Australia fell to a historic low after India’s pace blitz left the hosts tottering on Day 2 of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Perth. The rivalry between two modern-day Test heavyweights has lived up to the expectations with the on-field action in every aspect. On the opening day, when India folded on 150, all signs pointed in favour of Australia’s dominance. But India pacers, spearheaded by stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah, dug deep, upped the ante, and made Australia perish on 104.
As the visitors gave nothing away to Australia with the ball, India got their hands on a crucial 46-run lead, following a resilient 25-run stand between Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
104 is the lowest first-innings total and fourth lowest overall for Australia against India in Test cricket. The previous lowest first-innings total stood at 107 in Sydney in 1947.
Notably, since 2000, this was the third-lowest total for Australia on home turf. Australia’s 85 against South Africa in Hobart in 2016 still holds as their worst outing with the bat on home turf in the 21st century.
After Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and debutant Harshit Rana produced a breathtaking pace display, the trio continued to breathe down Australia’s neck.
In the opening hour of Day 2, Bumrah, with his scorching pace, got the better of Australia’s in-form batter Alex Carey.
By using bounce on offer, Bumrah forced out a thick edge from Carey to get his 11th Test five-wicket haul. This was his seventh five-fer in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, tying with legendary Kapil Dev for most by an Indian bowler in the aforementioned countries.
In the first innings, the stand-in Indian skipper bowled 18 overs and took five wickets for 30 runs at an economy rate of 1.67. In 27 Tests in SENA countries, Bumrah has 118 wickets, averaging 22.55, with best figures of 6/33.
The 30-year-old bagged crucial wickets of Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Alex Carey and his counterpart Pat Cummins.
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