In a breathtaking start to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, fast bowlers from both teams dominated the opening day of the first Test match in Perth on Friday. India were bowled out to just 150 in their first innings but captain Jasprit Bumrah's heroics took down the hosts to 67 for 7 in a bowlers-dominant day at the Optus Stadium.
Australia's famous pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were off to a fiery start and gave Australia early control. However, Indian fast bowlers also put on a show to stun the hosts with 7 wickets on Day 1 to make it a total of 17 wickets on the first day of the Perth Test.
Bumrah dismissed the Australian skipper to produce the 17th wicket of Day 1 at the Perth Stadium to set a new milestone. For the first time since 1952, the fans witnessed 17 or more wickets falling on the first day of a Test match in Australia.
As expected, there was enough bounce and pace to predict a bowlers' game in Perth but very few would have predicted this many wickets on the very first day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Josh Hazlewood and Jasprit Bumrah bagged four wickets each while Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh and Mohammed Siraj claimed two each.
Indian debutants Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana also enjoyed a strong start to their Test career. Nitish top-scored with 41 runs off just 59 balls while Harshit claimed the valuable wicket of Travis Head to steal the show at the Optus Stadium.
IND vs AUS 1st Test Full Scorecard
Australia Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
India Playing XI: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj.