Those at the Adelaide Oval on a pleasant Saturday afternoon witnessed a session of top-class fast bowling. While Australian cricket fans rejoiced and enjoyed top-of-the-shelf performances from Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, Indian cricket fans - at the venue and following the match through other means world over - were left in utter disbelief as their team was blown away for 36 - in a matter of minutes.
It took the Australian fast bowling trio 15.2 overs in the first session of Day III to pick up 8 Indian wickets and reduce them to 36 for 9; Mohammed Shami took a blow on his right forearm and couldn't continue batting, and therefore the innings had to be concluded at 36.
India's 36 all out would be:
- - India's lowest total in Test cricket history
- - the joint fourth-lowest total in Test cricket history
- - the lowest total in D/N Test matches
- - the joint-lowest total in Tests against Australia
- - the lowest total in Tests at the Adelaide Oval
- - the joint-lowest total in Tests in Australia
India's second innings in Adelaide lasted 21.2 overs only; it would be the Indian team's second-shortest innings in Overseas Test matches. India's shortest innings in overseas Test matches was at Lord's in 1974, when a batting line-up comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Farokh Engineer, Ajit Wadekar, GR Viswanath, Brijesh Patel and others was reduced to 42/9 in 17 overs; on that occasion BS Chandrasekhar did not bat.
The Indian team's engine room - comprising batsmen batting at Nos. 3, 4, 5 & 6 - contributed a total of 6 runs in India's second innings; Jasprit Bumrah (nightwatchman batting at #3), Chesteshwar Pujara (#4), Virat Kohli (#5) and Ajinkya Rahane (#6) made scores of 2, 0, 4 & 0 respectively. It would be the joint-lowest aggregate of runs by India's Nos. 3 to 6, and the lowest-ever aggregate of runs by batsmen batting in those 4 positions in Test matches at the Adelaide Oval.
India's score read 19 for 6 when Virat Kohli was dismissed; never previously had the Indian team lost their 6th wicket for such a low score. Before the Adelaide Test, India's lowest score at the fall of the 6th wicket was 25 (against South Africa in Durban, 1996).
India's second innings in the Adelaide Test was only the 2nd time in Test history that no batsman in a completed innings had managed to get into double digit scores. The only other instance was when none of South African batsmen got to double digits in their first innings of the Edgbaston Test in 1924.
Rare Century Drought for Virat Kohli
The 2nd innings of the Adelaide Test would be Virat Kohli's final innings in international cricket this year. He ended the year without scoring a century in any format of international cricket. The only other calendar year in which he had not scored a century in any format of international cricket was 2008 - the year he made his debut for India.
Milestones reached on Day III of the Adelaide Test:
Mayank Agarwal, when on 9 in the second innings, completed 1000 runs in Test cricket.
The wicket of Virat Kohli in the second innings would be Pat Cummins' 150th wicket in Test cricket. By getting to the milestone in 31 Tests, Cummins joined Dennis Lillee as the fastest Australian pacers to 150 Test wickets.
The wicket of Ravichandran Ashwin in the second innings would be Josh Hazlewood's 200th wicket in Test cricket.
With the win in the Adelaide Test, Australia maintain their 100% win record in D/N Testsl they've won all the 8 Day and Night Tests they've played.
The Adelaide Test was the first occasion when Virat Kohli had won the toss but would then go on to lose the Test match. In the 25 previous Test matches when he had won the toss, India had gone on to win 21 and drew 4 others.
Australia's wicketkeeper-captain Tim Paine pouched 7 catches in the Adelaide Test; he would be the first wicketkeeper-captain to effect 7 dismissals in a Test against India.
With the catch to dismiss Hanuma Vihari, Tim Paine completed 750 career fielding dismissals (692 catches & 58 stumpings in the three formats combined).
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