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India are skittled for 150 before reducing Australia to 67-7 in Perth on the opening day of Border-Gavaskar Test series.
India came out on top of the opening day of the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia as 17 wickets fell in Perth where stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah claimed 4-17 for the tourists – their star name Virat Kohli, however, was left wanting again.
It was the first time in 73 years that 17 wickets fell on the opening day of a Test in Australia, but all the credit was handed to the bowlers on a pacey yet fair surface, which offered swing and seam movement with the new ball.
The tourists won the toss under glorious skies at the Optus Stadium, but were all out for 150 at Tea – thanks in large to a 48-run seventh-wicket partnership between Rishabh Pant (37) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (41). Josh Hazlewood (4-29) was the chief architect of the Indian demise leading the feared Australian seam attack.
Jasprit Bumrah, standing in as captain for Rohit Sharma who remained in India for the birth of his second child, was not to be upstaged, however, and single-handedly reduced the hosts to 19-3 inside his opening four overs.
“He’s a fantastic bowler and his skills were on show today – swing, seam, pace and his captaincy as well,” Australia seamer Mitchell Starc (2-14) told ABC Grandstand radio in Australia of the Indian skipper.
“We were pretty happy after two sessions, we got the ball in the right areas but India have come out and followed suit and bowled pretty well – it was a good day to be a bowler.”
Kohli couldn’t stop his or India’s slide
The clear headlines before the series were focused on Virat Kohli, who has registered only two Test centuries in the last five years. The 36-year-old was exposed early to the new ball with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal – in for the injured Shubman Gill – both removed for ducks by Mitchell Starc (2-14) and Hazelwood respectively.
Kohli didn’t last much longer as he fended off a lifting delivery from Hazlewood, which Usman Khawaja claimed at slip, and by lunch the tourists were 51-4 with both Starc and Hazlewood returning 2-10 off their eight overs apiece.
There was also great speculation heading into the match as to how the Indian attack would be formed around Bumrah, and Siraj and Harshit Rana both fully justified their selection when their time came in the evening session.
The length of the Indian seamers was noticeably fuller than their Australian counterparts but contained just as much venom with the hosts’ batters forced into evasive action on a number of occasions.
‘Plenty to work on’ for Australia
Marnus Labuschagne toiled for more than an hour and a half for 2 off 52 balls before he was the sixth Australian wicket to fall in the evening session as he was trapped in front to hand Siraj his second wicket.
Wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey was the only player to threaten the twenties in the innings, with just Nathan McSweeney (10) and Travis Head (11) reaching double figures otherwise, and remains unbeaten on 19 overnight with Starc joining him for the final 2.4 overs of the day.
“It’s a hard ball wicket and there’s plenty of movement and a bit of swing,” Starc added. “If you can get through that period and get to a softer ball, it will become a little easier. There are certainly cracks out there and our job is to get past them if we can and then do damage with the ball.
“It’s only Day One, anything can happen in the morning. There’s a second innings in hand but plenty to work on.”