Former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid expressed his happiness at India’s terrific victory over Australia in Perth. Coming off a 3-0 whitewash loss against New Zealand, India stunned the Australian team with a 295-run victory.
Jasprit Bumrah was the stand-in captain for the Indian team in the absence of Rohit Sharma. With his attacking leadership, the side went all in to put Australia under pressure and win the game. However, the win did not come easy, as they made a major turnaround after getting bundled out for 150 in the first innings.
Serving as a strong support to Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana secured consistent breakthroughs to bowl out Australia for 104. Then, the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal (161), Virat Kohli (100*) and KL Rahul (77) played impactful knocks to set up a 534-run target for the hosts.
Already under pressure, Australia were reduced to 17/4. Although, Travis Head (89) did the heavy-lifting along with Mitchell Marsh (47), the spirited Indian team managed to win the game by 295 runs.
After the IPL 2025 auction, Dravid lauded the Indian team for their strong comeback after losing the New Zealand series. He also termed Bumrah’s performance as “phenomenal” as the stand-in captain claimed eight wickets in the game.
“It was a great performance. To come back the way they’ve done after losing the series against New Zealand, (there is) always pressure in the first game but I think the way they responded… Jasprit Bumrah was absolutely phenomenal that evening. When you talk about a spell that can crack open a series, crack open a Test match… it was incredible,” Dravid told JioCinema.
Sunil Gavaskar wants Rohit Sharma to open in 2nd Test for India
In an interaction with Sports Tak, Sunil Gavaskar opined that Rohit Sharma should open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second test in Adelaide. In the Perth test, KL Rahul and Jaiswal stitched a 201-run stand to extend India’s dominance in the second test.
As per Gavaskar, the square boundaries of Adelaide will favor Rohit’s playing style, which is predominantly based on pulling the ball to accumulate boundaries.
“I want Rohit to come back because the square boundaries of Adelaide are very small. And Rohit has a habit of pulling. Pulling is a very productive shot for him. So he can make a lot of runs by pulling shots. No. 6 is KL Rahul. No. 3 is Shubman Gill. Dhruv Jurel didn’t make runs in this (Perth) match. So, instead of him, KL Rahul will come to No. 6. I think these two changes will happen. Will there be any other change? Maybe he will change after seeing the pitch or not,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
