India has staged a tremendous comeback in the Perth test in Australia, first with some devastating bowling led by the captain Jasprit Bumrah then following it up with a solid batting display. After the Indian batting collapsed on Day 1, it seemed like the team was continuing on from their dismal performances in the New Zealand series, where the side was humiliated and whitewashed at home, but the men in blue showed tremendous resilience and have fought back to take control of the match.
Earlier, the Indian side had opted to bat first after winning the toss, but much like the New Zealand series, the batsmen began throwing their wickets one after the other seemingly unable to manage the pace and bounce of the wicket. The first innings wrapped up at a paltry 150, with the top 4 batsmen contributing just 31 runs, and star batsman Virat Kohli dismissed for just 5. Only Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy attempted to negotiate the pitch.
Being bowled out for 150 it seemed the Indians were down and out, but captain Jasprit Bumrah had other ideas, the premier bowler took note of the conditions and began tormenting the Australians, dismissing both the openers. Inspired by their leader Mohammad Siraj and the young Harshit Rana joined the show, the trio blew away the Aussie lineup. The famed Australians were tumbled out at home for a mere 104 runs with the topscorer being Mitchell Starc. The stunning performance by the Indian quicks shocked the entire stadium into silence. Debutant Rana finished with figures of 3/48, while Mohammed Siraj returned 2/20. The star for India though by some distance, was the incredible Jasprit Bumrah, who recorded the stunning figures of 5/30 in 18 overs.
With only 150 on the board in the first innings the Indians were now coming in to bat for the second time with a surprising lead of 46 runs. This time the openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul came with a set strategy, looking to ease into the pitch and not giving the bowlers any opportunities. By stumps on the second day both openers had cracked stellar unbeaten half centuries, with Jaiswal on 90 and Rahul on 62, stretching India’s lead to over 218 runs.
The test match has been turned on its head, as the highly rated Border Gavaskar trophy sees an incredible start to the much awaited test series. The first day belonged to the fast bowlers with 17 wickets tumbled out in the entire day, while on the second day the Indian batsmen took charge of the proceedings, batting out the entire day with 172/0 on the board in the second innings.
After bowling India out for 150 the Australian side were confident that they had complete control of the match but the same pitch proved a minefield for the Australian batters as well. Meanwhile coming into the second innings, the Indian batsmen seemed to have gained a better understanding of the conditions and have tweaked their approach accordingly. With India’s regular captain, Rohit Sharma missing the test due to personal reasons and the other batting stalwart Virat Kohli failing to regain his form, it was the indomitable Jasprit Bumrah who took charge of the game and pegged back the Aussies on their own turf.
Now with a strong lead of 218 runs and 10 wickets in hand, India will go into the third day in full control of the first test match. The men in blue will now look to build on the lead and give a huge target to the Australians, looking to test their batting lineup once again. There are still two days to go of this exciting test match, but the series seems to have begun on a high note, with many more high voltage cricketing days ahead.