Australia was left teetering on 67-7 in reply to India’s 150 all out as the grassy and bouncy Perth Stadium pitch claimed 17 wicke...
Australia was left teetering on 67-7 in reply to India’s 150 all out as the grassy and bouncy Perth Stadium pitch claimed 17 wickets on the opening day of the Border-Gavaskar series on Friday.Skipper and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah led the Indian attack with 4-17 and fellow fast bowler Mohamed Siraj took 2-17 on a difficult day for batting.Left handers Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc will resume Saturday on 19 and 6 runs, respectively, as Australia trails India by 83 runs.Unseasonal rain had the wicket covered in the week leading up to the test resulting in a lavish layer of grass to complement the traditional bounce of Perth pitches.Bumrah ended Nathan McSweeney’s 10-ball debut by trapping the opener leg before wicket. He then returned two overs later to claim opener Usman Khawaja (8) and Steve Smith for nought off successive balls. Khawaja was caught by Virat Kohli at second slip and then Smith was trapped lbw.Left-hander Travis Head thwarted Bumrah’s hopes of a hit trick but on 11 he played down the wrong line and was bowled off stump to give debutant fast bowler Harshit Rana his maiden test wicket.Mitchell Marsh fell to a catch by KL Rahul at third slip off Siraj to leave Australia in a similar predicament to India in the morning when it won the toss and batted.Labuschagne was dropped off the second ball when Kohli spilled a simple catch at second slip and then struggled to put bat to ball and made two runs off 52 balls before Siraj trapped him in front.As the shadows lengthened Bumrah returned for his second spell and immediately removed his counterpart Cummins caught behind by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.In the first two sessions, seam bowler Josh Hazlewood broke the back of the Indian batting with 4-29 helped by swing bowlers Starc (2-24), Cummins (2-67) and Marsh (2-12).Indian had slumped to 73-6 either side of the lunch break before Pant (37) and debutant and top-scorer Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) saved face with a 48-run eighth wicket stand.Scoring runs was not easy on a pitch that offered bounce and sideways movement to Hazlewood and Starc, who claimed 400 test wickets between them to become the first Australian new-ball pair to achieve that feat.Reddy, 21, hammered six fours and a six off 59 balls and took the attack to offspinner Nathan Lyon as he twice hit him down the ground and reverse swept in quick succession. He then parried Cummin behind the wicketkeeper for a six before holding out to deep mid-wicket where Khawaja took a running outfield catch. Two balls before, Khawaja dropped Reddy as he skied Cummins.Earlier, Reddy on 10 survived a catch at the wicket after the Australians failed to refer a catch down legside as the TV replay showed a spike as the ball brushed past the gloves off Starc.Pant was uncharacteristically circumspect in the company of the junior partner and hit a six and three fours in his 78-ball innings before Cummins had him caught by Smith at second slip.India was teetering on 51-4 at lunch as the decision to bat first backfired sensationally.Openers Jashasvi Jaisval (0), Rahul (26), Devdutt Padikkal (0) and star batsman Kohli (5) fell before lunch as India rued its decision to bat.Opening the batting in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Rahul on 19 completed 3,000 test runs in his 54th test match.Starc in particular was unplayable in his opening five-over spell during which he had lefthander Jaisval caught at gully by test debutant Nathan McSweeney.Hazlewood, who was rested after a three-over burst, returned to the attack to replace Starc and in the space of 15 balls removed Paddikal and Kohli.Padikkal survived 23 balls as he repeatedly played and missed against Starc before Hazlewood had him caught behind by wicketkeeper Carey.Two overs later, Kohli, having arrived at the crease to the thunderous applause from a record 31,302 opening-day crowd for a test at the Perth Stadium, was surprised by a Hazlewood delivery that bounced disconcertingly and flew off the shoulder of the bat to first slip Khawaja.Australia and India are one-two in the World Test Championship standings.