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Australia dominate day one against India in front of a record-breaking SCG crowd
Jordan Moll • January 3rd, 2025 8:15 pm
An action-packed day one has left Australia in a dominant position, bowling India out for 185 despite losing Khawaja on the last ball of the day.
New Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah won the toss on a humid and overcast morning at a sold-out SCG and bravely decided to bat first on a very green wicket.
The Indian opening pair was without captain Rohit Sharma, who ‘opted out’ of the test match, sparking the question of whether Sharma had played his last test.
India’s other change came with Akash Deep being injured, making room for Prasidh Krishna to help India’s fast bowling stocks.
The Australian lineup had one change: Mitch Marsh was dropped for debutant Beau Webster, who became the 469th player to wear the Baggy Green.
Mitchell Starc, who came into the test with an injury cloud, struck in his second over when KL Rahul hit a leg glance straight to Sam Konstas at square leg, bringing the score to 1/11.
Then enter Scott Boland, who, in his 4th delivery, caught the edge of the dangerous Jaiswal being caught at 3rd slip by the debutant Beau Webster, leaving India reeling at 2/17, bringing Virat Kohli to the crease.
Then insert the controversy: Kohli’s first ball was edged to second slip where Steve Smith dove to catch it and flicked it up in the air where it was caught at gully by Marnus Labuschagne, and the Aussies went mad in celebration.
But after a lengthy process, third umpire Joel Wilson deemed that although Smith’s fingers were under the ball, the ball did make contact with the ground, and it was given not out.
Shubman Gill and Kohli stabilised India until the last ball before lunch, when the GOAT Nathan Lyon caught the edge of the advancing Gill, which was safely caught by Smith at first slip for 20.
India resumed after lunch at 3/57 with Kohli on 12 and Rishab Pant yet to face a ball.
Pant and Kohli are the only members of the current Indian team to have scored 100 at the SCG, and both needed to go big for India’s chances in this test.
But Kohli was dismissed on 17 in a familiar fashion, edging to Webster at third slip in a brilliant catch off the bowling of, guess who, Scott Boland, bringing the score to 4/72.
Boland should have had his third wicket when Jadeja, on three, nicked it to the second slip, but Smith dropped an easy catch.
Jadeja and Pant battled hard for minimal runs, with Pant sustaining blows to the bicep, stomach, box, and helmet in a bid to overcome the Australian bowling attack.
Jadeja was dropped again, this time by Lyon, with a tough one-handed chance at a wide gully that would have given debutant Webster his first test wicket.
At tea, India stood at 4/107 with Pant on 32 off 80 balls and Jadeja on 11 off 50 balls, both batters hanging tough after some incredibly disciplined bowling from the Australians.
India was building steadily until Pant was dismissed for 40 when he pulled one straight up in the air, which was caught by Pat Cummins at midwicket, bringing Boland his third wicket.
Then the MCG Centurian Nitish Kumar Reddy came out the crease and nicked one first ball to Steve Smith at second slip, and Boland was on a hat trick.
The hat trick ball came within a whisker of Washington Sundar’s edge, much to the letdown of the sold-out SCG crowd that rose to applaud Boland’s efforts that left India reeling at 6/120.
Jadeja fought extremely hard for his 26 but was undone when he was struck on the pad by Starc, given out on the field, and showed on review it was hitting the middle of the middle stump, bringing the total to 7/134.
Washington Sundar was the next to fall in a similar way to the controversial dismissal of Jaiswal in the MCG test.
Sundar was given not out for caught behind, but after being sent upstairs by the Australians, there was a small spike on snicko when the ball passed the gloves, and the decision was overturned, and despite taking 81 seconds to walk off the ground, the visitors were 8/148.
After some resistance from Bumrah, who made 22, Australia bowled India out for 185.
Boland finished with four wickets, Starc with three, Cummins with two, and Lyon with one.
This left Australia an awkward 15-minute passage to survive, but Konstas sent a message of intent by charging Bumrah's first ball and hitting him over midwicket for four.
After some back-and-forth verbal volleys between Bumrah and Konstas, Bumrah found the outside edge of Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the day's play, being caught at 2nd slip before turning around and staring at the 19-year-old.
An exhilarating day of test match cricket that produced plenty of headlines in front of a sold-out SCG, with 47,566 fans, the biggest crowd at the SCG for 49 years.
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