Australia delivered a fantastic performance under tremendous pressure to come back and draw the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 level 1-1. 

India won the toss and elected to bat first. However, the tourists got off to the worst possible start as Mitchell Starc trapped Yashasvi Jaiswal LBW on the first ball. And, that set the tone for the match. The left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc was at his best and took a 6-wicket haul to dismiss India for just 180.

In reply, Australia’s Travis Head lit up Adelaide with an explosive 140, and vital contributions from Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney ensured India had no chance in the match. After a 157-run lead, India succumbed under pressure in the second innings with not much resistance from any batter and eventually conceded a 10-wicket loss.

Australia is now the new No.1 in the World Test Championship 2023-25 points table while India has dropped to No.3.

Related 5 Young Guns to Watch in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2025

Match Summary and Key Performances

Australia 337 (Head 140, Labuschagne 64, Bumrah 4-61, Siraj 4-98) and 19 for 0 beat India 180 (Reddy 42, Starc 6-48, Cummins 2-41) and 175 (Reddy 42, Pant 28, Cummins 5-57, Boland 3-51) by ten wickets

From India’s point of view, the batting was dismal. Other than youngster Nitish Reddy, no other batsman looked in good touch. India would like their experienced batters to lead from the front in the next test match. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah was a standout bowler for the tourists and was well-supported by Mohd Siraj. However, there is still a lot of work to do in the bowling department for the side ahead of the third test.

For Australia, the fast bowling trio – Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Scott Boland – was on the money and made life difficult for Indian batters throughout the Adelaide test. On the batting front, Travis Head was at his explosive best while Marnus Labuschange and Nathan McSweeney played a good supporting hand.

Australia Test Record in Day-night Tests

Test Matches: 13

Wins: 12

Loss: 1

Australia has won each of the eight day-night Test matches at Adelaide Oval.

India’s Test Record in 2024

Most consecutive losses in Test Cricket for an Indian captain

Related Decoding India’s Winning Formula in Border-Gavaskar Trophy Over the Years

Most WTC Test Wins as Captain

Related India’s Strategy to Counter Australian Conditions in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Post-match Player Reactions

Pat Cummins (winning captain): Great week, knew we were far away from the team we want to be in Perth. This is back to how we want to play. (On his personal form) I was happy, wasn’t too upset with how I bowled in Perth, felt really good this week and good to get a few wickets. Amazing, never that much noise within the group, we know what a good unit we are. Having someone like Starc, he’s amazing, just does it time and time again. He’s done it for over a decade now. Feel very lucky and privileged to have him in our team. (On Head) He loves batting here, again one of those momentum-shifts, the game could have gone either way when he walked out to bat but he took it straight out of their hands. The main thing was the lead, just happened that it was a pretty good time to bowl as well. seems to do a little bit more under lights. But the big thing was getting a big lead. Scotty just fitted in straightaway like as he does. Feels so lucky to have someone like him, he probes with every ball. Hopefully Josh’s back next week but Scotty is unbelievable. (On Lyon bowling just 1 over in the Test) He’ll jump in the ice bath, he’s had a big week.

Rohit Sharma: Disappointing week for us, we didn’t play well enough to win the game and Australia played better than us. There were times in the game where we could have grabbed those opportunities but we failed to do that and that cost us the game. What we did in Perth was very special, we wanted to come out here and do that again but every Test match has its own challenge. We knew it was going to be challenging with the pink ball. Like I said, Australia was better than us. We are quite looking forward to it (Gabba Test), there’s not much time in between as well. We want to go out there and think about what we did right in Perth and what we did last time when we were here. Some really good memories there, hopefully we understand the challenges of every Test match. We want to start well and play well.

Travis Head (Player of the Match): Nice to get some runs again. I felt like I moved well last week, I felt like I am in good form. It’s a good dressing room to be in, it’s a tight one, most people might suggest otherwise. Putting a good performance in, nothing was ever guaranteed, nice momentum and now we have to move on with it. It wasn’t talked about (to bowl in the final session on day two), Pat gives me great confidence. I can see the game and play the game how I want to see it. I felt like there was a good opportunity with that second new ball. Tried to get as many as we could get and put them under pressure. It was a hot couple of days. Felt like the new ball was going to be tough work. Nice that it was able to come off. I picked the moments really well throughout the innings and we were able to get the ball rolling. (Century celebration) Did it with Miller as well, nice to have them (family) here and it’s been a nice week.

Alex Carey: A great result, what a place it is to play cricket it is, a beautiful venue. To call it our home venue, Travis and I and Nathan now, a fantastic win. (On Starc) He is a proven champion of Australian cricket, not just with the red ball, he’s probably the greatest pink ball bowler. He’s been fantastic again. he bowled really well in Perth and got the rewards this week. (On Head) He’s really found his straps over the last couple of years, he’s just so consistent in his methods. We love watching it. chaotic at times, but it comes off quite often than not. He plays his best when it’s the hardest situation to come out and bat. Marnus and Nathan really set it up and Trav took the game away from India.

Mitchell Starc: It’s been a good week. Nice way to start the other day. We were pretty good throughout. Moving on from the first Test, we knew we had to improve, we’ve responded really well. We weren’t concerned, we left Perth in Perth, we went our own ways for a few days, prepared the way we normally do, got ready for the big Test and responded well. No secret, work hard and see how we go. We are an experienced side, we spend a lot of time together on and off the field playing with and against each other. We left Perth in Perth and we got the job done. You never let the highs get too high and the lows get too low, we did a fair bit of good stuff in the last Test, a lot of things to improve on but not to forget some of the positives to take out of last week. We prepared normally this week and did the job with bat and ball.

Marnus Labuschagne: It’s nice to be in the runs and help the team. There’s a lot of talk during the week, I got back to doing what I know the best that’s hitting lots and lots of cricket balls, looking at the footage where I felt like I was falling short. The selection policy and selection process with this team is very consistent. For me, it was about staying true to myself, true to how I got here as a player. Spent hours thinking about it, spoke to different people and I was able to find my feet in the innings. Always good (to play in Brisbane). The series is 1-1. Last week, we lost the Test match and we were apparently the worst Test team ever. This week, we finished on day three. It’s nice that there’s so much talk about the game.

Related Top 10 Performances by Indian Cricketers in BGT Trophy

What to expect in India vs Australia 3rd Test?

Now that Australia has bounced back emphatically after losing the first test in Perth, the series is nicely set up. Aussie have sent a strong message to India and now it’s time for the tourists to regroup and be back at their best.

India vs Australia 3rd Test starts on 14th December 2024 in Brisbane. Brisbane is known for fast, bouncy conditions and it will be testing for both India and Australia to cope with. Stay tuned with Sportsutra for all Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 news updates and thrilling action.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.