Only his second outing as the captain of India’s Test team, Jasprit Bumrah put on a fine leadership show as India thrashed Australia by 295 runs in the opening Test of the 5-match series in Perth. Bumrah was given the team’s captaincy after full-time captain Rohit Sharma had to miss out on the series opener due to the birth of his baby boy. Under Bumrah, India produced an excellent all-round show, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli scoring centuries, as the tourists comfortably claimed beat Australia to claim a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series.
Rohit joined the Indian team ahead of the start of play in Perth on Day 4 and was even spotted in the dressing room alongside head coach Gautam Gambhir as the boys outmuscled the Australians with ease.
The victory gives India’s World Test Championship final a big boost, with the team required to win at least three matches in the series in order to keep their final hopes alive.
Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers for India in the match, picking up 5 wickets in the first innings and 3 in the second. Travis Head tried his best to delay India’s victory, scoring 89 runs before being removed by none other than Bumrah. Mitchell Marsh (47) and Alex Carey (36) also dug deep to give Australia some sort of consolation but it was too late.
It did not take long for India to complete formalities after reducing Australia to 227 for eight at tea. Chasing 534, the hosts were all out shortly after the break.
Travis Head (89) and Mitchell Marsh (47) showed fight in an otherwise underwhelming batting performance by the hosts. Alex Carey (36) was the last man to be dismissed.
Three wickets fell in the afternoon session after Mohammed Siraj reduced Australia to 104 for five at lunch.
India made a remarkable comeback after getting bowled out for 150 on the opening day as Australia were limited to 104 in response.
The stand-in skipper led by example with a match-haul of 8/72 as India bowled out the hosts, who were in pursuit of a mammoth 534, for 238 in 58.4 overs on the fourth afternoon of the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy here.
The victory propelled India back to the top of the World Test Championship standings with 61.11 percentage points.
India’s previous biggest winning margin in terms of runs was 222 during a 1978 game in Sydney when Australia played an under-strength side due to mass exodus for the Kerry Packer World Series.
India are now 1-0 up in the five-Test series with regular skipper Rohit Sharma ready to take over during the Day/Night game starting December 6 in Adelaide.
With PTI Inputs
Topics mentioned in this article
