India's Yashasvi Jaiswal
Credit: Reuters Photo
Perth: Cricket can be a great leveller indeed. After a blood bath on the opening day when 17 wickets tumbled across both sides, the second day saw an attritional battle between bat and ball with the contest yielding no more than three wickets. Where India needed nearly 25 overs to get rid of the last three Australian wickets after dismissing the first seven in 27 overs on Friday, the home attack toiled hard for 57 overs without anything to reflect in the wickets column on Saturday.
At stumps here at the Optus Stadium, the first Test had firmly swung India's way after the batters amended for their first-innings debacle that had seen them crash to 150 all out. Jasprit Bumrah (5/30) and company did exceedingly well to wrest the advantage from Australia with a fine exhibition of fast bowling to restrict the hosts, overnight 67/7, to 104 and hand the tourists a crucial 46-run lead.
As much confidence as India's riveting fightback would have injected in them, it's sure to have deflated the Australians who have seldom been put through such a stern pace test by a visiting attack. And it mirrored in Australia's bowling in the second innings when Indian openers tamed the four-pronged pace attack with patience and panache, with determination and deftness to finish the day on 172 off 57 overs for an overall lead of 218 runs. The pitch also had eased out considerably to help their cause.
Barring a reprieve for Yashasvi Jaiswal by Usman Khawaja off Mitchell Starc when the southpaw was on 51, neither Indian opener -- the other one being KL Rahul -- looked in any sort of discomfort.
Jaiswal (90 batting) and Rahul (62 batting) are two of the most good-looking batters going around but they were willing to look ugly and boring to shut even the narrowest of openings for Australia to sneak back into the game. They ground their way to 84 runs in 26 overs between lunch and tea and were even more laborious in the first hour after tea break when they accumulated just 22 runs in 17 overs. The duo, seemingly well-set by then, could have done with some urgency but given how brittle the Indian middle-order has been, it was perhaps the prudent approach.
Earlier, India, looking to end Australia's feeble resistance, started on a positive note when Bumrah cut short Alex Carey's stay with his first ball in the second over of the day. Carey, Australia's last recognised batter, fell meekly after edging Bumrah to Rishabh Pant behind. With that, the Indian stand-in skipper also brought up his 11th five-wicket haul in 41 Tests and second on Australian soil after his 6/33 in Melbourne on the 2018-19 tour.
Debutant Harshit Rana (3/48) got his second Test scalp in the shape of Nathan Lyon and, at 79/9, it appeared all over before Starc (26, 112b, 2x4) and Josh Hazlewood decided to pitch a tent in one of the most defiant associations for the last wicket. The left-handed duo kept the Indian attack at bay for 110 balls while adding 25 runs as Australia's innings lasted the entire length of the first session. The duo faced the most number of balls for any partnership across the first two innings of both teams and were involved in the most productive stand for Australia. That, however, couldn't stop India from eking out a handy 46-run lead given the context of the game. Bumrah perhaps persisted with himself and Rana for far too long to prise out the Aussie tail and could have brought in Mohammed Siraj a bit earlier.
While Indians were left frustrated by Starc and Hazlewood, they would have gladly taken this offer at the start of Australia's innings after being dismissed for 150 on the opening day.
Cut-off box - SCORE BOARD INDIA (I Innings): 150 all out AUSTRALIA (I Innings; O/n: 67/7): Khawaja c Kohli b Bumrah 8(19b 1x4) McSweeney lbw Bumrah 10(13b 2x4) Labuschagne lbw Siraj 2(52b) Smith lbw Bumrah 0 (1b) Head b Rana 11(13b 2x4) Marsh c Rahul b Siraj 6(19b 1x4) Carey c Pant b Bumrah 21(31b 3x4) Cummins c Pant b Bumrah 3 (5b) Starc c Pant b Rana 26 (112b 2x4) Lyon c Rahul b Rana 5 (16b) Hazlewood (not out) 7(31b 1x4) Extras (LB-1 NB-4) 6 TOTAL (all out 51.2 overs) 104 Fall of wickets: 1-14 (McSweeney) 2-19 (Khawaja) 3-19 (Smith) 4-31 (Head) 5-38 (Marsh) 6-47 (Siraj) 7-59 (Cummins) 8-70 (Carey) 9-79 (Lyon). Bowling: Bumrah 18-6-30-5 (nb-2) Siraj 13-7-20-2 Rana 15.2-3-48-3 (nb-2) Nitish 3-04-0 Washington 2-1-1-0. INDIA (II Innings): Jaiswal (batting) 90 (193b 7x4 2x6) Rahul (batting) 62 (153b 4x4) Extras (LB-11 NB-4 W-5) 20 TOTAL (for no loss 57 overs) 172 Bowling: Starc 12-2-43-0 Hazlewood 10-5-9-0 Cummins 13-2-44-0 Marsh 6-0-27-0 Lyon 13-3-28-0 Labuschagne 2-0-2-0 Head 1-0-8-0.