Bumrah Leads India Fightback As Australia Crumbles In First Test

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India roared back into the first Test against Australia on Friday after being bowled out for 150, taking seven wickets in the final session to put themselves in the box seat after a riveting opening day in Perth.

At the close, the hosts were in disarray on 67-7 after stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah destroyed the Australian top order in a devastating spell to end the day with 4-17.

Alex Carey was unbeaten on 19 and Mitchell Starc not out six.

After electing to bat, the visitors were blown away in their innings, no match for the hosts’ lethal pace attack with Josh Hazlewood taking 4-29.

Impressive debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) and flamboyant Rishabh Pant (37) showed some spirit, but once again superstar Virat Kohli flopped, out for five.

“We have the advantage now and I hope we can bat better in the second innings and put them under pressure,” Reddy said.

“We just tried to hit the areas, be disciplined in our bowling and obviously the wicket helps a lot.”

Australia did no better in response.

Bumrah removed rookie opener Nathan McSweeney lbw for 10, another headache for a team struggling to find a decent replacement for the retired David Warner.

Marnus Labuschagne got a massive dismissal two balls later, with Kohli slotting a sitter in the slips, leaving Bumrah with his head in his hands.

But India soon got another breakthrough as Kohli this time held the catch from Bumrah to remove Usman Khawaja (8) and when Steve Smith was caught lbw next ball it was game on.

Harshit Rana allowed Travis Head (11) to get a first Test wicket before Mitchell Marsh departed for five, caught low in the slips by KL Rahul off Mohammed Siraj.

Labuschagne rode his luck for 52 balls to manage two runs before also going lbw to Siraj, after which Bumrah returned to dismiss skipper Pat Cummins (3).

“Obviously a good day to be a fast bowler. Both teams bowled a lot of good stuff with the ball in hand,” Starc said.

“There was quite a bit in the wicket, swing and sideways movement, and some good pace and carry.

“We’ll come out tomorrow and try to get as close to their total as we can.”

After a crushing 3-0 defeat in the home series against New Zealand, India sprung a surprise by dropping veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and middle-order batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

With the absence of opener and regular skipper Rohit Sharma after the birth of his second child, and number three Shubman Gill injured, it left them with a fragile batting line-up.

Yashasvi Jaiswal departed without scoring in the third over, setting an attempted drive from Starc to McSweeney, who did well to collect low at the gap.

With Gill missing, left-hander Devdutt Padikkal came in at three, facing 23 deliveries without scoring before Hazlewood steamed in and coaxed an edge taken by wicketkeeper Carey.

That brought Kohli to the crease badly in need of a big score.

Despite a stellar record in Australia, he lasted just 12 balls before fending off a scrambling Hazlewood thunderbolt that took an edge to Khawaja at slip.

India’s misery worsened when opener Rahul (26) joined Carey on the cusp of lunch.

Pant and Dhruv Jurel needed to hang on after the break.

But Jurel barely survived 10 minutes before succumbing to Marsh on the 11th and getting an edge that led to third slip Labuschagne.

Marsh struck again to bring attention to Washington Sundar leaving the visitors staring down the barrel at 73-6 before Pant and Reddy led a mini-recovery.

Cummins finally ended Pant’s exploits, which was taken sharply at slip by Smith, signaling India’s demise.

The visitors have won their last two Border-Gavaskar trophy series in Australia.

Perth is the first of five Tests in the series.

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