Milestones galore for stand-in captain and Player of the Match Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli
After playing out a miserable first two sessions on the opening day of the first of the 5-match Test series on a lively wicket at Perth’s Optus stadium, during which they were 32-3 at one stage and later 73-6, India staged a remarkable comeback, working their way from strength to strength, to completely outclass a formidable Australia on their home turf for a historic victory by a massive margin of 295 runs with a day and more to spare.
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Led by stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah, who deservedly won the Player of the Match award for his devastating match-winning bowling effort (8 for 72), India became the first team to beat Australia at Perth’s Optus Stadium, since its inauguration in 2018. Before Monday, Australia had won all four of their Test matches at the Optus – against India, New Zealand, the West Indies, and Pakistan. The team batting first has won all five Tests at the venue.
The Test win marked India’s largest-ever win in the longest format of the game in Australia and the second largest overall. It was also a redemption of sorts coming away from a shattering whitewash by New Zealand in the 3-match Test series on home soil.
Chasing a daunting total of 534 for an improbable victory, Australia’s top order crumbled again, and despite Travis Head’s defiant 89, Mitchell Marsh’s 47 and Alex Carey’s 36, which delayed the inevitable, the hosts were bundled out below the halfway mark.
Like in the first innings, Jasprit Bumrah (3-42) led the charge, ably supported by Mohammed Siraj (3-51), as Indian bowlers ran through the Aussie second innings.
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India’s stunning turnaround after being bowled out for 150 on Day 1, was powered by young Yashasvi Jaiswal’s masterly 161, Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 100 and KL Rahul’s 77 in the second innings.
Test debutant allrounder Nitish Reddy’s contribution also cannot be understated. His hard hitting 41 off 59 balls, the highest score in India’s first innings, and unbeaten 38 off just 27 balls and wicket of Mitchell Marsh in the second has cemented his place in the side.
One of the worst losses for Australia
The 295-run defeat is reportedly Australia’s second highest in terms of runs at home in the last 40 years, the highest being by 309 runs against South Africa at the WACA in 2012.
It is also reportedly their second-highest defeat by runs against India in Tests, behind the 320-run loss in the 2008 Mohali Test.
Australia’s aggregate of 342 runs in the Test is also their second lowest in a home Test since 2000 in which they have been bowled out twice. Their lowest was 246 runs against South Africa in the 2016 Hobart Test. It is also their fourth lowest in a Test match against India and their lowest against them at home.
Australia’s top order failure in the Test (57 runs aggregated by their top five batsmen) is one of their worst ever.
The loss in the first Test of the current 5-match series against India is an ominous sign for Australia. They have not won a single Test series at home since 1970 after losing the series opener. They have lost a home Test series opener nine times during this period and lost eight of these series.
India on a high
India have reportedly twice before gone on to win a Test match with lower than the first innings total of 150 which they posted in Perth – 104 all out against Australia in the 2004 Wankhede Test, and 145 against England in the 2021 Ahmedabad Test.
India’s victory margin of 295 runs in Perth is also reportedly the second highest by runs for any team which has been bowled out for 150 or less in their first innings. The biggest such win was by 343 runs for West Indies, who defeated Australia in the 1991 Bridgetown Test despite a first-innings total of 149 all out.
Bumrah’s personal milestones
Jasprit Bumrah’s impressive bowling average of 9, with match figure of 8 for 74, makes it the third best bowling average by an Indian bowler in an away Test while taking eight or more wickets.
His fifth Test match wicket haul of eight or more wickets while conceding less than 100 runs places him behind only R Ashwin (7 times) among Indian bowlers.
Most fifers for India in SENA countries: With this five-wicket haul in Australia’s first innings of the Perth Test, Jasprit Bumrah joined legendary Kapil Dev to record the joint-highest number of five-wicket hauls (seven) by an Indian bowler in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia.
Third best bowling figures by an overseas captain in Australia: Jasprit Bumrah’s 5/30 in the Aussie first innings is the third-best bowling performance by an overseas captain on Australian soil. Kapil Dev leads the chart with sensational figures of 8/106, with Sir Gary Sobers following him with a personal best of 6 for 73.
Second best bowling figures by an Indian at Optus Stadium, Perth: The 5/30 bowling effort is the second-best bowling performance by an Indian player in a Test match at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Mohammed Shami claims the top spot with figures of 6/56 in 2018-19.
Yashasvi Jaiswal piles on the records
By bringing up his maiden Test hundred in Australia in the Test series opener in Perth on Sunday, Yashasvi Jaiswal has reportedly become only the second batter in the world after South Africa’s Graeme Smith to convert each of his first four Test hundreds into 150-plus scores.
His 150-plus scores on four occasions in Tests are the joint second most by any batter before turning 23. Don Bradman tops the list with five such scores, while Javed Miandad and Graeme Smith also have four 150-plus scores before their 23rd birthday. Yashasvi turns 23 on December 28.
He also joins three Indian batters with three or more 150-plus Test scores in a calendar year, the others being Sachin Tendulkar (in 2002 and 2004), Virender Sehwag (in 2004 and 2008) and Virat Kohli (in 2016 and 2017).
Yashasvi is now the third Indian batter with a century in his maiden Test in Australia, the others being ML Jaisimha in 1968 and Sunil Gavaskar in 1977.
His 35 sixes in the 12 Tests played so far in 2024 are the most by any batter in a calendar year in the longest format of the game. He bettered Brendon McCullum’s 2014 record of 33 sixes in nine Tests.
Highest opening stand in Australia
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s name figures in the highest opening stand for India in Tests on Australian soil. His opening partnership of 201 with KL Rahul in India’s second innings of the Perth Test surpassed the previous highest of 191 runs between Kris Srikkanth and Sunil Gavaskar in the 1986 Sydney Test.
Kohli back among the records
With his second consecutive Test hundred at the Optus Stadium in Perth (unbeaten 100) Virat Kohli appears to be showing signs of shrugging off his long and disheartening run of poor form.
This is Kohli’s 30th century overall in Test cricket, and with this knock he has surpassed legendary Sachin Tendulkar to become the Indian batter with the most Test centuries (seven) in Australia. In doing so he has also equalled Englishman Wally Hammond’s tally (seven hundreds) for the most centuries by a visiting batter in Australia, placing him second only to another Englishman Jack Hobbs, who has nine centuries.
He also set a record for the most hundreds (10) against the home side in Australia across all formats.
The Perth hundred marks Kohli’s first Test century since his ton against the West Indies in Port of Spain in July 2023. That was Kohli’s first Test hundred away from home in five years.
He now has to his credit an astounding 81 international hundreds.
