New Delhi: Indian fast bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah, produced a superb new-ball display to lead India’s fightback in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Perth. After the Australian quicks dismantled the Indian batting and bowled the visitors out for 150 in just 48.4 overs, the visiting fast bowlers orchestrated a stunning batting collapse to leave the home side reeling at 67 for 7 at Stumps on Day 1.
India bagged seven wickets in 27 overs in the final session of the day to leave Australia 83 runs behind India’s first-innings total of 150. Bumrah (4/17) was the chief destructor for the visitors while Mohammed Siraj (2/17) and debutant Harshit Rana (1/33) also chipped in with crucial wickets.
Alex Carey (19) and Mitchell Starc (6) were at the crease at stumps after a record-breaking day in Perth saw seventeen wickets fall on the opening day.
After India were bowled out for 150 at the stroke of Tea, odds titled heavily towards Australia but Indian bowlers gave the home side a taste of their own medicine to leave the match beautifully posed.
Here are the big talking points from Day 1 of the first BGT Test in Perth.
KL Rahul’s contentious dismissal
It’s hard for batters to survive for long on the lively Perth track, even harder when a batter comes into the match under immense pressure. Rahul has been under fire for a while now due to his inconsistent form but after being backed to replace skipper Rohit Sharma as the opening batter, he did a fine job. That was until, the 23rd over when Rahul was controversially dismissed for 26 as all his hard work was undone by a contentious decision.
Just before the Lunch break, the on-field umpire rejected a strong caught behind the appeal of Starc and the Aussie fielders, who convinced skipper Pat Cummins to take the review. The ball looked very close to the edge and the snickometer showed there was a spike but it appeared that Rahul’s bat hit the pad. However, the third umpire thought otherwise and reversed the decision to spark massive controversy.
Indian debutants shine
It was a good day for the debutants as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana made meaningful contributions on their big day. Nitish showed fight and character to play a gritty knock of 41 and combined with Rishabh Pant for an important 48-run partnership to rescue India from a precarious position. If not for his crucial contribution in the middle order, India would have struggled to cross the 100-run mark.
Harshit Rana, the other debutant, also had an outing to remember as he dismissed India’s menace Travis Head with a peach of delivery to get his maiden Test wicket.
Bumrah leads from the front
Jasprit Bumrah led from the front and bowled a superb spell with the new ball to lead India’s fightback. Australia had no answer to India’s stand-in skipper’s sensational bowling as the right-arm pacer Nathan McSweeney (10), Usman Khawaja (8) and Steve Smith (0) in quick succession. He then came back to dismiss his Australian counterpart Cummins for 3 as India made an emphatic comeback on a wicket-filled day in the series opener.
Virat Kohli fails to fire as Indian batting suffers another batting collapse
Bumrah surprised everyone after opting to bat on a green top tailor-made for fast bowlers. On a tricky track, neither the youngsters nor the seasoned ones in the Indian line-up failed to apply themselves. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s frailties against pace and bounce were exposed early on while Devdutt Padikkal succumbed to Hazlewood’s accuracy.
Kohli, hyped by the Australian media ahead of the series, continued his horror run with the bat as a cracking delivery from Hazlewood found his outside edge. The short of a length ball outside off climbed on Kohli, who could have left it alone instead of prodding on it.
In his last 10 innings, Kohli has aggregated a mere 191 runs with just one half-century. Since his last Test century, against the West Indies in Port of Spain in July last year, Kohli has mustered only 369 runs from 15 innings in eight Tests, including the ongoing match in Perth, with just two fifties and an average of 26.35.
Kohli has got just four of his 29 centuries in the past five years, including his career-best, 254* against South Africa in Pune in October 2019 and 184 against Australia at Ahmedabad last year. Over the past five years, he has 2245 runs from 65 innings across 39 Tests with his average during the period dipping to 36.20 from a stunning 55.10 in the eight years prior to that.
Only Nitish, who top-scored with 41 off 59 balls, Pant (37) and opener Rahul were able to spend some time at the crease.
Australian cricket team vs Indian cricket team BGT 1st Test: After India were bowled out for 150 at the stroke of Tea, odds titled heavily towards Australia but Indian bowlers gave the home side a taste of their own medicine to leave the match beautifully posed. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
