Australia Trail of 67 for 7 (Carey 19*, Bumrah 4-17, Siraj 2-17) India 150 (Reddy 41, Pant 37, Hazlewood 4-29, Marsh 2-12, Starc 2-14) by 83 runs
He took debutant Nathan McSweeney for 10 in the third over before dismissing Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith with consecutive balls in the seventh over to turn a quick first Test on its head.
In just his second red-ball match opening the batting, McSweeney faced a baptism of fire and initially judged the length well before Bumrah adjusted to a longer length and trapped him on the pads. Smith’s move back to his favored No. 4 did not start well after he scrambled across the stumps and was hit by a wicked delivery from Bumrah that backed a mile.
Having started the season slowly, Labuschagne had a difficult time. He was dropped by Virat Kohli at second slip after beating Bumrah and did not score from the first 24 deliveries faced. He received fake applause from the stands when he finally broke his drought, but Labuschagne could never follow through and made a painstaking 2 off 52 balls.
Bumrah wasn’t done yet when he returned to the shadows to dismiss Pat Cummins as Australia limped to the stumps at 67 for 7.
It was a remarkable turnaround after India were bowled out for 150 in just 49.4 overs. Nine of the Indian batsmen were caught behind the wicket in a dismissal fashion that has been common in Perth over the years at Optus Stadium and the nearby WACA ground.
After India left out veteran spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, Bumrah decided to bat after winning the toss. With cloudy skies above a greenish surface, it was undoubtedly a harrowing decision, but batting first seemed the logical move as the pitch is expected to deteriorate amid warmer weather later in the match.
With the unseasonably wet weather leading up to the match, there was particular curiosity about how the pitch would perform. There was movement and jumping, but perhaps not the minefield that the score indicates.
India’s top order was at sea against the excellent ball bowling of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who took all four wickets in the first session. Starc, especially, was excellent in setting the tone for an Australian attack that strangled India.
After overcoming injury problems last summer, Starc entered the season in good shape and firing. He continued his strong form with fast, penetrating bowling, especially troubling the left-handers with an immaculate line and an outside stroke.
Seemingly trying to start the series in the same fashion as the Ashes series in 2021-22, Starc’s first delivery was an anti-climax and missed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s leg stump and flew to the boundary.
He hit the target after that and his accuracy surpassed Jaiswal, who on his eighth delivery, while trying to score his first runs in Australia, rose and advanced to McSweeney in the gully.
With the bat well in front of his body, it was an errant hit that echoed Pakistan captain Shan Masood’s clumsy dismissal in last year’s Perth Test.
With captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill unavailable, Devdutt Padikkal was given an unexpected opportunity at number three after impressing recently in India A’s matches. But he was completely handcuffed by the quicks and did not score from the first 22 deliveries faced. The pressure was too much with Padikkal on the next ball pushing Hazlewood back with an angled bat trying to defend himself.
All eyes were on Kohli, who received healthy applause from the crowd of 31,302, even though the Indian fans in the stands were heavily outnumbered, which is rare.
India desperately needed their long-time talisman to overcome a slump in form on a ground that scored a brilliant century in the 2018-19 series. Kohli hit it well off the line in a well-worn strategy that he had successfully implemented earlier in Australia.
But Hazlewood, who has had great success against Kohli over the years, adjusted and bowled backwards. Kohli on 5 could only save a Hazlewood delivery that fell straight to first slip.
After lunch, all-rounder Marsh successfully returned to bowling with the wickets of Dhruv Jurel, who was selected after his performances for India, and Washington Sundar.
Marsh had bowled just four overs since tearing his hamstring in the IPL. But he ran strongly and finished with 2-12 from 5 overs in a boost to an attack without all-rounder Cameron Green, who will miss the entire series with a back injury.
Pant was typically adventurous, marked by an audacious hole six off a full Cummins delivery, while Reddy mixed orthodox drives with paddle sweeps to frustrate offspinner Nathan Lyon.
But both failed to get the ball rolling as India were dismissed for tea. In his first red-ball match since the New Zealand Tests in March, Cummins looked a little sloppy and failed to find consistent length as he finished with 2-67 in 15.4 overs.
He dismissed Pant and Reddy and left the field extremely satisfied with Australia’s performance. But Cummins’ mood quickly deteriorated and just over two hours later he walked off the field after being dismissed by his opponent.
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth
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