As expected, the Indians are off to a tough start in the Test series against Australia, as they have lost six wickets on Day 1 of the first day-night Test in Adelaide on Thursday. While India face a challenging task at hand to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, we take a look at the crucial talking points that Day 1 brought forward.
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Prithvi Shaw's dwindling form a matter of concern: When India announced the playing XI on Wednesday, fans were surprised with the inclusion of young opener Prithvi Shaw, who did not fare well in the two warm-up clashes. Evidently, he once again failed to perform, as he was dismissed for an unfortunate duck in the very second ball of the day. Least to say, he has no other choice but to play a gem of an innings in the second innings, in case he wants to feature in the remaining Tests.
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Mayank Agarwal's rough patch sees no end: While Shaw's performance in the Tests is of concern, same has been the case with fellow opener Mayank, across formats. He failed to get going in the limited-overs, scoring just 50 from the two ODIs. He has managed only 80 in the three First-Class innings, including the warm-ups. Although he was expected to fire in the Tests, being a long-format specialist, he fell prey to the new ball, as he has a task at hand.
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Mitchell Starc back with his lethal seam: Although the Indian openers falling for cheap was heartbreaking for the fans, it was a treat to watch Australian seamer Mitchell Starc, dominating with his violent swing movement. While his performance was of concern prior to the game, he proved his doubters wrong. Since he was coming off a rough patch in the ODIs, where he was their most expensive bowlers, Starc's comeback in the longest format is a sigh of relief for all Aussies.
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Pink-ball Test is the game for Virat Kohli: Indian skipper, Virat Kohli was a hit when India played their first-ever day-night Test last year against Bangladesh at home, as he scored a century. Even today, he looked to have adapted to the pink-ball scenario well, as he scored a well-deserved 74, before being unfortunately run out. Least to say, his upcoming innings in the very Tests would be interesting to see.
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Have Indians have mastered the twilight trouble? For day-night Tests, most of the batsmen complained of the twilight phase, where they find it a little difficult to spot the ball. However, the same was not the case for Team India today, as the Indians did not lose any wicket during the phase. Have the Indians mastered the stage or was it just sheer luck today? The new few similar tests would indeed prove it.
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Indians struggling with the new ball: The Indians lost six wickets today. Notably, they did lose four of it with the new ball. Although things would have been different had it been a red-ball Tests, the pink-ball might have made things a tide difficult for them. Nonetheless, it won't be hard to master it, in case the twilight phase has been tackled well.
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Match summary: Winning the toss, Kohli elected to bat first. They were off to a shaky start, as they lost the openers for cheap. Nonetheless, Cheteshwar Pujara (43), Kohli 74) and Ajinkya Rahane (42) did well to enure India go past 200. As for Australia, it was the pacers who shined, with Starc finishing with figures of 248, as the Indians are 2336 at stumps on Day 1.Brief scores: India 2336 (Kohli 74; Starc 249) vs Australia.
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