Jasprit Bumrah earned his 11th five-wicket haul, and debutant Harshit Rana produced a scorching opening performance as Australia were bowled out for 104.
India captain Jasprit Bumrah earned his 11th five-wicket haul, while debutant Harshit Rana bowled a fiery opening spell as Australia were bowled out for 104 at lunchtime on Saturday, despite a strong last-wicket resistance from Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. The Indian squad would be upset that they were unable to build a comfortable lead, which appeared to be on the cards after Australia were reduced to 79 for 9.However, Starc (26 off 113 balls) sheltered Hazlewood (7 not out off 31 balls) excellently during their 25-run last-wicket partnership, which lasted 18 overs and reduced the margin to 46 runs, making the second innings a duel of who bats better.
The day started on a high note when Bumrah (5/30 in 18 overs), bowling the second over of the day, got one to rear up from the back of the length, and Carey’s edge carried at a fair height to Rishabh Pant behind stumps. It was Bumrah’s seventh five-wicket haul in SENA nations, the joint-most by an Indian bowler with Kapil Dev.
Bumrah has also joined the select list of Indian captains, having taken five wickets in Tests. Before Bumrah, other Indian leaders with five-wicket hauls in Tests are Vinoo Mankad (1), Bishan Bedi (8), Kapil Dev (4), and Anil Kumble (2). Kumble was the previous Indian captain to do so, scoring 5/84 at the MCG in 2007.On the other end, Bumrah began the day with burly Harshit Rana (3/48 in 15.2 overs), continuing from where he left off on the first day.
Unlike on the first day, the rookie speedster used more short balls, and one such well-directed delivery fell to Lyon, who was pouched at gully by KL Rahul.
With 71 runs behind India’s first-innings score of 150, the visitors were expected to get rid of the last two. However, the short-ball strategy failed against Starc, who grinned and reminded his former KKR partner, “I have a long memory Harshit”.Starc had strong defensive abilities before occasionally taking advantage of opportunities with aerial hits. Harshit was substituted by Nitish Reddy for three overs, but with the ball over 40 overs old and the seam muted, his wicket-to-wicket bowling was lackluster.
Finally, Harshit, in his second stint of the day, had Starc trying to slog, and Pant took the skier.
