Jasprit Bumrah created a massive impact for India in the first Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The stand-in India captain returned with figures of 5/30 in the first innings before taking 3/42 in the second essay to bowl India to victory.
After making just 150 in the first innings, India made a stellar comeback by bowling Australia out for a mere 104. It was on the back of Bumrah who ran through the Australian top-order (openers and Steve Smith) before he picked up key wickets of Alex Carey and Pat Cummins. In the second innings, he dismissed Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head.
His counterpart Pat Cummins was all praise for him. In fact, the Australian Test captain even termed Bumrah as the ‘best in the world’.
“I thought he bowled really well. He’s one of the best in the world. He’s always going to be a challenge, so we got to come up with ways to combat that. I thought particularly that Day 1, his spell, the spell from the Indian guys, made it tricky for our team to navigate through. He bowled well through the game, like he does most games,” Pat Cummins was quoted saying in the press conference after the first Test in Perth.
After the 295-run drubbing, there have been quite a few questions on the current Australian Test side. The only new-comer in the side was debutant McSweeney who got scores of 10 & 0. The rest of the team have consistently played together for a while now and have done well across conditions.
Cummins hints at continuing with the same squad
Hence, Cummins believes that this is still their best team and revealed that there may not be too many changes for the second Test. However, he acknowledged that there is some work to be done during the break between the two Tests.
“I think after a Test you look at what you think your best match-up is. This is a sample size of one. Four or five days ago we thought this was our best XI. So. I dare say, there won’t be many changes going into Adelaide, but I’m not a selector. I’m sure they’ll get together after the game. We (have) got a bit of work to do over the next 10 days,” the Australia Test captain explained.
The second Test is a day-night encounter which will be played at the Adelaide Oval. It starts on the 6th of December. Australia will be desperate to bounce back. They have never lost a day-night Test in Adelaide and will want to use that to their advantage. In addition to that, they’ve not beaten India in a Test series in 10 years and hence, the Pat Cummins-led side will be under pressure to level the series.
