Captain Fantastic: Jasprit Bumrah celebrates with teammates after winning the first Test against Australia
| Photo Credit: ANI
Top dollar chased players in waves during the IPL auction at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah. But many summers down the line, if there is an enduring top-of-the-mind recall value for an epochal sporting Monday, it would obviously centre around India’s 295-run triumph in the first Test at the Optus Stadium at Perth.
To be bowled out for 150 and then to leap back and stun the host is never an easy task but Jasprit Bumrah and his men precisely did that as India leads the five-Test series 1-0. This was a miracle mounted on skills and sweat with Bumrah’s spells being the missiles that demolished the Australian fortress.
Yes, well begun is half done, but the truth is that India has struggled to do precisely that for a long time in Australia. Sojourns Down Under were often about turning up and losing the battle. However, a welcome change in fortunes has happened over the last decade.
Counting the maiden 1947-48 series and the latest one, India has toured Australia on 14 occasions for Tests. Among all the first Tests in these visits, India lost 10, drew two and won two. The maiden victory in a first Test in Australia was achieved in December 2018 when India prevailed by 31 runs at Adelaide. After that it was the turn of Bumrah’s men to savour the latest win in a first Test in Australia.
Having claimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series during the tours of 2018-19 and 2020-21, a hat-trick seems possible. A remarkable turnaround for a unit that ate humble pie in its backyard against the visiting New Zealanders. Credit has to be granted to captain Bumrah, stepping in for an absent Rohit Sharma, and leading with aplomb both as a skipper and spearhead.
To bench R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and to lean on debutants Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar were choices that could have wavered between the genius-move and the banana-peel. To their credit, Harshit and Nitish, besides Washington Sundar, all contributed.
Harshit’s spells, Nitish’s handy runs and the all-round traits he brings to the table like the ones that Washington has, were all part of India’s winning tapestry. But bowlers need runs to back them before they get to the business of nailing 20 wickets to seize a Test. And after an anaemic first innings, runs were provided in surplus during a second outing that saw Yashasvi Jaiswal (161), K.L. Rahul (77) and Virat Kohli (100 n.o.) prospering at the crease.
Chasing 534 in the last innings of a Test is a gargantuan task and Australia wilted despite the counter-punch by Travis Head. Bumrah’s overall yield of eight wickets, and the back-up he got from Mohammed Siraj and the rest, kept Australia under a leash.
In a near-perfect outing, there were the odd blemishes. India conceded 15 no-balls and six wides through the game. If this were a contest of narrow margins, these sundries would have hurt. Now with Rohit back in the fold, India will look ahead to the twin ‘day-and-night’ challenges that await, be it the warm-up fixture against the Prime Minister’s XI at Canberra (on November 30 and December 1) or the second Test at Adelaide from December 6.
Published – November 26, 2024 02:13 pm IST
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