BGT 2024-25: Bumrah’s 4-17 Shines as Australia Trails India by 83 Runs on 17-Wicket Day

After Josh Hazlewood's 4-29 bowled out India for 150, Bumrah made merry on a spicy Perth pitch by bowling at the absolute peak of his prowess – mixing accuracy and pace with deadly precision - to leave 31,302 spectators in the stadium spellbound through his spell of 4-17.

A red-hot India captain Jasprit Bumrah picked four wickets to scythe through the Australia batting line-up as the hosts reached 67/7 in 27 overs and trail the visitors by 83 runs at stumps on day one of the first Test at the Perth Stadium on Friday.

After Josh Hazlewood's 4-29 bowled out India for 150, Bumrah made merry on a spicy Perth pitch by bowling at the absolute peak of his prowess – mixing accuracy and pace with deadly precision - to leave 31,302 spectators in the stadium spellbound through his spell of 4-17.

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He was well assisted by Mohammed Siraj taking 2-17 while Harshit Rana had a wicket on debut as India did well in bowling on stump-to-stump lines and good lengths. India's counter-attack with the ball meant it marked a day of Test cricket where 17 wickets fell, all to fast bowlers. The last such instance of these numbers of wickets falling on day one of a Test match in Australia happened in January 1952.

India's exceptional display with the ball started when Bumrah trapped debutant Nathan McSweeney lbw with a fuller ball coming in with the angle. He could have got a wicket in the same over if Virat Kohli hadn't dropped the catch of Marnus Labuschagne in slips.

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Bumrah's double strike came in the seventh over when he came from around the wicket and angled in a short delivery towards Usman Khawaja, who hopped to defend but gave an outside edge to Kohli in slips. Next ball, Bumrah trapped a shuffling Steve Smith lbw on pads with a pacy in-swinger.

Travis Head was trying to steady things with two fours off Rana, but the pacer had the last laugh when he got a length ball just touching away from around the wicket to rattle the top of off-stump.

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Though a battling Marnus Labuschagne got off the mark on his 24th delivery, he was trapped lbw in front of leg-stump by Siraj, who also had Mitchell Marsh edging to a diving third slip.

Bumrah returned to see Pat Cummins nick behind in a regulation dismissal to complete a four-fer, leaving it on Australia to look towards Alex Carey (19 not out) and Mitchell Starc (six not out) to rescue them from a precarious position on day two after a thrilling opening day of Border-Gavaskar Trophy this year.

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Brief scores: India 150 in 49.4 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 41, Rishabh Pant 37; Josh Hazlewood 4-29, Mitchell Marsh 2-12) lead Australia 67/7 in 27 overs (Alex Carey 19 not out, Jasprit Bumrah 4-17) by 83 runs.

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