Cummins takes five as Australia demolish India

Border-Gavaskar Trophy, second Test, day three, Adelaide

India 180 (Reddy 42; Starc 6-48) & 175 (Reddy 42; Cummins 5-57)

Australia 337 (Head 140; Bumrah 4-61) & 19-0 (McSweeney 10*)

Australia won by 10 wickets; five-match series tied at 1-1

Scorecard

Pat Cummins took 5-57 as Australia wrapped up an emphatic 10-wicket victory over India on day three of the second Test to square the series at 1-1.

India resumed on 128-5 - 29 runs adrift - at the Adelaide Oval and were dismissed for 175 despite Nitish Kumar Reddy's battling 42.

Cummins did the most damage while Scott Boland claimed 3-51 and Mitchell Starc 2-60 to set Australia a target of 19 for victory.

Openers Nathan McSweeney and Usman Khawaja chased down the total in just 3.2 overs.

The third Test in Brisbane starts on 14 December.

India's defeat now means they now need to win all three remaining Tests in the five-match series to qualify for the World Test Championship final.

Australia must win four out of their next five Tests to be certain of their spot but are likely to need fewer victories.

Cummins bounces out India

Australia had put themselves in a commanding position after Mitchell Starc's career-best Test figures of 6-48 on day one and a brilliant 140 from Travis Head on day two.

India's hopes of giving themselves a chance to pull off an unlikely victory were largely dependent on the mercurial Rishabh Pant.

The wicketkeeper, who was unbeaten on 28 overnight, has the potential to score quick runs and generate a shift in momentum within the space of a couple of hours at the crease.

So when Pant was caught at slip off the sixth ball of the day from left-arm quick Starc, without adding to his score, India's faint hopes diminished further.

Australia captain Cummins then showed his ruthless side in a bid to get the job done inside a session as he adopted a short-ball strategy to blow away India's lower order.

Ravichandran Ashwin was dismissed by Cummins for seven when he gloved an attempted pull to a bouncer to Alex Carey behind the stumps.

Harshit Rana then got in a tangle as he failed to fend off an awkward bumper angled across him from Cummins and Khawaja took a routine catch at gully.

India all-rounder Reddy hooked a Cummins bouncer for six only to perish for 42 next ball when he attempted to uppercut another short-pitched delivery and was caught by McSweeney at deep third man.

In the three innings so far in this series where India have been bowled out, Reddy has been their top scorer, which demonstrates he has some steel for the fight when the going gets tough.

Boland wrapped up India's innings when Mohammed Siraj skied one and Head took a tumbling catch at mid-wicket.

McSweeney and Khawaja made light work of the total, with the former hitting Reddy for two fours in the third over before the latter struck the winning run.

'Head's innings shifted momentum' - reaction

Australia captain Pat Cummins: "That's a great week. We were far from the team we want to be in Perth but this was good. The game could have gone either way when Travis Head went out to bat but he shifted the momentum. The ball does a bit more under lights but the big thing was getting a big lead."

India skipper Rohit Sharma: "A disappointing week for us. We didn't play well enough to win the game. Australia played better than us. There were times in the game when we could have grabbed those opportunities but failed to do that, which cost us the game.

"What we did in Perth was very special an we wanted to come out here and do that again, but we know every Test match has its own challenge. We knew it was going to be challenging with the pink ball, but Australia were better than us. We are looking forward to the next Test now."

Player of the match Travis Head: "It was nice to get some runs again. I felt like I was in good form. It's a good dressing room to be in. Pat gives me great confidence and I felt it was a great opportunity against the second new ball, so tried to get as many as I could and I managed to get the ball rolling."

'Australia answer questions' - analysis

Former Australia bowler Glenn McGrath on ABC Grandstand:

I think it's been a big Test for the Aussies. They showed a lot of fight to get through that first night, only losing one wicket, and I think answered a few questions.

There were plenty of questions after that Perth Test match where they didn't really show any fight, but you saw here from the first ball what it meant to them.

Marnus Labuschagne, the way he has played with pressure on him... he looked more confident and more at ease.

Steve Smith got strangled down the leg side so there is still probably a question mark over him. Pat Cummins looked short of a gallop in Perth and looked so much better here.

The majority of the questions have been answered. If Steve Smith can come out in the next Test and get a hundred I think Australia will be in a pretty good spot.