India in control against Australia as bowlers rally

Saturday, 23 November 2024 01:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Australia collapsed to 67-7 as India rallied with the ball to seize the initiative – despite being dismissed for just 150 on an extraordinary opening day of the first Test in Perth.

After opting to bat first the tourists, who made a staggering six changes from their historic third Test defeat by New Zealand earlier in November, were reduced to 32-3 and 73-6.

Virat Kohli’s struggles continued as he made just five, while Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal, both playing in Australia for the first time, were dismissed without scoring.

Rishabh Pant (37) and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) showed some form to counter-attack and drag India to 150, but they were bowled out within two sessions.

In reply, Jasprit Bumrah produced a breath-taking opening spell to leave Australia 19-3.

He removed debutant Nathan McSweeney lbw on review and had Usman Khawaja caught in the slips, before removing Steve Smith lbw first ball.

Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh both then fell cheaply, before Marnus Labuschagne, who batted resiliently for two off 52 balls, was trapped lbw by Mohammed Siraj.

Bumrah returned to remove Pat Cummins, as Australia reached 67-7 at stumps, and will resume 83 runs behind when play resumes at 02:20 GMT on Saturday.

The 17 wickets to fall is the most on the opening day of a Test in Australia since 1952.

There were questions over India’s batting coming into the series, after being bowled out for 46, 156 and 121 in their 3-0 defeat by New Zealand.

Opener and Captain Rohit Sharma is missing this game after the birth of his second child, while number three Shubman Gill was not considered for selection after injuring a thumb in India’s intra-squad warm-up. That led to KL Rahul opening and Padikkal, playing in his second Test, coming in at three.

With the pressure on Kohli to hold the innings and makeshift line-up together, he brought energy to the crease and looked proactive, but once again he failed.

It was beautiful bowling from Josh Hazlewood to set him up, going slightly shorter, and he found extra bounce to bring the outside edge.

It was Kohli’s fifth single-figure score in his past 10 Test innings – where he averages just 21.2, compared to his career average of 47.6. His average innings has lasted just 29.4 balls, way down on the 80.3 across his career.

The rest of the India batting line-up was blown away by the accuracy of the Australia seamers.