India bounced out for 150 by Australia on opening day

Perth, Nov 22 (PTI) Debutant Nitish Reddy’s gutsy 41 and Rishabh Pant’s brief daredevilry proved to be 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 the India’s top-order were done in by double whammy of extra bounce and seam movement by Mitchell Starc (2/14 in 11 overs) and Josh Hazlewood (4/29 in 13 overs).

However, just when Pant was looking dangerous, Cummins (2/67 in 15.4 overs), who had dropped a skier, got a fuller delivery to straighten as the southpaw closed his bat face and the ball flew to the second slip.

Pant and Reddy, who put Nathan Lyon out of the attack with a couple of reverse sweeps, were the only two players who were intent on a pushback as the top-order were psyched out by the extra bounce and movement that was aided by a fair grass covering. Indian innings didn’t even last 50 overs.

While KL Rahul (26 off 74 balls) was ready to grind it out before getting a contentious caught behind decision, young guns like Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) and Devdutt Padikkal (0) looked completely out of place during a brilliant opening spell bowled in tandem by Starc and Hazlewood.

Virat Kohli (5) looked a pale shadow of the player, who visited these shores in 2011-12, 2014-15 and 2018-19 as he was done in by a short ball from Hazlewood.

Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar were all-rounder Mitchell Marsh’s (2/12 in 5 overs) prize wickets after the specialist pacers created relentless pressure.

Only Pant and Reddy looked like pulling off a rescue act but that also promised a lot but delivered much little in larger context.

All of India’s top-order batters — rookies, seasoned and veterans — were hesitant in their approach and certainly the simulation at the WACA was of little help.

Exactly a year back in South Africa, Jaiswal looked all at sea on the bouncy tracks of Centurion and Cape Town.

On Friday, Starc started with a few back of the length deliveries before he pitched one further up. The ball seamed away and also met Jaiswal’s willow at a height that would have been at least a foot above had it been played in the Indian sub-continent.

The result was a flash drive and the ball was snapped at gully by Marnus Labuschagne.

Padikkal, coming in place of injured Shubman Gill, never looked intent on coming on the front-foot and even left some over-pitched deliveries which he could have scored.

The result was the 23rd delivery, a fuller one from Josh Hazlewood which Padikkal played with hard hands to offer a regulation catch to Alex Carey.

Kohli (5) perhaps got the best delivery of the morning session when Hazlewood dug one short and the star Indian batter couldn’t remove his bat from the line of the ball. The edge resulted to a regulation slip catch.

Rahul followed the basics during this course — playing the one coming into his body while leaving all other deliveries from length. He did play a couple of push drives and the first boundary was a streaky one when he tried to sway from the line of a short delivery and the edge flew over slips.

But there were a couple of punchy cover drives with a few that went past his bat.

However, Rahul got out with less than 10 minutes left for lunch. Starc, back for his second spell, got one to move a shade and the snicko showed deflection although the batter suggested that his bat hit the pad at the same time when the ball went past the edge.