Watch: Starc strikes 1st ball; KL survives amid no-ball drama in Adelaide

It's all happening in Adelaide's Pink Ball Test between India and Australia!!

 

The drama in the Pink Ball Test started as Mitchell Starc claimed a wicket of first ball in a Test for the third time.

 

Mitchell Starc's opening delivery in the IND vs AUS 2nd Test set the tone in dramatic fashion as he dismissed Yashavi Jaiswal without the Indian opener troubling the scorers. A full, well-placed ball on the pads trapped Jaiswal in front, sending him back for a duck. This marked the third time in his career that Starc has claimed a wicket off the very first ball of a Test match, a remarkable achievement that no other bowler has matched in the history of cricket. 

Starc's first ball wicket in Test cricket

• Dimuth Karunaratne (4th August, 2016, Galle)
• Rory Burns (8th December, 2021, Brisbane)
• Yashasvi Jaiswal (6th December, 2024, Adelaide)

 

    The wicket was especially poignant given the build-up to the encounter. In the first Test in Perth, Jaiswal had exchanged words with Starc, remarking that the Aussie pacer was bowling too slowly after defending a delivery. When asked about the exchange, Starc, ever the professional, claimed not to have heard Jaiswal’s "sledge." 

 

This wicket also evoked memories of Starc's iconic first-ball strike in the 2020-21 Ashes series. On that occasion, he sent England’s Rory Burns back to the pavilion with a searing swinging yorker that rattled the leg stump at Brisbane’s Gabba, proving yet again why Starc thrives on the big stage.   

KL survives close call as Boland's bowls a NO Ball  In a dramatic start to the second Test between India and Australia in Adelaide, Australian pacer Scott Boland delivered an early moment of tension with a superb delivery to Indian opener KL Rahul.

 

With the ball pitched on a back-of-a-length outside off-stump, Boland generated good bounce and subtle movement, drawing Rahul into an ill-advised poke. The ball found the edge of Rahul’s bat, and it flew straight to the keeper, Matthew Wade, with a confident appeal from the Australians. Rahul, seemingly resigned to his fate, started his walk back to the pavilion, his early departure seemingly inevitable.

 

However, the drama didn't end there. As the players began to gather for the dismissal, the third umpire intervened—Boland had overstepped, and the delivery was ruled a no-ball. The decision turned the tide in Rahul's favour, giving him a second life and leaving the Australian camp rueing the missed opportunity.

 

Boland's unfortunate overstep may have been a moment of disappointment for the Aussie pacer, but it was a stroke of fortune for Rahul, who now had a second chance to settle into his innings. The incident added an extra layer of drama to what was already shaping up to be a thrilling contest between the two sides.