At stumps on Day two of the first Test match against Australia, India were 9/1 in their second innings and had a 62 run lead over the hosts. The following day all hell broke loose within a matter of minutes as their innings came to an end within 15.2 overs on Day Three in what was their worst outing in the history of Test cricket.
Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins swept aside the Indian batting lineup as the guests finished at 36/9, with Mohammad Shami retired hurt. No batsman was able to cross the single digit mark.
And just like that, Australia chased down the total of 90 in 21 overs to win the match and register a 1-0 lead in the four match Test series. And as expected, Twitterverse did the rest.
Former India opener, Virender Sehwag was one of the first ones to come to terms with what was happening.
19/6 , the earliest 6 wickets India have lost in their test history.
Surrender kar diye bilkul yaar.
Par thodi umeed abhi bhi karni chahiye, kya pata, kuch jaadoo ho jaaye. pic.twitter.com/89r8z20ef8— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) December 19, 2020
Youngster Prithvi Shaw had been criticised for his display in the Test match. However, the Indian scorecard itself was a huge disaster on the day.
Good to see Prithvi Shaw among the top scorers for Team India in this innings.
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) December 19, 2020
Former Indian cricketer and Twitterati’s go to person for cricket memes, Wasim Jaffer summed up India’s second innings with his words.
कभी-कभी अपार आनंद, अपार दु:ख में कैसे परिवर्तित हो जाता है, इसका अनुभव मैंने आज किया। #AUSvINDtest
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) December 19, 2020
It really could have gotten worse for the Indian fans had this not been a Day Night Test match, with the same batting display.
it could be worse, we may have woken up at 5am on a Saturday for this #AUSvIND
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) December 19, 2020
Another user was quick to retort to the two day tragedy that many had been victims of.
Yesterday Instagram crashed and today, Team India.
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) December 19, 2020
The match ended almost halfway through, bringing in the questions and debates on the five-day nature of the format. Paving way for a different nomenclature.
Three-days-two-nights Test match. #AUSvIND
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) December 19, 2020
Former England captain, Michael Vaughan who has been saying all along that India may well get whitewashed in the Test series emphasised the point again.
Told ya … India are going to get hammered in the Test Series … #AUSvIND #4-0
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) December 19, 2020
Finally the image of the scoreboard at the Adelaide Oval has been doing rounds on the social media. One that will surely haunt every Indian cricket fan for many years to come.
Two hours on, it still feels surreal. 36 will be a number that’ll forever haunt India in Adelaide #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/PQZjsh5AdT
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) December 19, 2020