India’s pace bowling attack rattled Australia in the first test match at Perth in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, all thanks to stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah’s lethal spell stunned Aussies as he claimed three prized wickets which included India’s nemesis Steve Smith for a “golden duck”.
Australian team had a great outing with the bowl as once again team India faltered with the bat scoring just 150 runs in their first innings.
Apart from some resistance from Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy, the overall batting display lacked the needed spark.
The first wicket belonged to Virat Kohli as much as it did to Bumrah. Kohli convinved his skipper to take the DRS. India could have had two in three balls, but a dropped catch by Kohli at second slip allowed Marnus Labuschagne a lifeline. Debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy’s 41 off 59 balls and his seventh wicket stand with Rishabh Pant dragged a tottering Indian innings to 150 all out on Day 1 of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth. Reddy and Pant put up a partnership 48 runs off 85 balls, with the pair coming together when the score was 73/6.
India finished the first session tottering on 51/4 as Australia pacers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins ruled the roost. They went on to lose two more wickets to Mitchell Marsh early in the second session. Pant and Reddy then not only held fort but also managed to get a few boundaries going to give India a semblance of momentum but it didn’t last too long.
KL Rahul earlier kept India ticking for much of the first session as he saw wickets fall at the other end. However, his innings came to an end in rather controversial circumstances towards the end of the first session. The last man to fall for the visitors before Rahul was Virat Kohli, edging to first slip after scoring just five runs and that has brought in Rishabh Pant. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal earlier fell for ducks to Mitchell Starc. Padikkal fell for a 23-ball duck while Jaiswal fell to Starc off the first ball of the pacer’s second over of the day. Rahul opened the batting with Jaiswal and he was joined by Padikkal after the latter fell. Padikkal was filling in for the injured Shubman Gill at No.3.
India’s stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah earlier won the toss and chose to bat first. The visitors have left out Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and chosen to go with Washington Sundar as their lone spinner while handing debuts to pacer Harshit Rana and fast-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. Ashwin handed Rana his maiden cap while Virat Kohli did the same for Reddy.
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