India and Australia, led by two of the best bowling talents, saw an enthralling day of Test cricket in front of a packed Perth crowd. Pat Cummins’ Aussie unit bamboozled India. The entire top order showed no resistance as all of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal fell one after another. It was a typical Perth pitch that offered bounce and lateral movement consistently. A total of 17 wickets well in 76.4 overs, with batters scoring only 217 runs at a run rate of under 2.9. Australia, who hoped for a better showing with the bat after bundling India to 150/10, tasted their own medicine. Jasprit Bumrah and his men shone through brilliantly, sending the hosts reeling at 67/7 with a deficit of 83 runs still in effect. On that note, let us look back and rate all Indian bowlers out of 10 following Day 1 of the IND vs AUS Perth Test.
IND vs AUS: Jasprit Bumrah (10/10)
“Hey Alexa, play Jasprit Bumrah.”
“Sorry, Jasprit Bumrah is unplayable.”
Well, that is some way to put the legend of Bumrah that continues to grow. Throw him a placid pitch, he would create something magical, throw him a spinning track, he would vary his lengths superbly. And now on a spicy track, he was simply world class. The exhibition that he put was heartening to witness for Indian fans, who might be in the dark in the absence of Bumrah. The stand-in skipper bowled relentlessly in the dangerous area for the Aussie batters. Debutant Nathan McSweeney was first one to go as the youngster failed to get inside the line quicky. Then, Usman Khawaja continued his rough patch as he handed one straight to Virat Kohli.
On the very next ball, Bumrah did something magical. He plumbed Steve Smith on the very first ball, something that was done only by Dale Steyn previously. Bumrah kept his line that didn’t allow the Aussie batters to move an inch. To top it off, he bettered the opposition skipper, ending the day with the figures of 4/17 at an economy rate of 1.70.
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IND vs AUS: Mohammed Siraj (9/10)
Many experts hoped India to go ahead with either of Akash Deep or Prasidh Krishna instead of Mohammed Siraj for the first BGT Test. After all, Siraj wasn’t as lethal as we hoped him to be. Ever since his 6-fer on an unplayable Cape Town pitch earlier this year, Siraj took just 12 wickets at an ordinary bowling average of 44.16 across 15 Test innings. But in Perth, Siraj gave glimpses of his best.
It was great to see that he didn’t unnecessarily hit the deck early on. While his first spell didn’t bring out success, Siraj came back strongly to send Australia down in the dumps. A superb diving catch by KL Rahul ended Mitchell Marsh’s stay off Siraj’s bowling. Siraj was consistent with his lines and lengths, something that was lacking in his previous matches. Soon enough, he got rid of Marnus Labuschagne, who was handed a reprieve courtesy of a dropped catch by Virat Kohli. After bowling nine overs on Day 1, Siraj finished with 17/2 at an incredible economy rate of 1.90. India would need Siraj to come out with the same vigor in order to wrap up Australia quickly on Day 2.
IND vs AUS: Harshit Rana (7.5/10)
Here comes the debutant Harshit Rana! He is an exciting prospect with huge talent and abilities to find success, especially in Australia. He has pace, aggression, even variations thanks to IPL cricket. Not to forget his batting abilities. Talking about his performance with the ball on Day 1, Rana didn’t much wrong apart from bowling short and wide on a couple of occasions. Travis Head clubbed the KKR pacer for two fours in the third man region before Rana came back brilliantly.
The 22-year-old managed to nip one away from Head, who was beaten all ends up. It was a delightful sight to see Rana celebrate his maiden international wicket, that too, of India’s nemesis – Travis Head. During the fag end of day’s play, even Alex Carey smashed a couple of boundaries, taking a toll on Rana’s economy rate (4.10).
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