Australia vs. India, First Test: Robert Craddock’s moments that mattered most on day one in Perth

On a day which saw 17 wickets fall, ROBERT CRADDOCK details the eight moments that captured the attention most on a pulsating first day of the Australia and India Test series.

Here are Robert Craddock’s moments that mattered on day one of the five-match Test series between Australia and India in Perth.

1 BRILLIANT BUMRAH

The numbers don’t lie. Jasprit Bumrah is an all-time great, perhaps the greatest of all.

Bumrah has a Test bowling average that floats around 20 – the second best in history for an experienced bowler – and we can see why after he looked like taking a wicket almost every ball of his first spell.

Jasprit Bumrah tearing Australia apart, Steve Smith out first ball

It was one of the most lethal seen from a visitor on Australian soil since Curtly Ambrose took 7-1 in Perth three decades ago.

Inswingers, outswingers, seam, pace, bounce … he was simply too good for Nathan McSweeney and Steve Smith with stump seeking missiles that trapped them in front.

Bumrah knows he is good. Even the burden of captaincy could not stop him from smiling his way through a rugged day. We are seeing something special.

2 THE DECISION

K L Rahul was an angry man after being given out caught behind and we can see why.

Third umpire Richard Illingworth rushed a review requested by the Australians after he was initially given not out to a defensive lunge to Mitchell Starc.

Controversy surrounding the KL Rahul wicket

Snicko found something but it was hard to tell whether it was bat on ball or bat on pad. There seemed no conclusive evidence to overturn the not out decision.

Rahul’s bat definitely clipped his pad yet there was only one spike when there should have been two. Common sense decrees he should have been not out.

3 THE SHOT

Rishabh Pant had Australia’s fieldsmen panting again. Pant played a stroke of rare genius when he let his back leg collapse as he rolled towards the off-side, using his falling momentum to hoist a half volley from Pat Cummins behind deep backward square leg for six.

Rishabh Pant does the impossible

The Risk factor was outrageously high but Pant didn’t care. What a player. A serious car accident since the last tour may have almost ended his career but it hasn’t dimmed his freakish flair.

4 MARNUS STUCK IN THE MUD

Marnus Labuschange scored two runs off 52 balls before being trapped lbw. The stats sound like it was a docile anchor drop but it was action aplenty on a lively deck as he had no fewer than eight close shaves including being dropped by Kohli in the slips before he had scored.

Labuschagne stuck in the mud

After two modest years Labuschagne is urgently searching for brighter days.

5 THE KING DETHRONED

Virat Kohli is having a nightmare decade. There is a theory that if he cannot find form it Australia – the country that has so often roused him to great heights – then he’s just about done.

Josh Hazlewood gets huge wicket of Virat Kohli

Batting further out of his crease that he ever has – for reasons which do not make instant sense on a high bouncing deck – he got livened up by a sharp lifter for Josh Hazlewood which he glided to Usman Khawaja at first slip. Many others struggled on the day but the Kohli watch is on.

6 THE CATCH

Labuschagne had a dramatic day. He could have been out many times in his 52 ball two but his electric reflexes were evident when he tag teamed with Nathan McSweeney, the debutant who first caught his eye as an 11-year-old in a trial. McSweeney dived towards an edge from Harshit Rana off Josh Hazlewood but succeeded only in bunting it towards Labuschange who himself dived to take a spectacular one-handed snare.

Unbelievable catch by Labuschagne on the rebound

7 THE GAMBLE

India took one of biggest selection gambles in decades when they left out iconic spin duo Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja, a combined experience of more than 800 Test wickets, to play all-rounder Washington Sundar. It’s a huge call. Sunder failed with the bat. Maybe his off-spin won’t matter if Bumrah keeps being Bumrah.

Washington Sundar goes cheaply to Mitch Marsh

8 THE PEACH

Travis Head was probably the unluckiest of the Australian batters to fall on day one, but his dismissal provided quite the moment for Test debutant Harshit Rana delivering an absolute peach to disturb the furniture of Australia’s No. 5 and deliver his first Test wicket. The Indian quick finished the day with 1-33.

A peach for Harshit Rana's first Test wicket

Originally published as Australia vs. India, First Test: Robert Craddock’s moments that mattered most on day one in Perth