Aussies rules the roost and level the series by thrashing India at Perth

All the cricket lovers in the world witnessed another scintillating game of Test cricket from the no. 1 test side India and the 5th placed side, Australia, where the Aussies claimed their first victory in this series levelling it 1-1.

Before coming into this match, both the teams were extra alert as the grounds men suggested that the pitch will be a monstrous one which will be drop-in wicket with a good amount of grass cover on it. Obviously, deadly bounce is expected from this wicket. But, panic crept in the Indian squad which provoked, the Indian captain, Virat Kohli to go with 4 fast bowlers and none of the full time spinners. Ravi Ashwin was injured in the first match itself and it was expected that the left arm bowling all-rounder will take his place. But, to eveyone’s surprise, Ashwin was replaced by the right-arm quick Umesh Yadav- a decision criticised by many experts as at the later part of the match Nathan Lyon, the Aussie off-spinner proved to be the most effective bowler on this pitch. 

Winning the toss, opting to bat first, the hosts went off to a flying start. The opening pair put up a 100+ partnership after which Jasprit Bumrah removed Finch. Aussies kept on losing wickets in regular intervals. Shaun Marsh(45) and Travis Head(58)  put up another classic show with the bat as they gathered 84 run partnership for the 5th wicket. Thus, the Aussies managed to score a 326 in their first innings with opener Marcus Harris as their highest scorer with a gutsy 70. Ishant Sharma, who was a bit shaky at the start, being extra conscious of avoiding no-balls, came back with some great spells and eventually became the highest wicket-taker for the visitors with the figures  4/41 and Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and the part-timer Hanuma Vihari scalping 2 wickets each.
In reply, the Indian openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay failed cheaply again with scores of 2 and 0 respectively. The dependable Indian, Cheteswar Pujara also went out for a mere 24. But, Skipper Kohli's 25th Century and Vice-Captain Ajinkya Rahane's 51 with a 36 from Rishabh Pant took India to a respectable total of 283 ending the 1st innings 43 runs behind the hosts. 

The hosts again went off to a wonderful batting start with Usman Khawaja scoring a blistering 72. At the end of Day 3 it seemed that the hosts were set for a 400+ lead. But, again on the begining of Day 4,

 the visitors turned things around with Mohammad Shami's fiery spell ending with a career best 6/56 thus restricting the Aussies to 243 all out and only setting a target of 287 for the visitors with a day and half's play still remaining and the visitors all set to make it 2-0 in the series. But, there was another twist in the tale as the Indians again repeated the same  sad story of Centurion and Birmingham, earlier this year as they again failed to chase down another highly achievable target in the final innings of a test match as every Indian batsmen failed miserably ending their innings at 140 and gifting the test match to the hosts. 

Obviously, questions have been arised regarding the playing eleven selection and especially the miserable performances by the openers, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay. Also, there's a noticeable lack of persistence from the middle order which is the reason behind the constant failures by the Indian Batsmen to achieve relatively small targets in a test match. Performances of Rishab Pant is also to be questioned as a batsman as well as a keeper. The more painful thing for the Indians is a spinner from the opposition, 

Nathan Lyon came out as the man of the match on a pitch which was expected to be a paradise for the fast bowlers. Although India also have some jovial moments in this test match. Virat Kohli played one of his top innings in the second and third day Perth pitch while Md. Shami bowled his best spell of his life till date, in the forth day post lunch session! Both these 'out of the world' performance will give India goose bumps to make a turn around in the next match.


India being the no. 1 test side is expected to come back stronger in the boxing day test at the MCG with star all-rounder Hardik Pandya also set to join the team soon with some marvellous performances on his Ranji Trophy return for Baroda. Also, a change in the opening combination is also expected as Mayank Agarwal is set to join the team as a replacement of the injured Prithvi Shaw. Lets hope for better performances from India in the MCG test where they can validate their numero-uno position in the longer format of the game!

Photo Source: Google

Writer: Avirup Roy

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