India rout Australia by 295 runs to complete comeback in 1st Test

India routed Australia by 295 runs in the opening Border-Gavaskar test to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series with more than a day to spare at Perth Stadium on Monday.

Set a formidable 534 runs to win, Australia was bowled out for 238 runs soon after tea on the fourth day as India secured its biggest win against the hosts in Australia following the 222-run win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 1977.

Travis Head top scored for the home side with 89 runs off 101 balls with eight fours. Head tried to delay the inevitable defeat first with Steve Smith (17), sharing 62 runs for the fifth wicket to lift Australia from 17-4 soon after it resumed the day from an overnight 12-3.

Then in the company of hard-hitting Mitchell Marsh (47), Head added 82 runs for the sixth wicket before fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah forced the lefthander to edge to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

Bumrah finished with a match-haul of 8-72 (5-30 and 3-42) and increased his wicket tally in Australia to 40 at an average of 18.80 in eight test matches.

Bumrah passed offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin (39 wickets) as the third most successful Indian bowler in Australia behind swing bowler Kapil Dev (51 in 11) and legspinner Anil Kumble (49 in 10).

"I am very proud of the team,” Bumrah said. "After being bowled out for 150 we showed character and didn’t lose belief. Going forward, we can take a lot of confidence from that. I am very happy the way we came back."

Fast bowler Mohamed Siraj took 3-51.

Fast bowler Harshit Rana, in his debut test, bowled Alex Carey for 36 to seal a big win for India.

It was also India's second biggest win in terms of runs against Australia in all tests since the 320-run win at home in Mohali in October 2008.

Australian skipper Pat Cummins conceded that his side was outplayed.

"It is not an ideal way to start the summer. It’s a big series. We were outplayed this week," he said.

"They bowled terrifically well and put a dent into us,” Cummins added of Australian first innings batting capitulation after restricting India to 150.

Cummins urged his side to come back with a strategy to combat Bumrah, who was unplayable at times.
"He’s one of the best in the world. We need to come up with a game plan," he said.

India's comfortable win was set up by two majestic centuries - Yashasvi Jaiswal's 161 and an unbeaten 100 by evergreen Virat Kohli - as the tourists set Australia the highest-ever run chase on a pitch that was getting increasingly difficult to bat on.

Playing only its fourth five-test series since its first tour here in 1947-48, India secured only its 10th win in 53 tests on Australian soil and only its second in Perth in six test matches. India last won in Perth in 2008 at the old WACA ground.

India had gone into the test without skipper Rohit Sharma, who stayed home for the birth of his second child and batsman Shubman Gill who broke a finger during a intra-squad practice match.

But a young and inexperienced team under Bumrah redeemed itself and turned its fortunes around following an embarrassing 3-0 home series loss to New Zealand leading into this test series.

After an eventful start to the test that saw 17 wickets fall on the first day, India took control of the test as it plundered 487-6 declared. This was after it was bowled out for 150 after winning the toss and then dismissed Australia for a paltry 104.

But the test belonged to 22-year-old Jaiswal who provided the backbone of the Indian second innings that will be long remembered for it class and exuberance against the much-vaunted Australian pace attack. It was his third century in 2024 and anchored the innings with a record 201-run opening stand with KL Rahul (77).

Kohli then took over to become the most successful visiting batsman in Australia by scoring his seventh hundred here before India declared. Only Englishman Jack Hobbs (9) has scored more hundreds in Australia in 24 matches. Kohli has played only 14 games.

The start of day four did not go well for the hosts as Siraj forced Khawaja (4) to top edge for Pant to complete a running catch to reduce Australia to 17-4.

But Smith and Head survived some anxious moments against India’s pace quartet and Head counterattacked his way to a 63-ball half century with six fours.

Smith put behind his first-ball nought in the first innings to play a watchful innings, but was eventually undone by a superb Siraj delivery.

The series now moves to Adelaide for a pink ball test from Dec. 6. India has held the Border-Gavaskar trophy since the 2016-17 home series.

Associated Press