India's Perth triumph: Bumrah's blitz leaves Aussies clueless

India’s ambush of Australia at Perth Test is going to stay in memory for long. The hosts would never have imagined that they would be treated so shabbily by an opposition in their own den deemed hitherto almost impregnable. More so by India, who were yet to recover from the 3-0 ignominy they suffered in the recent home series against New Zealand.

Like a bolt from the blue, Australia crashed to 295-run defeat in less than four days in the series opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Perth on Monday.

Though there were certain sterling performances like by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (161) and K L Rahul (77), and equally valuable contributions from debutants Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana, it was the stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah who bowled impeccable bowling spells and made the victory truly remarkable.

As he has been doing over the years, Bumrah, saddled with the additional responsibility of leading the team in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, dished out another dream performance as Australia crashed to their second biggest defeat at this venue in terms of runs in the last 40 years. That the victory has come at Perth, the venue tailored to suit Australian fast bowlers more, makes it sweeter.

The sight of Bumrah, coming charging in and hurling thunderbolts to rival batsmen forcing them to make one error after the other, was too gratifying. The domination enjoyed by Bumrah with the ball was so complete that rival batsmen looked not tentative but timid while facing him.

First destroying Australia with five-wicket haul in the first innings giving away virtually nothing, Bumrah returned to jolt the hosts batting line-up again in the second innings just before stumps on the third day of the play, sending back debutant opener N McSweeney and M Labuschange in a jiffy.

With 12 runs on the board and three down (Pat Cummins was scalped by Mohamman Siraj), the Australians found themselves thrust into a hole as the Indians were assured of victory at stumps on the third day itself. Man-of-the-match Jasprit Bumrah took eight wickets as Australia were skittled for 104 and 238 in both the innings.

Accolades started pouring in for the premier fast bowler in the world. Also to join the chorus of praise for the India bowling spearhead was rival skipper Pat Cummins, who stated, “He's one of the best in the world. He's always going to be a challenge, so we got to come up with ways to combat that. I thought particularly that Day 1, his spell, the spell from the Indian guys, made it tricky for our team to navigate through. He bowled well through the game, like he does most games.”

The two debutant Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana, whose selection to the squad had raised eyebrows, also came good and justified their selection. While Reddy came up with gutsy knocks in both the innings, lanky pacers Rana supported Bumrah and Siraj admirably well, scalping four wickets in the match. They showed that given longer run, they have it in them to serve the nation.

Displaying maturity beyond his years, Jaiswal played an innings worth remembering for long and joined the select band of cricketers scoring a century in his first Test in Australia. Rahul himself batted admirably and notched up a resolute 77 during a 201-run opening stand in the second innings. But it was batting maestro Virat Kohli (100 not out), whose timely return to form put the issue beyond the Australians.

With their ego pricked at Perth, the mighty Australians are sure to come hard at Indians. They are an opposition known to thrive while facing challenges.

On their part, India will be bolstered by the return of regular skipper Rohit Sharma and the likely return of Shubhman Gill. India have a tour game in between to get ready for the task at hand. Rohit has already joined the Indian squad and will be too keen to open the team for the second Test. An engrossing contest is on the cards as the two rivals square off in the day/night second Test starting from December 6 at Adelaide.