Mitchell Starc produced a jaw-dropping 'banana swing' to castle out star batter Shubman Gill in the second innings of the Adelaide Test. Starc, who had registered a career-best figures of 6/48 in the first innings on the Pink-ball Test, came back to haunt the Indian team once again in the second essay.
He got some brilliant swing and seam under the lights in the third session of Day 2. India were in choppy waters after conceding a 157-run trail in the first innings. They were sent into more trouble after a collapse in the second essay. One wicket among them which caught the eyeballs of the fans was Starc getting the better of Gill.
In his second spell of the innings, Starc cleaned up the Indian batter with a jaw-dropping delivery. He pitched one fuller on the off stump as Gill went to play for the line. But the wily speedster had produced some late swing and seam movement and the delivery went on to take out the middle stump. Had there been no swing and seam, the ball was going to probably fifth or sixth stump but the magic by Starc made it a special one.
Watch the video here:
After getting Gill, Starc nearly had India captain Rohit Sharma LBW but a no-ball and a possible bat-pad denied him his brace. He continuously posed threats to the Indian batting line-up with his seam movement.
The tall left-arm speedster was clinical in the first innings too. He got his career-best 6/48 as he derailed India with an exemplary display of bowling. Starc got the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Nitish Reddy, Ravi Ashwin and Harshit Rana.
He got Jasiwal on the first ball of the match, making it the third occasion of Starc getting a wicket on the first delivery of a Test. He joined Pedro Collins as the only two bowlers to strike with on the first ball of a Test match three times.
The left-arm speedster is also the first one to get the wicket off the first ball in a day-night Test match.
Coming to the match situation, India ended Day 2 of the second Test at 128/5 and trailed by 29 more runs. They stare down at a potential loss as they don't have much batting to come. Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy go unbeaten 28 and 15, respectively and have Ravi Ashwin, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to come.
