On Day 2 of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Perth, India’s pace blitz left the hosts reeling, sending Australia to a record low. With the on-field action in every way, the rivalry between two contemporary Test heavyweights has lived up to the hype.
All the signs were in favour of Australia’s dominance on the first day, when India folded on 150. But India’s pacers, led by captain-in-waiting Jasprit Bumrah, went all out, raised the stakes, and forced Australia to concede 104. After a strong 25-run partnership between Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, India secured a vital 46-run lead as the visitors offered Australia nothing with the ball. In Test cricket, Australia’s first-inning total of 104 is the lowest and their fourth-lowest total overall against India. In Sydney in 1947, the lowest first-innings total ever recorded was 107.
Interestingly, this was Australia’s third-lowest home-field total since 2000. Australia’s worst batting performance at home in the twenty-first century remains their 85-run defeat of South Africa in Hobart in 2016.
Following an incredible pace display by Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and debutant Harshit Rana, the three players kept putting pressure on Australia.
With his blistering speed, Bumrah defeated Australia’s top-scoring batsman Alex Carey in the first hour of Day 2.
Bumrah got his 11th Test five-wicket haul after forcing out a thick edge from Carey with the bounce that was available. With this, he tied the record for most five-fers by an Indian bowler in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) nations with the great Kapil Dev.
The interim Indian captain bowled 18 overs in the first innings, taking five wickets at an economy rate of 1.67 for 30 runs. Bumrah has taken 118 wickets in 27 Test matches against SENA nations, average 22.55 and peaking at 6/33.
Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Alex Carey, and his teammate Pat Cummins were all vitally removed by the 30-year-old. (ANI).