Josh Hazlewood entered the history books with a brilliant spell in the first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 on Friday. The star pacer picked four wickets to bowl out India on 150 on Day 1 of the series opener and surpassed the legendary Australian bowlers Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee in major records.
Hazlewood became the most successful Australian fast bowler in BGT history after taking his third wicket in the first innings. He was tied with Glenn McGrath's 51 wickets tally and needed two more to surpass Lee's 53 BGT Wickets record.
Fast bowlers with most wickets in BGT for Australia
- Josh Hazlewood - 55 wickets in 29 innings
- Brett Leet - 53 wickets in 24 innings
- Glenn McGrath - 51 wickets in 22 innings
- Michael Johnson - 50 wickets in 28 innings
- Pat Cummins - 48 wickets in 21 innings
After Hazlewood's heroics, the Indian bowlers also put in a strong show to take control of the first Test of the five-match series. India's stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah bowled a memorable spell in the opening stages to stun the home crowd.
Bumrah was lethal with pace and accuracy and the Australian batters had no answer to his fiery deliveries. Bumrah gave India an early breakthrough with debutant Nathan McSweeney's wicket in the third over and then put his team ahead with Usman Khawaja's wicket in the seventh over.
The struggling Steve Smith entered the game with a lot of expectations from the home fans but they were left speechless as the star batter suffered a golden duck off Bumrah. Smith registered his first golden duck in Tests since 2014 and that silenced the packed Optus Stadium.
Travis Head showed some resistance with a couple of attractive shots as Australia found breathing space after early blows. India's debutant fast bowler Harshit Rana bagged the prized wicket of Head with a cracking delivery and then Mohammed Siraj ended Marnus Labuschagne's 2 runs off 52 balls innings.
