Things are heating up in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. After taking 17 wickets on the first day, the second day started with Jasprit Bumrah dismissing Alex Carey.
Then Harshit Rana also joined the party by taking the wicket of Nathan Lyon. The debutant pacer bowled with full force, generating bounce from the Perth pitch. In fact, he gave Australia a taste of his bounce bowling.
So much so that Starc gave Rana a cheeky warning: “I bowl faster than you. I have a very good memory”. He hinted that Rana might also face a similar bouncer.
A few overs later, another bouncer from Harshit Rana hit Mitchell Starc’s helmet. Rana immediately asked if Starc was okay.
On the first day, skipper Jasprit Bumrah proved his controversial decision to bat first after winning the toss right, giving India a terrific start by running to cover with Australia tottering at 67 for 7 and helping India bounce back strongly after a flop performance on the first day of the first Test.
The match, which was being touted as a battle between two out-of-form batting units, went about as predictable as it could, at least on the first day. 17 wickets fell, a first in seven decades in a Test match on Australian soil.
India’s stand-in captain, to everyone’s surprise, opted to bat on a grassy pitch that offered good chances of seam movement and midriff high bounce.
But neither the youngsters nor the experienced players in the Indian line-up were up to the task.
Riding on debutant Nitish Reddy’s 41 and Rishabh Pant’s 37, which included an incredible six, India made 150 in 49.4 overs, with Josh Hazlewood (4/29), Mitchell Starc (2/14 in 11 overs), Pat Cummins (2/67 in 15.4 overs) and Mitchell Marsh (2/12 in 5 overs) combining to seal the win.
When Australia tried to reply, they had no answer to Bumrah’s (4/17 in 10 overs) excellent bowling.
Defending a low score in the first innings is not a task for a single player and Mohammed Siraj (2/17 in 9 overs) and debutant Harshit Rana (1/33 in 8 overs) supported their captain.
