Things didn't go to plan for India on the opening day of the first Test match against Australia in Perth. They got bundled out for just 150 runs in their first innings after opting to bat with Rishabh Pant contributing 37 runs, being the second-highest scorer. During his knock in the middle, the left-hander played some enterprising shots, like he always does and entertained the crowd.
In the 42nd over of the innings, the southpaw played an extraordinary shot off the Aussie skipper Pat Cummins who was delivering in excess of 140 kph on most occasions. Pant unfurled a falling sweep for a six off a full-length delivery angled on off-stump. He collapsed his back knee, got under the ball and whipped it over the fine-leg boundary before falling away.
It was such an outrageous shot that it left many stunned including Cummins who wasn't having a great day with the ball then.
Watch the video here:
However, Cummins ended up winning the battle as he dismissed India's wicketkeeper batter a couple of overs later and celebrated with a fist pump. It was also his first wicket of the innings and the delight on his face was evident. Pant's wicket finished hopes of India posting a competitive total on the board. Having said that, debutant Nitish Reddy's fighting knock of 41 runs led the visitors to 150 before getting skittled.
Josh Hazlewood was the star for the Aussies picking up four wickets while Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh accounted for a couple each. Nathan Lyon got to bowl only five overs in his innings and went for 23 runs without picking a wicket.
Playing XIs
Australia: 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: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj
