Rishabh Pant top-scored with 40.
The headline on yet another disappointing day in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series was the absence of India’s regular skipper Rohit Sharma as Jasprit Bumrah captained the team for the second time in five matches. The pacer had also discharged captaincy duties in the series opener in Perth.
Bumrah won the toss and opted to bat first on a pitch that had thick cover of grass and when weather was also slightly overcast.
When quizzed about Rohit’s absence Bumrah said:
“”Our captain has shown leadership, he has opted to rest It shows the unity we have in the team,”
India’s frailties in batting were exposed yet again as opener KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal were dismissed by Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland respectively.
Virat Kohli rode his luck and survived the embarrassment of getting out on a first-ball duck as he edged a ball from Boland to Steve Smith but the former Australian captain had “grassed” the ball.
Shubman Gill, who replaced Rohit Sharma in the team, edged a ball from Nathan Lyon to Steve Smith at stroke of Lunch. Kohli could not not survive much longer after the break as he edged yet another delivery from Boland and and this time the ball was safely caught by debutant Beau Webster at third slip.
Pant and Ravindra Jadeja then built a slow partnership and carried India to 107/4 at Tea.
Boland struck twice in the post-Tea session as he picked the wickets of Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy off successive deliveries as Australia left India reeling at 120/6.
Bumrah played a cameo of 22 off 17 balls but Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins combined to pick the final four wickets of the Indian innings as the team was bowled out for a sub-200 total for the fifth time in the series.
