Things are heating up in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. After a 17-wicket Day 1, Day 2 began with Jasprit Bumrah removing Alex Carey. Then Harshit Rana joined the party, taking Nathan Lyon’s wicket. The debuting pacer bowled full force, generating bounce off the Perth track. He gave Australia a taste of his bounce barrage. So much so that Starc gave Rana a cheeky cautionary tale: “I bowl faster than you.” I have a long memory. He said that Rana might face the same bouncer music.
On day one, skipper Jasprit Bumrah made amends for his contentious toss selection to bat first with a mesmerizing opening spell that left Australia scrambling for cover at 67 for 7. He helped India make an emphatic recovery after a poor performance with the willow on the first day of the first Test here.
The match, touted as a showdown between two out-of-form batting teams, met expectations on the opening day. For the first time in seven decades, a Test match on Australian soil saw up to 17 wickets fall.
The stand-in India captain, much to everyone’s surprise, chose to bat on a track with a liberal grass cover, which provided substantial seam movement. However, neither the youths nor the experienced players in the Indian lineup were up to the task. Debutant Nitish Reddy’s brave 41 and Rishabh Pant’s 37, including an amazing sixer, helped India reach 150 in 49.4 overs, with Josh Hazlewood (4/29), Mitchell Starc (2/14 in 11 overs),
When Australia came out to reply, they had no response for Bumrah’s (4/17 in 10 overs) performance. Mohammed Siraj (2/17 in 9 overs) and debutant Harshit Rana (1/33 in 8 overs) can’t defend a poor first innings total by themselves.