Australia dominate India with 10-wicket win in second Test

Australia defeated India by 10 wickets in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar series, requiring less than two hours on Sunday in Adelaide to wrap up the result.

The victory means Australia levels the five-Test series 1-1, having lost the opening Test by 295 runs last month.

After Australia came into the series as heavy favourites, cricket bookmakers had shortened India’s odds to win the second Test, with Neds putting them at $2.20.

But by the time India began the day on 5/128, they were heavy underdogs at cricket betting sites, trailing by 29 runs after Australia made an impressive 337 in response to India’s opening effort of 180.

Mitchell Starc — whose seven wickets devastated India in the first innings — struck early, removing Rishabh Pant (28) in the first over of the day.

Newcomer Ravichandran Ashwin (7) never looked comfortable and gloved a bouncer through to Alex Carey off Pat Cummins after a short stay.

Harshit Rana (0) was next to go, again courtesy of Cummins and the short ball.

Nitish Kumar Reddy — who top scored with 42 in both innings — was able to shovel one of Cummins’ bouncers over the rope and take India ahead on the scoreboard.

However, he too fell to the short-ball barrage, holing out to deep fine leg in the 36th over.

When Scott Boland claimed the final Indian wicket of Mohammad Siraj (7), Australia was left with a target of just 19 runs to chase.

Openers Nathan McSweeney (10) and Usman Khawaja (9) might light work of it, cantering over the finish line in just 3.2 overs.

“That’s a great week,” Australian captain Cummins said after the match.

“We were far from the team we want to be in Perth, but this was good.

“Good to get a few wickets.”

Indian captain Rohit Sharma was disappointed in his side’s showing, ruing missed opportunities.

“Disappointing week for us,” he said.

“We didn’t play well enough to win the game. Australia played better than us.

“There were times when we could have grabbed the opportunity but failed, which cost us the game.

“What we did in Perth was great, but every game throws a new challenge.

“Looking forward to the next Test and we will see what we did well in Perth and in Brisbane too last time.”

The third Test between India and Australia gets underway on Saturday, 14 December, in Brisbane, with Neds yet to release their odds for the match.

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