Bumrah leads India fightback as Australia crumble in first Test
India roared back into the first Test against Australia on Friday after being skittled for 150, taking seven wickets in the final session to put themselves in the box seat after a riveting opening day in Perth.
At the close the hosts were in disarray on 67-7 after stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah demolished the Australian top order in a devastating spell to end the day with 4-17.
Alex Carey was unbeaten on 19 and Mitchell Starc not-out six.
After opting to bat the visitors were blown away in their innings, no match for the hosts’ lethal pace attack with Josh Hazlewood taking 4-29.
Impressive debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) and flamboyant Rishabh Pant (37) showed some spirit but once again superstar Virat Kohli flopped, out for five.
“We have the advantage now and I’m hoping we can bat better in the second innings and put them under pressure,” said Reddy.
“We were just trying to hit the areas, be disciplined in our bowling and obviously the wicket is helping a lot.” Australia fared no better in reply.
Bumrah removed rookie opener Nathan McSweeney lbw for 10, another headache for a team struggling to find a decent replacement for the retired David Warner.
Marnus Labuschagne had a massive letoff two balls later, with Kohli putting down a sitter in the slips, leaving Bumrah with his head in his hands.
But India quickly snared another breakthrough with Kohli this time holding the catch off Bumrah to remove Usman Khawaja (8), and when Steve Smith was trapped lbw next ball, it was game on.
Harshit Rana clean-bowled Travis Head (11) for a maiden Test wicket before Mitchell Marsh departed for five, caught low in the slips by KL Rahul off Mohammed Siraj.
Labuschagne rode his luck for 52 balls to eke out two runs before he too was on his way, lbw to Siraj, then Bumrah returned to dismiss skipper Pat Cummins (3).
“Obviously a good day to be a fast bowler. Both teams with the ball in hand bowled a lot of good stuff,” said Starc.
“There was a fair bit in the wicket, swing and sideways movement, and some good pace and carry.
“We’ll come out tomorrow and try and get as close to their total as we can.”
Fragile
After a crushing 3-0 home series defeat by New Zealand, India sprung a surprise by dropping veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and middle-order batsman Sarfaraz Khan.
With the absence of opener and regular skipper Rohit Sharma following the birth of his second child, and number three Shubman Gill injured, it left them a fragile batting lineup.
Yashasvi Jaiswal left without scoring in the third over, edging an attempted drive off Starc to McSweeney, who did well to collect low at gully.
With Gill missing, left-hander Devdutt Padikkal came in at three, facing 23 deliveries without scoring before Hazlewood steamed in and enticed an edge taken by wicketkeeper Carey.
That brought Kohli to the crease, in dire need of a big score.
Despite a stellar record in Australia he lasted just 12 balls before fending off a climbing Hazlewood thunderbolt that took an edge to Khawaja at slip.
India’s woes worsened when opener Rahul (26) feathered to Carey on the cusp of lunch.
Pant and Dhruv Jurel needed to hang around after the break.
But Jurel survived barely 10 minutes before succumbing to Marsh on 11, getting an edge that carried to third slip Labuschagne.
Marsh struck again to account for Washington Sundar to leave the visitors staring down the barrel on 73-6 before Pant and Reddy led a mini recovery.
Cummins finally ended Pant’s exploits, taken sharply at slip by Smith, which signalled India’s demise.
The visitors have won their last two Border-Gavaskar trophy series in Australia.
Perth is the first of five Tests in the series.