Head reigns in Adelaide as quicks cause carnage under lights

Travis Head lived on as the King of Adelaide Oval before Australia's bowlers electrified India under lights as the hosts surged to the brink of levelling the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series on a fiery second day.

Head's devastating 141-ball 140 flowed off the back of Marnus Labuschagne's grinding 64 from 126, lifting Australia to their highest innings total (337) from their past six home Tests.

Scott Boland and Pat Cummins then led a dazzling pink-ball display in the night session, reducing India to 5-128 at stumps with the visitors still 29 runs from making Australia bat again.

Rishabh Pant, who employed some outrageous stroke play in a bid to disrupt the metronomic Boland, holds the key to India's hopes of overcoming their 157-run first-innings deficit and setting the home side a target his bowlers can work with. 

The left-hander was unbeaten on 28 (from 25 balls) at the close of play with Nitish Kumar Reddy also not out on 15.

Boland, whose his first-innings-first-ball wicket was disallowed due to a no-ball, got his second-innings spell off to an uncanny start, this time keeping his foot behind the line to have Yashasvi Jaiswal caught behind.

Virat Kohli was also left mesmerised, nicking off for 11, amid an impeccable seven-over burst from the Victorian.

It was topped only by Cummins' own brilliance. The Aussie captain delivered a telling blow (his second scalp after bouncing out KL Rahul for 7) when he rattled the top of his counterpart Rohit Sharma's off pole. The India skipper had been left dazed by top-edging his first ball, from Mitchell Starc, onto his helmet.

First-innings hero Starc made up for a wayward opening spell with an unplayable in-swinger that laid out Shubman Gill's middle stump flat on the turf.

It was a similar position to the one Pant found himself in twice against Boland following outrageous ramp and reverse ramp shots off the right-armer, who was targeted in a similar manner by England during last year's Ashes.

Head's status as the local loveable larrikin was enhanced with his third century in as many Test innings at Adelaide Oval, where he now averages more than 80.

He celebrated his latest ton by rocking his bat like a baby (acknowledging wife Jess and newborn son Harry) before perching his helmet on the handle of his bat and soaking up adoration from the venue boasting more than 50,000 fans for a second consecutive day.

Siraj, who had drawn the ire of the crowd the previous evening when he pegged a ball at Labuschagne in frustration, became public enemy No.1 after delivering an almighty send-off to Head, who gave back as he good as he got in the heated exchange.

The Hyderabad-born paceman gestured aggressively towards the dressing rooms after clean bowling the 30-year-old with the second new ball. Head returned fire and then appeared to react angrily towards the visitors’ viewing area as he walked off to a standing ovation.

Siraj appeared to be cautioned by umpires and even if the incident does not earn attention from the match referee, it certainly will not be missed by Australian crowds for the remainder of the series.

The right-armer's every subsequent action in the field and with the ball received jeers, enlivening a series that has otherwise been played largely in cheerful spirits.

Siraj (4-98) and Bumrah (4-61) accounted for all but two of the Australian wickets, with the latter battling what looked to be cramps in his left adductor towards the end of the innings.

A better platform for Head to bat at a ground that had brought him scores of 119 and 175 in his preceding two Test innings could not have been asked for as he strode out to cheers when India's pink ball was already 40 overs old and with the Adelaide sun shining upon him.

He endured through some streaky early moments against both Bumrah and Siraj, before launching the second ball he faced off Ravichandran Ashwin, the off-spinner surely recalled in no small part because of him, over mid-off for six.

Head refused to allow the crafty 38-year-old to settle, carting him three sixes in total, although Siraj's failure to hang on a tough diving chance running back from mid-on when he was on 76 prompted a subtle downward shift in aggression against him.

But it seemed to only embolden him further against the seamers. He needed 48 balls to go from 50 to 100, 15 fewer deliveries than it took him to get his first 50. Harshit Rana, who clean ripped Head in Perth, was treated with particular disdain, 41 coming from the 29 balls he faced off him.

A slashing nick off Rana when Head was on 78 that went through a vacant first slip region only added to India's frustration.

Head's stunning hand was built on the back of Nathan McSweeney, who edged behind off Bumrah for 39 having added just one to his overnight total, and Labuschagne, whose return to form marked just the third time in 11 innings he has reached double-figures.

While Labuschagne's strike-rate (a tick above 50) might not have necessarily demonstrated he had acquiesced to lobbying to up his intent, it showed in his intensity at the crease. An all-run four from a classical on-drive off Siraj saw Steve Smith turn him down for a fifth.

Smith was unable to snap his own lean run (he is now averaging 27 since the start of the last home Test summer) when he gloved Bumrah down the leg-side.

A recasting of the Head-Labuschagne union that delivered Australia their World Cup final triumph against India last year was worth 65, ended when the No.3 guided Nitish Kumar Reddy to gully, a shot that had brought him a flurry of boundaries in the preceding overs. 

Mitch Marsh (9) was at the centre of two bizarre reviews against Ashwin in the space of his 26-ball stay.

The first saw television umpire Richard Kettleborough puzzlingly not to check ball-tracking on an lbw appeal. The second was puzzling for Marsh walking without complaint or consulting his batting partner after being given out caught-behind despite none of the Indians appearing convinced he had hit it.

That fellow South Australian Alex Carey was at the other end when Head celebrated another hometown hundred was fitting, though the wicketkeeper failed to join in on the party as he gave his counterpart Pant a fourth catch behind the stumps.

Head's contentious exit heralded Australia giving up their final four wickets for just 27.

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal