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Debutant Harshit Rana cleaned up Travis Head after India mustered just 150 runs in the first innings.
Harshit Rana cleans up Travis Head
Harshit Rana punched the air in delight, opened up his arms and ran jubilantly after bagging his maiden Test wicket on Friday as India locked horns with Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener at Optus Stadium, Perth. The right-arm pacer from Delhi cleaned up Travis Head after India mustered just 150 runs in the first innings.
Rana went off the mark in Test cricket with a maiden over. The following over turned out to be a little expensive as Head hit for a couple of boundaries. But the 22-year-old bounced back strongly in his third, castling one of the dangerous batters in the Australian batting order. The good length delivery angled in to beat Head’s outside edge and knocked off the top of the off stump.
The crucial breakthrough saw Australia getting reduced to 31/4. Before Rana struck to dismiss head, Bumrah had Australia’s top-three in his pocket. The stand-in Indian captain opened his account by dismissing Nathan McSweeney for 10 off 13 and then got rid of Usman Khawaja (8) and former Australia captain Steve Smith (0) on successive deliveries.
Earlier, debutant Nitish Reddy’s gutsy 41 and Rishabh Pant’s brief daredevilry proved to be the fleeting silver lining in an otherwise batting no-show by India as they were shot out for a lowly 150 at tea against a disciplined Australia on the opening day of the first Test.
Captain Jasprit Bumrah’s inexplicable decision to opt for batting on a bouncy green top can be debated in times to come. Pant (37 off 78 balls), whose audacious no-look six over backward square leg off Pat Cummins, had everyone in awe, found a gritty customer in Reddy as they added 48 runs for the seventh wicket after India’s top-order was done in by a double whammy of extra bounce and seam movement by Mitchell Starc (2/14 in 11 overs) and Josh Hazlewood (4/29 in 13 overs).
(With Agency Inputs)
- Location :
Perth, Australia
