Jasprit Bumrah rocked Australia in their own backyard on Friday, producing a fiery opening spell to bring India back after the visitors’ batting failed on the opening day of the first Test in Perth.
Captaining the team in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who is on paternity leave, Bumrah led from the front to rip apart the home team’s top order with a three-wicket burst, which included two wickets off two balls. However, he missed out on a hat-trick.
India, who were bowled out for just 150 on the first morning, needed inspiration to throw a few punches back at the Aussies; and it came from the skipper himself, who once again delivered when the team needed it the most.
Bumrah made the first breakthrough in the third over of the innings, when he struck debutant Nathan McSweeney on the pads, but the umpire shook his head to deny the appeal. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant wasn’t too sure, but Bumrah said “close hai” and went ahead to signal for a review.
It went in India’s favour, and McSweeney walked back after scoring 10.

Bumrah would have struck again in the same over, but a regulation slip catch off an edge from Marnus Labuschagne’s bat was dropped by Virat Kohli.

In the seventh over of Australia’s innings, the Indian skipper continued to rattle the hosts and jolted them with two wickets in two balls to be on a hat-trick.
Kohli made amends in the slips by safely pouching an edge from left-hander Usman Khawaja’s (8) bat to contribute in Bumrah’s second wicket. And Bumrah struck on the next ball as well to snare the big fish Steve Smith for a first-ball duck with an unplayable full, in-swinging delivery that hit his pad well inside the crease and right in front of the stumps.
The hat-trick ball to Travis Head shaped towards the leg-side as the left-hander tried to flick it but missed. Australia’s score at that stage read 19 for 3.

Debutant pacer Harshit Rana then struck the fourth blow when he cleaned up India’s nemesis of late, Head (11), with a dream delivery that moved away just enough after pitching to beat the bat and peg the off-stump back.

At the time this report was published, Australia were 38 for 4 in 16 overs, with Labuschagne batting on 1 and Mitchell Marsh on 6.

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell has backed senior batter Steve Smith to have a sensational Test series against India. Smith, who returned to international cricket with a solid 44 in the 1st ODI against Pakistan, has said before that he is fully prepared to play the Test series against India and could get into the Test fray if the match was to start this week.

Maxwell, who is an instrumental part of the Australian white-ball team, spoke about Smith on ESPNcricinfo and said that the batter looked very crisp against Pakistan in the 1st ODI game.

“Steve Smith looks really crisp with his footwork and his timing and his movement looked in sync. He looked like he was unfazed by everything that was thrown at him. There were a couple of balls on the green off the length and he was able to deal with them quite easily. And I suppose that’s a really good sign of someone who is focused on the job and really in tune with their technique,” Maxwell said on Around the Cricket show on ESPN.

“To see him over the last week, putting in so many hours in training sort of says why he is one of the best players in the world. He is never satisfied. For the way he came out and bat the way he did, there was a nice moment where he hit a cover drive and you could see him looking at the big screen and give himself the nod of approval and that is a sign of him working on his tecnhnique and it is a scary proposition for this summer ahead,” he further added.

Speaking after Australia’s win against Pakistan in the 1st ODI match, Smith revealed that he was raring to go and if allowed could play a Test match in the first week of November. The former Australia captain scored 44 runs off 46 balls at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Smith has been among the talking points recently in Test cricket after claiming the opener’s spot in the absence of David Warner. After not having prolific results in the series against West Indies, Smith ended the experiment and decided to drop down to his original No.4 position. The batter’s form will be key for Australia as they push to qualify for the WTC Final, set to be hosted at Lord’s next year.

“My last week in preparation has been really good. I feel like I’m in a nice place and moving really well, I’m really balanced at the crease, and I feel like my bat’s coming down a nice plane. So I was happy with the way about it tonight. It would be nice to have been out there a little bit longer,” Smith told SEN Radio after Australia’s win in the 1st ODI vs Pakistan.

“I’m ready. I’m ready now. Yeah, I could go out and play a Test match tomorrow, so I feel like I’m in a good place. I’ve had a really good week of training, came down here early and had a few hits. And I was just trying to get a few things right that I felt like I didn’t quite have in sync. And it all just clicked. And I feel like I’m in a good place now,” Smith further added.