ADELAIDE: Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting on Thursday highlighted the one chink in Prithvi Shaw's armour and the Indian batsman ended up getting dismissed in the same manner.
In the ongoing first Test between India and Australia, Shaw was dismissed on the second delivery of the match by Mitchell Starc. The Australian pacer bowled Shaw through the gate and interestingly, 40-50 seconds prior to the dismissal, Shaw's Delhi Capitals coach Ponting was describing on-air how the Indian batsman finds it difficult to come inside the line when the ball comes into him.
In a video shared by 7Cricket on Twitter, Ponting can be heard saying: "If he does have a chink in his armour, it's the ball which does come back into him. He does not commit himself to the front foot. It quite often leaves a big gap between bat and pad and that's where the Aussies will target."
Starc and Pat Cummins provided the early breakthroughs of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal as India was put on the back foot in the first session of the pink-ball Test against Australia here at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday. Shaw (0) was dismissed on the second ball of the pink-ball Test by Starc, while Agarwal (17) was bowled by Cummins. The Virat Kohli-led side's score read 41/2 at the end of the first session on the first day.
After opting to bat first, India got off to the worst possible start as Starc cleaned up Shaw. Pujara then joined Agarwal in the middle and the duo tried to stitch a partnership as both batters saw off the early spell of Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
However, with half-an-hour to go in the first session, Pat Cummins provided the second breakthrough as he bowled Agarwal (17), reducing India to 32/2. Skipper Kohli then came to the crease and he along with Pujara ensured that the visitors did not lose any more wickets before the end of the first session.