.India were 15/2 at that stage, a lead of 68 with Pujara joining Agarwal in the middle. Three probing maiden overs followed as the pressure mounted on India batters in the middle. Cummins then forced an edge off Pujara’s bat in the 12th over and captain Tim Paine pounced on it – a 8-ball duck for India’s No.3 batter. Next over Hazlewood joined the party, removing Agarwal (9), India’s top scorer in the innings – out caught behind, before making it a double-wicket maiden by dismissing Rahane for a 4-ball duck.
Australia’s pace trio: Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. (ANI Photo)
India were in total disarray by then, 15/1 had turned to 15/5 in no time. All the advantage they generated by bowling out the hosts for 191 on Day 2 after posting 244 had vanished in thin air.It was left to skipper Kohli and wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha to steady the India innings against the two marauding pacers in Cummins and Hazlewood. Kohli had a good outing with the bat in the first innings, top-scoring for India with a composed 74 off 180 balls, which included eight fours. So, India had hopes. But, Cummins had other ideas. In what could be considered as a stunning bowling spell, Cummins made Kohli his fourth victim as the pacer returned figures of 4 for 21 in 10.2 overs.Kohli’s wicket was the last hope for India, and after that Hazlewood ran through the lower middle-order and tail to complete his five-wicket haul – a 5 for 8 in five overs which included three maidens too.India were folded for 36 with Mohammed Shami retiring, after being hit by a Cummins bouncer, for the visitors’ final wicket. Despite taking a substantial first-innings lead, India set just a 90-run target for the hosts in the end.Australia then knocked off the target on the same day, with openers Joe Burns (51 not out) and Matthew Wade (33) adding 70 in quick time as India pacers failed to replicate the exploits of Cummins and Hazlewood.The match, which saw 21 wickets in the first two days, witnessed a dramatic collapse on the third day and India started the series with a disappointing 8-wicket defeat in the series.
File Pic: Rishabh Pant celebrates after winning the Brisbane Test.
The turnaround as famous as the crumble
After the humiliation in Adelaide, the series moved to Melbourne and India were without their regular captain, Virat Kohli left the series due to personal reasons. Ajinkya Rahane led the side at MCG, and India made an emphatic comeback in it by beating Australia by 8 wickets to level the series 1-1.It was followed by a drawn Test in Sydney, as both teams reached for the finale in Brisbane with the series on the line.And Team India made sure that fans forgot what happened in Adelaide a month back, as they stunned the hosts by 3 wickets to win the series 2-1 – making it a back-to-back Test series win Down Under for the visitors. It was a turnaround to remember for Team India. They moved on from the Adelaide humiliation to script Test history in Australia.
