Perth. Indian captain and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah bowled brilliantly and took four wickets as Australia lost their seven wickets for just 67 runs at stumps on Friday on the first day of the first Test against India. Earlier, fast bowler Josh Hazlewood took 4 wickets for 29 runs, and Australia bowled out India for just 150 runs by tea time at the Perth Stadium.
Australia trails India by 83 runs in the first innings with three wickets remaining. Bumrah took four wickets for 17 runs in 10 overs, Mohammed Siraj took two wickets for 17 runs and Harshit Rana took one wicket for 33 runs.
At the time of stumps, wicketkeeper Alex Carey was at the crease after scoring 19 runs. Mitchell Starc is supporting him by scoring six runs. Travis Head scored 11 runs and Nathan McSweeney scored 10 runs. A total of 17 wickets fell in the first day's play.
Bumrah bowled lethally and took the wickets of Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith and captain Pat Cummins and pushed the host team on the back foot. Bumrah LBW Smith on the very first ball.
Earlier, India won the toss and decided to bat first. Australia worked tirelessly to put pressure on India with their line and length and were helped by good movement and bounce on the pitch. India had nothing much to show about their batting performance, as nine batsmen were caught out behind the wicket.
After batting first, only KL Rahul (26), Rishabh Pant (37) and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) could make major contributions for India. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal took a big edge off Starc and gave a routine catch to debutant Nathan McSweeney at gully to be out for a duck on eight balls. Rahul was given a tough test by the fast bowlers, especially Mitchell Starc who constantly questioned his outside edge and later Pat Cummins also tested him, but he remained wary of anything outside the offstump. At the other end, Devdutt Padikkal struggled to break free as Starc continued to test his outside edge, before Hazlewood targeted him with short balls on pad, thigh and armpit.
Padikkal's uneasy stint ended at zero off 23 balls when he defended a length ball from Hazlewood, which went past the outside edge to the keeper. India got their first boundary when Rahul tried to escape a short ball from Cummins and the ball took the edge and went over the slip cordon for four runs. Virat Kohli, standing outside the crease and extremely eager to play on the front foot, was taken by Hazlewood on both sides.
The fast bowler finally got the last ball when he took extra bounce on the ball outside the off stump and got the ball on the outside edge to Kohli, who was caught by first slip. Rahul showed confidence by hitting two offside boundaries, but was caught trying to defend a length ball from Starc on 26.
Australia took the decision in favor of Rahul, but replays showed two voices and most importantly, third umpire Richard Kettleborough was not given a fronton angle from offside, raising the question whether the batsman should have been given out. There was enough conclusive evidence. With Rahul out, Australia won the first session easily, the credit for which goes to Starc and Hazlewood.
Australia achieved further success early in the postlunch session, when Mitchell Marsh edged Dhruv Jurel forward and his outside edge was caught safely by third slip. He then pushed Washington Sundar away from his body and got him caught, taking India's score to 736.
Meanwhile, Pant threw the kitchen sink at Cummins and got a flying four over the slip cordon, before hitting Marsh through midoff for another boundary. From the other end, Nitish shone by playing an insideout drive off Nathan Lyon at four, and then hit a coverdrive off him.
Nitish surprised everyone by playing two brilliant reverse sweeps off Lyon's ball to the boundary behind backward point. Pant, on the other hand, got a lease of life on 25 when Cummins missed a chance and stunned everyone with a sweep falling over fine leg for six runs.
India's counterattack continued when Nitish hit a brilliant straight drive for four runs, edging Hazlewood, but the partnership for the seventh wicket ended at 48 when Pant tried to flick the ball off Cummins and Fuller. A scrambled delivery took a thick edge to second slip.
Despite losing Harshit Rana, third slip caught the deflection of a diving gully off Hazlewood, and Jasprit Bumrah, who leapt backwards off the fast bowler, edged Nitish Cummins over the top for six and four runs respectively. -Continued to impress with cutting and driving, before being caught by topedge midwicket on his pull.
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Image Credit: KhasKhabar.