Captain Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj picked three wickets collectively as India reduced Australia to 12/3 inside 26 balls and left them in tatters in a chase of 534 at stumps on Day Three of the first Test of the Border-Gavskar Trophy Series at the Perth Stadium here on Sunday.
It was a day of dominant Test cricket to remember for India as Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed centuries to help India declare at 487/6 and feast on a tiring Australian bowling line-up. Kohli’s unbeaten century came off 143 balls, laced with eight fours and two sixes, as he hit his seventh Test hundred on Australian soil and his first of this year.
It came after Jaiswal put India in the driver’s seat with a brilliant 161 off 297 balls, his fourth Test century, to decimate the Australian bowlers. In defence of 534, India struck on the fourth ball as Bumrah trapped Nathan McSweeney lbw with an in-ducker for a duck in the opening over. Australia’s experiment with nightwatchman Pat Cummins ended when he edged to second slip off Mohammed Siraj for just two.
Australia ended Day Three in a horrendous position when Marnus Labuschagne was trapped lbw by a delivery from Bumrah angled straight into him from outside off-stump and offered no shot to it. The batter went for the review but burnt it as ball-tracking showed the ball hitting stumps.
With two days of play remaining, and the pitch showing variable bounce, Australia are on the verge of a very heavy defeat in Perth and going 1-0 behind in the five-match series to India, who utterly dominated day three’s proceedings with bat and ball after being bowled out for 150 on day one.
Previously, resuming at 172/0, Jaiswal and KL Rahul managed to get a 201-run opening stand, which is now the biggest partnership by an Indian opening pair in Tests in Australia. Though Rahul fell for 77, Jaiswal went past 150 for the fourth time in Tests.
In the run-up to the series opener, News Corp’s newspapers in Australia had called Jaiswal ‘The New King’. That raised expectations from Jaiswal, 22, but he had suffered a blip when he was dismissed for an eight-ball duck in the first innings by Mitchell Starc.
But in the second innings, after making crucial adjustments like playing with soft hands, allowing the ball to come to him, and curbing his strokeplay instincts, Jaiswal redeemed himself by hitting his first Test hundred in Australia and following in the footsteps of Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohinder Amarnath and Sunil Gavaskar to score a century in Perth. Rahul began by driving with precision through cover on Mitchell Starc’s first ball of the day, while Jaiswal moved to 95 by edging a short ball over slips. Rahul’s soft hands and Jaiswal’s composed demeanour ensured India continued to dominate Australia by piling more runs.
After playing and missing a few times, Jaiswal got his hundred by arching his back to uppercut Josh Hazlewood over the keeper for six and the ball landed right on the boundary cushion at fine leg. On seeing the six being confirmed, Jaiswal saluted the crowd, looked to the skies, and gave flying kisses to the spectators before soaking in the surreal feeling of hitting a Test century in Australia.
Soon after, Australia squandered a chance to get a breakthrough when a mix-up between the two openers saw Jaiswal being out of his crease, but Pat Cummins couldn’t nail the direct hit from mid-off. But they got Rahul out in the 63rd over when Starc got a length ball to take the outside edge on his forward defence and Alex Carey took the catch behind. Despite Australia placing a deep fly slip and a deep backward point for shielding Jaiswal from playing uppercuts, there was no stopping the youngster as he slashed hard off Starc and Cummins for two boundaries, before slapping Nathan Lyon through cover for another four.
He got support from Padikkal and made full use of a friendly full toss from Marnus Labuschagne’s seam-ups to hit a one-handed drive for four, as India’s lead crossed 300. After Australia took the second new ball, there was no stopping Jaiswal as he sweetly drove through the line off Starc for a boundary, followed by Padikkal slashing Starc through backward point for four more as India pocketed another utterly dominant session.
The second session commenced with immediate success for Australia as Padikkal came forward to defend off Josh Hazlewood, but nicked to the second slip. Jaiswal very sweetly timed an on-drive off an overpitched delivery from Starc for four and brought up his 150 with a drive past the backward point going for a single.
Jaiswal tucked and drove for two more boundaries, before cutting a short and wide ball from Mitchell Marsh into the hands of backward point, which ended his marathon knock at 161 off 297 balls. From there, a mini-collapse saw India lose three wickets for eight runs in a span of 18 balls. Rishabh Pant came down the pitch against Nathan Lyon, who fired a turning-away delivery, and the batter missed it, and lost his balance, with Alex Carey stumping him. It was followed by Dhruv Jurel being trapped lbw by a skiddy nip-backer which kept low from Cummins.
But India’s innings came back on track – Washington Sundar hit Travis Head for a gorgeous inside-out six over long-off, while Kohli unfurled an upper cut off Starc going over wide third man for a maximum – though it hit a security guard on his head, and was followed by sweeping Lyon for four. The duo looked in excellent control, as the final session began with Kohli getting a thick inside edge off Cummins going for four, and was followed by taking three runs off him to get his fifty.
Despite Sundar being castled while trying to sweep off Nathan Lyon and 89-run stand ending, Kohli continued to be glorious in his driving and found good support in Nitish Kumar Reddy, who whipped Marsh for a powerful six, before smashing him for a hat-trick of fours in the next over. Kohli upped his aggression by launching Lyon for a straight six over the non-striker’s end, before pulling and flat-batting off Labuschagne for two boundaries. With Bumrah removing his arm guard, a declaration looked imminent.
While Reddy muscled Labuschagne over long-on for six, Kohli reverse-swept Lyon for four, before sweeping Labuschagne for four and getting his elusive century, also his 80th ton in international cricket as he took off his helmet and walked off with cheers from the crowd chanting his name. Kohli, whose unbroken partnership with Reddy was worth 77 runs, then blew flying kisses to his actor-producer wife Anushka Sharma, as he, Jaiswal, and then the pacers set the base for a famous and memorable overseas Test win for India.
Brief scores:
India 150 and 487/6 in 134.3 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 161, Virat Kohli 100 not out, K.L Rahul 77; Nathan Lyon 2-96) lead Australia 104 and 12/3 in 4.2 overs (Jasprit Bumrah 2-1, Mohammed Siraj 1-7) by 522 runs