From the wreckage of a horror defeat in Perth, Australia has manufactured a near-perfect dismantling of India to level the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Marnus Labuschagne returned to form, captain Pat Cummins took a five-wicket haul and Scott Boland had an instant impact in the 10-wicket victory, which was a stark contract from the 295-run loss in the first Test.

But a war of words between century-maker Travis Head and Indian fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, which continued into Sunday, has set the contest alight.

Before Australia stormed to a dominant 10-wicket victory at Adelaide Oval, Siraj, who delivered an aggressive send-off to Head after he was dismissed for 140 on Saturday, claimed the Australia’s retelling of their clash was off the mark.

Head told reporters in a press conference on Saturday night he had said “well bowled, mate” to Siraj after he was dismissed, but the Indian quick believes he was lying.

“It was a great battle going on (with Head), and he batted really well,” he told Star Sports.

“When you get hit for a six on a good ball, it fires you up differently. And when I got him bowled, I only celebrated, and he abused me, and you saw that on TV, too.

“I only celebrated at the start; I didn’t say anything to him. What he said in the press conference wasn’t right, it’s a lie that he only said ‘well bowled’ to me. It’s there for everyone to see that that’s not what he said to me.

“We respect everyone; it’s not like we disrespect other players. I respect everybody because cricket is a gentleman’s game, but what he did wasn’t right. I didn’t like it at all.”

Head said he was disappointed with Siraj, and himself, for how the situation escalated.

The pair appeared to iron out the situation in a chat while Siraj was batting in what proved to be the final moments of the Test. They then embraced briefly as the two teams shook hands post-match.

While Head was keen to play down the situation at the weekend, Siraj has emerged as the villain of the summer for Australian fans.

Starting Sunday on 5-128 and still requiring 29 runs just to make Australia bat again, India’s hopes of pulling off a miracle win went up in smoke almost immediately.

Rishabh Pant, the hero of India’s famous win at the Gabba in 2021, fell to Mitchell Starc (2-60) on the last ball of the first over of the day.

The game-changing keeper had looked dangerous batting late on Saturday night, pulling off some typically audacious shots that flew to the boundary.

Veteran Ravi Ashwin, who has scored six Test centuries, fell to Australia captain Pat Cummins (5-57) for just seven.

After taking 2-41 in the first innings, Cummins finished with the 13th five-wicket haul of his Test career.

The star quick could have finished with six wickets, but keeper Alex Carey dropped the first ball of Siraj’s brief innings.

Emerging allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy (42) continued the impressive start to his Test career, top-scoring for India for the second time in this Test.

After just two Tests, the 21-year-old is averaging 54.33 with the bat

It has been a superb turnaround in Adelaide for Australia, who were crushed by 295 runs in Perth to begin the five-match series.

Australia will extended their perfect record in day-night Tests at the Adelaide Oval to 8-0.

Such is Australia’s dominance with the pink ball on a pace-friendly wicket, star spinner Nathan Lyon was required to bowl just one over for the Test.