AUS vs IND 2024/25, Australia vs India 5th Test, Day 1, Sydney Match Report, January 03 - 07, 2025

Australia 9 for 1 (Bumrah 1-7) trail India185 (Pant 40, Boland 4-31, Starc 3-49, Cummins 2-37) by 176 runs

Before the Sydney Test, there was chaos outside the field in India. Their on-field batting performance was equally chaotic on the opening day in Sydney, with Rohit Sharma dismissing himself in a move almost unprecedented in Indian cricket and Jasprit Bumrah took over as captainAfter Bumrah chose to bat, India struggled against Australia’s consistent bowling and were eventually bowled out for 185 just before the end of play.

The final turning point came when he dismissed Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the day and Australia were 9 for 1 at stumps.

Scott Boland Led the line for Australia, returning staggering figures of 20-8-31-4. His metronomic accuracy and mastery of length, with the new and old ball, made it very difficult for India’s batsmen. He rarely bowled a bad ball and continued to generate strong seam movement on Sydney’s green pitch, which also offered uneven bounce.

Mitchell Starc went too far in search of swing in the first over while Pat Cummins made a mistake in the shorter over with the new ball. However, Boland found the right length in his first over and never looked back from it. He hit a four on his fourth ball when he bowled a ball on a good length and took it towards the seam to have Yashasvi Jaiswal caught by debutant Beau Webster at third slip for 10.

By then, KL Rahul was already out for 4 after he delivered a leg-stump half-volley from Starc straight to square leg to Sam Konstas in the fifth over. Shubman Gill, who replaced Rohit in India’s XI, started well, but his innings was reduced to 20 runs when he advanced to Nathan Lyon and offered a catch in the slip, the last ball before lunch. . Gill has reached 20 thrice in four innings on this tour but has not been able to go beyond 31.

Virat Kohli could have been out on the very first ball, but he was saved because of his teeth. Boland lofted Kohli through the outside edge to second slip, where Steven Smith dived low to his right and appeared to catch the ball close to the ground before somehow scooping it to gully, where Marnus Labuschagne bowled. Completed the catch. After much commotion, TV umpire Joel Wilson deemed the ball to have touched the ground before Smith lofted it to Labuschagne.

Kohli then dropped the next ball and bowled 16 more balls before Boland sucked him in to remove another ball, Webster seizing the opportunity with his bucket hands at third slip. Kohli has been out seven times in this Border-Gavaskar series and all his dismissals have followed a pattern: edged to the keeper or behind the cordon. this was also For the fourth time in six test innings That Boland had given a better performance to Kohli.

Kohli had made great efforts to avoid this pattern – he had abandoned his open stance for more side-on – but it proved inevitable as he was out for 17 off 69 balls.

Rishabh Pant And Ravindra Jadeja anchored the innings with a 48-run partnership for the fifth wicket in 25 overs, before Boland again did the damage to India with a double blow, this time. He first pulled Pant at mid-on and on the next ball he had MCG Test hero Nitish Kumar Reddy caught at second slip at zero. Boland was denied a hat-trick but remained a threat, even hitting the old ball on the seam over and around the stumps.

Pant had played an unusual innings. After being caught at the boundary line in both innings at the MCG – his unsuccessful scoop in the first innings came under particularly severe criticism – He sat back and started relying more on his defensive technique. However, in a rare display of aggression, he took a step towards Webster and launched him into the sidescreen for six. This was only India’s sixth boundary in 46 overs.

The depth and skill in Australia’s attack meant that there was no breathing room for India’s batsmen. Webster, the all-rounder who changed offspin to medium pace During COVID-19, he came up with figures of 13-4-29-0 in a well-maintained innings, and his slip catching was even more memorable.

After this Starc and Cummins took over India’s lower order. Despite struggling with back problems, Starc pushed it to 147 kmph and made India’s batsmen uncomfortable, using the uneven bounce to his advantage. He first pinged Pant’s bicep and hurt him before hitting his helmet. Pant had to endure several blows to his body during his difficult journey.

Ravindra Jadeja’s (26 runs off 95 balls) alertness ended when Starc trapped him LBW. After this, Cummins reduced India to 185 runs.

Bumrah had some fun with the bat and scored 22 runs in 17 balls. When he hit the last ball of the day he had more fun with the ball. He celebrated it loudly by turning and roaring at non-striker Konstas, who was involved in a heated exchange with Khawaja moments before his dismissal. The on-field umpire had to intervene to defuse the tension.

Bumrah and Constas promise more entertainment on day two at the SCG.

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