Australia Trail 9 for 1 (Bumrah 1-7) Inde185 (Pant 40, Boland 4-31, Starc 3-49, Cummins 2-37) par 176 courses
Off-field chaos has swirled around India in the run-up to the Sydney Test. Their batting performance on the field on the opening day in Sydney was equally chaotic after Rohit Sharma dropped in a move almost unprecedented in Indian cricket and Jasprit Bumrah took over as as captain. After Bumrah elected to bat, India struggled against Australia’s relentless bowling and were eventually dismissed for 185, just before the end of play.
Bumrah produced the final twist by getting rid of Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the day, and Australia fell to stumps on 9 for 1.
Scott Boland led the line for Australia, with staggering figures of 20-8-31-4. His metronomic precision and mastery of length, with both the new ball and the old, were too much for the Indian batters to handle. He barely threw a bad ball and continued to generate sharp seam movement on a lush Sydney pitch that also offered uneven bounce.
Mitchell Starc had gone too far in search of swing in the first over while Pat Cummins had made an error on the shorter side with the new ball. Boland, however, found the perfect length on his first pass and never strayed from it. He struck with his fourth ball when he put one on a good length and got it wide for Yashasvi Jaiswal to hit debutant Beau Webster at third slip for 10.
By then, KL Rahul had already been dismissed for 4, having flicked a leg stump half-volley from Starc straight to Sam Konstas at square leg in the fifth over. Shubman Gill, who had replaced Rohit in the Indian XI, started well but his innings was cut short at 20 when he advanced to Nathan Lyon only to gift a catch to escape what turned out to be the last ball before the lunch. Gill has reached 20 three times in four innings on this tour, but has not gone past 31.
Virat Kohli could have been out on the first ball, but he barely survived. Boland had Kohli float an outside edge to second slip, where Steven Smith dove low to his right and appeared to have caught the ball close to the ground before somehow scooping it up ‘to the ravine, where Marnus Labuschagne completed the capture. After much swinging and rolling, Joel Wilson, the television referee, judged that the ball had hit the ground before Smith threw it to Labuschagne.
Kohli then left the next ball and 16 more balls before Boland sucked him in to score another, Webster saving that chance with his bucket hands at third slip. Kohli has been dismissed seven times in this Border-Gavaskar series and all his dismissals have followed a pattern: getting behind the keeper or the cordon. It was also the fourth time in six Test innings that Boland had bowled Kohli.
Kohli had gone to great lengths to avoid this pattern – he had abandoned his open stance for a more lateral position – but it proved inevitable as he fell on 17 off 69 balls.
Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja briefly repaired the innings with a 48-run partnership for the fifth wicket in 25 overs before Boland damaged India again, this time with a double hit. He first asked Pant to splice a pull on middle, and the next ball he had India’s MCG Test hero Nitish Kumar Reddy caught at second slip for a duck. Boland was denied a hat-trick but remained a threat, even biting the old ball off the seam, over and around the stumps.
Pant had batted unusually. After being caught on the edge in both rounds at the MCG – his missed scoop in the first innings drew particularly harsh criticism – he sat back and relied more on his defensive technique. However, in a rare display of aggression, he advanced on Webster and threw him over the visual screen for six. It was only the sixth boundary for India in 46 overs.
The depth and skill of the Australian attack meant that there was no room for maneuver for the Indian batters. Webster, the all-rounder who had moved from off-spin to medium-pacer during Covid-19, made a neat changeover, coming away with figures of 13-4-29-0, and his slip catch was even more memorable.
Starc and Cummins then took care of India’s lower order. Despite back problems, Starc pushed up to 147 kmph and confounded the Indian batters, using the uneven bounce to his advantage. He first hit Pant on his bicep and left him with a bruise before hitting him on his helmet. Pant suffered several blows to his body during his harrowing stay.
Ravindra Jadeja’s (26 from 95 balls) vigil ended when Starc pinned him in weight. Cummins then rounded out India for 185.
Bumrah had fun with the bat, powering his way to 22 off 17 balls. He had more fun with the ball when he struck with the last ball of the day. He celebrated animatedly by turning and roaring at Konstas, the non-striker, who had had a heated exchange with him moments before Khawaja’s dismissal. The on-field referee had to intervene to ease the tension.
Bumrah and Konstas promise more fun on day two at the SCG.
Related News :