Courtesy: BCCI
Jasprit Bumrah, the stand-in captain of India, who is leading the side in absence of Rohit Sharma, had an brilliant start to the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The right-arm fast bowler delivered an exceptional first spell in the Australian innings, picking up the wickets of three top order batters, to ensure that India were ahead at the close of play on day one despite being bowled out for 150 runs earlier in the afternoon.
In his second over, Jasprit Bumrah trapped debutant Nathan McSweeney in front of the stumps for 10 runs, to pick up the first wicket for India in the series. Shortly after, he picked up the wicket of in-form Usman Khawaja, nicking him off to Virat Kohli in the second slip before finding Steve Smith stone dead in front of the stumps on his first ball, to find himself on a hat-trick, which Travis Head somehow managed to deny him.
Jasprit Bumrah registered figures of 4/17 in his 10-over spell with three maidens on day one vs Australia
After his fast bowling partners Harshit Rana and Mohammed Siraj took three wickets between them, the 30-year-old returned to the bowling mark for yet another bowling spell. He went on to dismiss Pat Cummins cheaply, getting him caught behind the stumps through to Rishabh Pant, to claim his fourth wicket of the evening, which allowed India to reduce Australia for 67/7 in 27 overs at the close of play on day one.
Earlier in the day, India batting crumbled in front of some top class fast bowling from Australians after captain Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and decided to bat first on a spicy pitch at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Josh Hazlewood took four wickets, while the likes of captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Mitchell Marsh picked up two wickets each, to bundle out the Indian batting lineup within 50 overs as debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy top scored with his 41 runs in 59 balls.
