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Adelaide, december 10

India crushed a lower-order insurrection to secure a nerve-jangling 31-run victory in the first Test against Australia on Monday, raising hopes of a breakthrough series win Down Under. The tourists had to work hard to remove Australia’s last four batsmen on the final day at Adelaide Oval but finally broke through at the end of an extended middle session to send India’s travelling fans into raptures.

Faced with a docile wicket and tenacious tail-end slogging, Virat Kohli’s team bowled with patience and determination to claim India’s first win in the country since Anil Kumble’s men beat a Ricky Ponting-led Australia by 72 runs in Perth in 2008.

It was also India’s first win in a Test series-opener in Australia and they will head to Perth for the second of the four matches full of confidence. “Obviously it’s a great feeling, we’ve never taken a lead in a series in Australia,” said Kohli, who scored back-to-back centuries in a 48-run loss in Adelaide during the 2014/15 tour.

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took the final wicket of Josh Hazlewood for 13 to dismiss Australia for 291, with Nathan Lyon unbeaten on 38 after a valiant chase of 323 for victory.

After suffering defeat in their first home Test without the suspended Steve Smith and David Warner, Tim Paine’s Australia will go into the second match with batting worries confirmed. On a pitch that presented few demons, only two home batsmen managed scores above 50 across the match, with a majority of victims falling due to poor shot selection.

“It’s pretty shattering,” Paine said.

“Really proud of the fight of the lower order but I think over the five days we had a number of opportunities to get ahead of the game but failed to capitalise on any of them and India thoroughly deserved to win.” 

Kohli’s side banked 123 and 71 from Man of the Match Cheteshwar Pujara, while Ajinkya Rahane chipped in a vital 70 in the second innings against a world class seam attack. India have been excited by their own pace bowlers and they delivered when it counted. Mohammed Shami had 3/65 in the second innings and Jasprit Bumrah (3/68) made key breakthroughs on Day 5. Ishant Sharma started the ball rolling by taking Travis Head’s wicket for 14 in the morning.

Under pressure after a dreadful run of scores, Shaun Marsh was caught by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for 60, leaving wicketkeeper Paine and tail-ender Pat Cummins to scrap desperately to lunch. Paine had treatment for a hand injury before the break and was out slogging for 41 soon after before Mitchell Starc kept the terraces entertained with a typically swashbuckling innings of 28.

Mohammed Shami broke through to remove Starc, with Pant catching the edge to equal the world record of 11 dismissals shared by AB De Villiers and Jack Russell. Pant dropped a diving, one-handed chance that would have given him sole possession of the record when Bumrah coaxed a nick off Cummins (28). But the Indian bowler got Cummins eventually, with an edge flying to Kohli in the slips.

No team has scored more than 315 runs in a successful run chase at Adelaide Oval but Lyon and Hazlewood kept the crowd entertained in a final 32-run stand before falling short. — Reuters

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Virat says

Huge boost

It is a great feeling, never taken lead in a series in Australia, that for us is a huge boost. It has given us the right momentum to play in a big series like this. We have had to work hard for five days. The physical and mental toil, and the emotion of it all come together in a result, so it is a very special feeling.

Great show by pacers 

I think to pick 20 wickets with four bowlers, away from home, especially with a ball that does not offer you that much is something we can be proud of. That’s a very positive sign. They are fitter and they have more pace on it for longer periods

Didn’t take anything for granted 

We knew they were not going to throw in the towel just like that. Their tail, I think, is in the top three when it comes to lower-order averages in the past couple of years. They put a price on their wicket. We certainly expected them to fight. We never wanted to take it for granted.

Priceless Pujara 

It was priceless from Pujara. His grit and determination brought us back in it. We always knew that runs on the board would make the home side tentative. Any lead was gold and we got 15.

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What a way to start the series! #TeamIndia. Never released the pressure. Superb batting by Cheteshwar with crucial knocks in both innings, Ajinkya Rahane in the 2nd innings and excellent contributions by our 4 bowlers. This has brought back memories of 2003

— Sachin Tendulkar 

Test Cricket is best cricket. Great fight by Australia in the end but India were too good. Winning after being 41/4 in first innings is a special effort. Outstanding Test match for Pujara and great effort from our bowlers. Promises to be a great series

— Virender Sehwag 

Amazing grit displayed by the Australian lower order, but this is a moment to savour for a long time for India. The bowlers gave it everything and let’s just enjoy this and carry the momentum into the Perth Test

— VVS Laxman 

Congratulations to India. Loved Australia’s fight to the end, need to move on quickly from this loss and prepare for Perth which is a quick turn around

— Mitchell Johnson 

I love Test cricket & its drama! Great fight from Australia’s lower order today and it should be - this is Test cricket. Terrific Test match & congrats to @imVkohli & his men on a wonderful victory! Bring on Perth.”

— Shane Warne

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Shastri sets social media abuzz with tongue-in-cheek  comment 

India head coach Ravi Shastri could not keep his emotions in check after the historic win and made a tongue-in-cheek comment on national television that quickly went viral on social media. Speaking to Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Clarke and Mark Butcher, who were discussing the game in a television studio, Shastri came up with a rather interesting way to describe the tense moments of the game with Australia almost pulling-off an improbable win. “I just said in Hindi just a little while ago bilkul chhorenge nahi ... Lekin thodi der ke liye wahan ***** muh mein tha,” said Shastri. 

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It’s been a great first match! Thank you so much for your wishes. Really delighted with the way we played as team and put up a great fight! On to the next one now! — Cheteshwar pujara, Man of the match

Scripting away wins 

Pujara is the only Indian batsman to score 50-plus scores in India’s three away wins this year

India’s first-ever Test win in a series-opener in Australia: Five factors behind victory

Pujara’s 194 runs

Cheteshwar Pujara’s contribution across two innings proved crucial to India putting up competitive totals in both innings — he scored 37.30% of runs made by Indian batsmen across two innings (194 out of 520). In six previous innings in Australia, he’d made only one 50. In this match, his 123 in the first innings guided India to 250, and 71 in the second, with a partnership of 87 with Ajinkya Rahane, helped India set up a winning total. He deserved to be the Man of the Match, his first such award outside Asia.

Ashwin turns the screws

Ravichandran Ashwin put the shackles on the Australian batsmen with a marathon spell on the second day. Overall in the first innings he bowled 34 overs for 57 runs, picking up 3 wickets, batsmen No. 2 to 5 in the Aussie order. He picked up another three wickets in the second innings, batsmen No. 1, 3 and 11. He bowled a whopping 52.5 overs in the second innings — only four times has he bowled 50-plus overs in an innings, and this was the second time at Adelaide. His 6/149 is his personal best in a Test match in Australia. 

Shami-Bumrah Show

Mohammed Shami (above) and Jasprit Bumrah took six wickets each in the match, and the pacers picked up 14 wickets overall. Australia’s pace trio — with one bowler ranked in world top-10 and two others in top-20 — took 11 wickets in the Test, outbowled by Indian pacers. India’s pacers grabbed 14 wickets, and only once have Indian pacers taken more wickets in a Test in Australia (16 at Melbourne in 2011). When India beat Australia at Perth in 2008, then too the pacers had picked up 14 wickets.

Openers, Rahane, Pant...

Murali Vijay and KL Rahul put up a stand of 63 in the second innings after India had taken a lead of merely 15; both the openers fell to loose strokes, and both were gone with 76 on the board, but before they fell they managed to calm the Indian nerves. Ajinkya Rahane, who made 13 in the first innings, later had a key partnership with Pujara, and added some crucial runs with Rishabh Pant (in pic). Pant took 11 catches in the match, joint-most by a wicketkeeper, breaking the Indian record of 10 by Wriddhiman Saha.

Australian batting frailty

Australian batting lasted longer than Indian batting overall — Australia played a total of 218.3 overs to India’s 194.5 overs. However, Australia’s run-rate was 2.38 and 2.42 in the two innings, against India’s 2.84 and 2.87. In other words, Australia’s batsmen were much slower than India’s, and that can be put down to inexperience of some (Harris, Handscomb) and failure of some others (Finch, in pic). Australian batsmen’s inability to force the pace also showed how much they missed Steve Smith and David Warner.

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