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Follow UsAfter being found at sea against Mitch Santner, Glenn Phillips, and Ajaz Patel’s spin in their own backyard, the misery of Indian batting continued in their first innings of the first Test against Australia in the 2024/25 edition of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT).
After winning a crucial toss and electing to bat first on a sunny morning at the Optus Stadium in Perth, India couldn’t make the best of their decision and folded meekly on a typical Perth wicket that had pace, bounce and seam movement.
The Indian team, which opted out of playing a tour match before the five-Test series, was found wanting in its plans to tackle the natural behaviour of the Perth surface.
The procession started with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who fell in Mitch Starc’s second over of the day after driving recklessly on-the-up against a delivery that first came in and then seamed out. He had played out the first over from Starc sedately, where he played and missed similar deliveries. However, the 22-year-old’s patience gave up earlier than anyone would have wished for.
Also read - Yashasvi Jaiswal's struggle against left-arm pace continues
Devdutt Padikkal, meanwhile, was way too defensive, missing out on deliveries bowled on his pads from Josh Hazlewood, who was at his accurate best yet again. He finally fell to a delivery in the same over that moved away from over the wicket from Hazlewood.
If both Jaiswal and Padikkal fell to the delivery moving away from them, Virat Kohli’s dismissal was symptomatic of his issues with his front foot game. He could not combat the bounce from a length, which he could do with relative ease during the 2018/19 tour on the same ground. His hands were all over during his 12-ball stay at the crease, and his fidgety stay was ended when he fended at a delivery from Hazlewood that jumped from a length. Usman Khawaja at slip held the catch safely.
Only KL Rahul (who was really unlucky to be adjudged caught behind by the third umpire), Rishabh Pant (37), and Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) were able to add on some runs on the board for India. Reddy, especially, impressed on debut as he combated the pacers brilliantly, and then unleashed three reverse sweeps for boundaries against Nathan Lyon that were all played along the ground.
Hazlewood, who also sent back Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana to the pavilion, was the pick of the bowlers and picked 4/29 in his 13 overs. Starc, Cummins and Marsh picked two wickets each to pulverise India by pace in Perth as they folded for a paltry 150.
What’s even more stark in this already dark reality for India is the fact that nine of their 10 batters were caught behind the wicket, showing clear signs of not being comfortable on the pitch they decided to bat on after winning the toss.
With the pitch only predicted to get quicker and hence tougher to bat on with variable bounce coming into the picture, India’s batting misery seems unending. For the sake of their fans and their history in Australia, India would really hope that doesn’t happen.
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