The pressure of leading the team turned out to be an additional motivating factor as Jasprit Bumrah handed India the upper hand, on Day 1 of the ongoing Test match against Australia in Perth. Stepping up to lead India for the second time in Test matches due to regular captain Rohit Sharma's absence (on paternity leave), Bumrah took four wickets to run through the Aussie batting order. Bumrah's spell with the new ball in the final session on Day 1 in Perth was hailed by many as one of the best in modern-day cricket. Even the Australian camp could not stop raving about Bumrah.
Speaking after Stumps, Australia pacer Mitchell Starc lavished praise on Bumrah's dominance across all formats.
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"Maybe, he's obviously got a fair bit of hyperextension in, that elbow and does things, a lot of actions, one that you do. So, there's no surprise that he's been a fantastic bowler across the formats for a long time. And again, his skills were on show today as to how, how good he is. So, yeah, I'm sure there's something in that release point. That’s significant to his action. It's something a lot of people can't do, so I'm not, I'm certainly not going to go and try it. I’ll probably snap," he said.
Topsy-turvy battle on Day 1
Day 1 began with Bumrah winning the toss and opting to bat. But the Indian batters put in a disappointing show, and were bundled out for 150. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for an eight-ball duck and Devdutt Padikkal left for a 23-ball duck. Meanwhile, veteran Virat Kohli could only muster five runs off 12 balls.
{{/usCountry}}Day 1 began with Bumrah winning the toss and opting to bat. But the Indian batters put in a disappointing show, and were bundled out for 150. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for an eight-ball duck and Devdutt Padikkal left for a 23-ball duck. Meanwhile, veteran Virat Kohli could only muster five runs off 12 balls.
{{/usCountry}}Rishabh Pant (37) and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) came up with key knocks for India, when other batters failed. Meanwhile, Josh Hazlewood took four wickets for the hosts. It was also the ninth instance of India getting bowled out on the opening day of an away series, and the first since Kingston 2011. Also, 49.4 overs is the fewest overs faced by India in those nine instances.
In response to India's total, the Aussie batters faced a similar fate, crumbling to Bumrah's four-wicket haul. Steve Smith was dismissed for a golden duck and Marnus Labuschagne managed two runs off 52 balls. Australia posted 67/7 at Stumps, with Alex Carey (19*) and Starc (6*) remaining unbeaten.