Match overview
Australia Cricket beat India Cricket by 10 wickets in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Adelaide Oval on 6 December 2024. India chose to bat after winning the toss and were dismissed for 180. Australia replied with 337, taking a first-innings lead of 157. India fared no better second time around, posting 175 before Australia knocked off the 19 required without loss. Mitchell Starc's 8/108 across the match was the bowling performance of the game, and Travis Head took the Player of the Match award for his contribution with the bat.
The margin flattered Australia slightly in terms of the run-chase required, but it accurately reflects how dominant they were across four sessions of play. India never recovered from their first-innings collapse, and the pink ball under Adelaide's lights gave Australia's pace attack conditions they were always going to exploit. For India, it is a loss they will need to absorb quickly with the series still alive.
Venue and conditions
Adelaide Oval has hosted 149 matches in our data, with an average first-innings score of 218 and an average second-innings score of 193. India's 180 in the first innings fell 38 runs short of that average, which tells the story of the match in one number. The venue favours the side bowling first under lights, and the statistics support that: teams winning the toss at Adelaide have chosen to field 36 per cent of the time, a figure that suggests batting first under the pink ball remains an uncomfortable call.
The chase success rate at Adelaide sits at 46 per cent across those 149 matches. Fourth-innings run chases here are rarely comfortable, though 19 is obviously an outlier. The pitch tends to seam and swing in the first two hours of each session under lights, and the bowler who can time their spells correctly generally dictates the day. Historically, Adelaide has produced some of the longest innings in Test cricket, including David Warner's 335 not out off 418 balls and Ricky Ponting's 281 off 500 balls, so batting is entirely possible when the conditions ease.
How to watch
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is broadcast in the UK on Sky Sports Cricket. You can stream coverage via Sky Go if you have a Sky subscription, or purchase a day pass through NOW TV for individual sessions. Sky's commentary team typically covers the Adelaide day-night Tests across their evening schedule, which aligns reasonably well with UK viewing times given the venue's twilight start.
For those following on the move, the Sky Sports app carries live ball-by-ball data and in-play video for subscribers. BBC Radio 5 Sport Extra provides coverage for England's overseas Tests; for this series between India and Australia, Sky remains the only UK broadcast option with full live coverage.
Recent form
India arrived at Adelaide in reasonable shape. Their recent results include a win over Australia in the first Test of this series, plus three wins from four matches against South Africa earlier in 2024. That run suggested a settled batting unit, which makes the back-to-back sub-200 totals in Adelaide harder to explain.
Australia had gone into the Adelaide Test off a loss to India in the opening match, but their form beyond that has been strong: three wins from four against Pakistan in the preceding series. The defeat at Brisbane appeared to sharpen their focus, and the Adelaide result suggests they have the bowling attack and the top-order depth to push India hard across the remaining Tests.
