India stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah torments Australia with stellar bowling display as Perth Test evenly poised after Day 1

India restricted Australia to a total of 67/7 at stumps on Day 1 of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Perth on Friday. Australia, who are replying to India’s first innings total of 150, thus find themselves in a spot of bother as they trail by 83 runs with just three wickets in hand.

Alex Carey (19*) and Mitchell Starc (6*) were Australia’s unbeaten batters at stumps. India’s stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets, whereas Mohammed Siraj and debutant Harshit Rana took two wickets and one wicket respectively.

None of Australia’s batters looked settled in the middle. Debutant Nathan McSweeney was the first to depart after he was struck LBW by Jasprit Bumrah in the third over. Nathan was originally given not out, but a brilliant review from Bumrah changed the favour to India, wit the Hawkeye showing that the impact was in line while hitting onto the top of middle and leg stump.

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Bumrah then struck twice in the seventh over, getting rid of Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith off consecutive deliveries. While Khawaja was caught by Virat Kohli at slip, Smith was struck LBW. Five overs later, in the 12th, Harshit Rana joined the party with the dismissal of Travis Head, someone whom India have feared across formats previously. Head was looking to defend on the backfoot, but that move backfired and was cleaned up by Harshit.

Mohamed Siraj caused further misery on Australia with the dismissals of Mitchell Marsh in the 17th and Marnus Labuschagne in the 21st over. While Marsh was caught by KL Rahul at third slip, Labuschagne fell to Siraj’s LBW trap.

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Australia were 47/6 after the dismissal of Labuschagne and any hope of a comeback was lost by now. Jasprit Bumrah returned to haunt the hosts with the wicket of Australia captain Pat Cummins, who was caught by Rishabh Pant while looking to drive through extra cover.

India bowled out for 150 in first innings

Having won the toss and opted to bat first, India were bowled out for 150 with debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy top-scoring with 41 runs. Rishabh Pant, too, did his part with a 78-ball 37, but lacked support from his partners, barring Nitish, with whom Pant forged a 48-run stand for the seventh wicket. Josh Hazlewood, with figures of 4/29, was Australia’s pick of the bowlers.

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Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal were dismissed for ducks but Jaiswal’s fellow opener KL Rahul (26) managed to post a double-figure score before being given out in a controversial manner. Virat Kohli endured a forgettable outing as he managed to score just five runs. Dhruv Jurel (11) and Washington Sundar (4) also endured disappointing outings with the bat.

Brief scores: India 150 all out in 49.4 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 41, Rishabh Pant 37; Josh Hazlewood 4/29) vs Australia 67/7 in 27 overs (Alex Carey 19*, Mitchell Starc 6*; Jasprit Bumrah 4/17) — Australia trail India by 83 runs.