Perth Test: Pacers dominate day one; Aus reeling at 67/7 after dismissing India for 150
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Day one of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener between India and Australia belonged to pacers. After Aussie quicks exploited the conditions at Perth to dismiss India for 150, their counterparts on the touring side responded in kind. Australia were reeling at 67/7 at stumps, trailing by 83 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah, who won the toss earlier, led by example, picking 4/17, while Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana shared the other three wickets between them. Alex Carey (19) and Mitchell Starc (6) were at the crease.
Earlier, Indian batters might have felt deja vu in the opening two sessions. Just as in their recent home series opener in Bengaluru against New Zealand, pace and bounce troubled India in Perth.
It wasn't that India didn't expect what was coming from Pat Cummins' pace battery, but having won the toss, captain Jasprit Bumrah might have hoped his batters would persevere.
The visitors were 51/4 going into lunch and lost the remaining in the second session to be dismissed for 150. Josh Hazlewood bagged 4/29 while Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh and Cummins bagged two wickets each.
Rishabh Pant and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy attempted a rescue with a 48-run partnership -- India's best in the middle -- for the seventh wicket. But Pant, being Pant, got out trying to work a Pat Cummins delivery, moving away, on to the on side. The left hander made 37. Reddy survived Nathan Lyon with reverse sweeps and lasted a little longer. He top-scored with 41.
India's second debutant, Harshit Rana's dismissal, caught in the slips off Hazlewood, showed Australia's hunger to win back the BGT that they haven't won in the last four attempts. The edge travelled fast and low to debutant Nathan McSweeney at second slip, and though he failed to hold on to it, Marnus Labuschagne, diving low to his right, grabbed the wicket.
India's top four of Yashasvi Jaiswal, K L Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli were back in the dressing room inside the first session. Rahul made 26 before being given out for a controversial bat and pad that cost India a review. Opener Jaiswal had edged one going for a drive, while Padikkal survived 23 balls before throwing his wicket away for a duck. Star batter Virat Kohli was dismissed for five, making it five Tests without a score over 20. India and Australia will play four more matches in the series.
Brief scores: India 150 in 49.4 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 41, Rishabh Pant 37, K L Rahul 26, Josh Hazlewood 4/29, Mitchell Marsh 2/12, Mitchell Starc 2/14, Pat Cummins 2/67) vs Australia 67/6 in 27 overs (Jasprit Bumrah 4/17, Mohammed Siraj 2/17) stumps at day one