Perth, Nov 24, 2024
Captain Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj shared three wickets as India reduced Australia to 12/3 inside 26 balls in their second innings and left them in tatters in a chase of 534 at stumps on Day Three of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at Perth Stadium here on Sunday.
It was a day 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 century on Australian soil. It came after Jaiswal put India in the driver’s seat with a brilliant 161 off 297 balls, his fourth Test century.
In defence of 534, India struck on the fourth ball as Bumrah trapped Nathan McSweeney lbw with an in-ducker for zero 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 ball-tracking showed that the ball would have gone on to hit the 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, 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 Washington Sundar being castled while trying to sweep off Nathan Lyon, Kohli continued to be glorious in his driving and found good support in Nitish Kumar Reddy, who whipped Mitchell Marsh for a powerful six, before smashing him for a hat-trick of fours in the next over.
Kohli launched Lyon for a straight six over the non-striker’s end, before pulling and flat-batting off Marnus Labuschagne for two boundaries. With Jasprit Bumrah removing his arm guard, a declaration looked imminent.
While Nitish muscled Labuschagne over long-on for six, Kohli reverse-swept Lyon for four, before sweeping Labuschagne for four and getting his elusive century.
After hitting his 80th ton in international cricket, Kohli celebrated with glee on his face and walked off with cheers from the crowd chanting his name, while the batter blew kisses in the direction of his actor-producer wife Anushka Sharma, who was present in the stadium to see him hit another memorable knock in Tests.
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.(Agency)
