Gavaskar criticizes India bowlers as Australia take the upper hand in pink-ball Test: 'This is the consequence of...'

Batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar expressed his dismay at India's missed opportunity to make use of the pink ball during the first day of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide. The Indian team could only manage to score 180 runs before being bowled out, while Australia ended the day at 86/1, with Mitchell Starc's impressive six-wicket haul causing havoc in the Indian batting order.

Gavaskar, speaking on Star Sports, highlighted the Indian bowlers' inability to make the most of the conditions, emphasising that they needed to challenge the Australian batters more effectively.

“They have to make the batters play as much as they can. And this is what happens when you make the batters play as much as you can," Gavaskar said, pointing out that the Indian bowlers missed a key opportunity to use the pink ball to their advantage. He went on to explain how Indian pacers could have set up Australian batters by varying their lengths and lines, much like Jasprit Bumrah had done successfully in the Perth Test.

"You can set them up by bowling a couple of deliveries outside and then get the ball to move back in, as it did to Nathan McSweeney in the Perth Test, or to Labuschagne in the Perth Test, like what Bumrah did. The Indian bowlers have not really used the pink ball as well as they should have," Gavaskar added, suggesting that better planning and execution could have yielded more success on the opening day.

Bumrah took the only wicket in the Australian innings in the second Test so far, dismissing Usman Khawaja for 13.

Meanwhile, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden was full of praise for Mitchell Starc’s performance, calling him a “magician with the pink ball.” Starc’s six-wicket haul for 48 runs left India reeling, as the Australian pacer turned the tide with his skillful use of the pink ball.

Hayden explained how Starc’s "scrambled seam delivery" confounded the Indian batters, and praised his ability to swing the ball aggressively even in the 40th over of the innings.

"He has that scrambled seam delivery that goes across the right-hander, but when he does have that ability - which he did - I must admit I was a little surprised. I've never really seen the pink ball swing into the sort of 40th over and so aggressively swing as well," Hayden remarked.

Starc's brilliance with the pink ball changed the course of the game, as he took advantage of the momentum to dismiss key Indian wickets. "By that stage, he used a really important word, and it's a bit of an underrated word as well, and that's 'momentum'. It was all in favour of India," Hayden continued. “A difficult position to come back from in life and sport is those opportunities to wrestle back momentum, and Mitchell Starc did that in only the way he can - when the lights are like the way they are and with that beautiful-coloured ball in his hand. He's just a magician with the pink ball.”