Key events
33rd over: India 73-6 (Pant 18, Reddy 0) Australia down another review for a caught behind appeal by Cummins, this one more understandable as it flicked Pant’s pocket on the way to the keeper. Very vocal from the Australians now, as Pant works a single. He’s not sure how to approach this innings now, knows that it’s all on him to make a big score, so for once he’s reticent to play many shots. Reddy gets back on strike, three lips and a gully, same field as everyone else, and he rides the bounce of a ball just square of short leg.
32nd over: India 73-6 (Pant 17, Reddy 0) Nitish Kumar Reddy… well, I hope he’s ready. On debut. Decent record as a bit of both with batting and bowling, has a first-class ton in his 23 matches to date.
WICKET! Sundar c Carey b Marsh 4, India 73-6
Ok, now they’re in trouble. Marsh again! The Australians mob him, their fave. Great bounce from a length, it jumps at Washington Sundar, who’s trying to play carefully with the bat close to body, trying to keep the ball down, but it takes a touch on its way through to Carey. A very understated finger-raise fromt he umpire isn’t seen by Sundar, who hangs around for a bit and gets given out again. His head snapped around like the Exorcist girl after he nicked that ball, so it was pretty obvious.
31st over: India 71-5 (Pant 17, Sundar 4) Cummins to Pant… shaping to dink the ball behind him? In the end knocks it away to fine leg for a single. Washington Sundar drives three, the ball slowing up towards the rope.
30th over: India 67-5 (Pant 16, Sundar 1) The Marsh spell is now three overs for two runs, with a Pant single. Plus the wicket. He never looks comfortable bowling, a bit ginger in the follow-through, and so heavy-footed when running in, but he’s landing the ball well.
Here’s Brian Withington. “Greetings from a near freezing Dorridge in England where I’m guessing the temperature is about 30c shy of Perth. Shabbily I missed the morning session where it appears Australia’s bowlers have enjoyed a fine start to the series on a proper Test wicket. Looking forward to a great series, and perhaps seeing Nathan McSweeney bat at some point later on today?”
Safe to say that India have some work to do, for this to be a great series. Although first-Test pastings don’t rule that out. Viz: 2020-21, 2005 etc.
29th over: India 66-5 (Pant 15, Sundar 1) Sundar off the mark with a nudge. Enough of being on 10, says Pant, who hasn’t scored in a long while. So he charges Cummins and tries to slot him down the ground cross-batted while on one foot. Degree of difficulty: Simone Biles. The ball does end up going for 4, but over the top of the slips rather than over mid off where it was aimed.
He defends the next ball conventionally, then takes a single. “India flying by the seat of their Pants?” asks Rowan.
28th over: India 60-5 (Pant 10, Sundar 0) Washington Sundar and Rishabh Pant saved the day in Brisbane 2021. How about Perth 2024? A leg bye to start Sundar’s day.
WICKET! Jurel c Labuschagne b Marsh 11, India 60-5
The bowling change proves a Marshterstroke. Width to Jurel to start the over, who cuts Marsh, and dropped at point by Lyon. Oh, but it’s a no ball. Lyon has put it down and hurt his finger in the process. He’s staying on the field though. And the drop is redeemed in no time, as Marsh bowls a fine length and it draws the hard-handed defensive push, nicked to slip. He did something similar against Babar Azam here last year.
27th over: India 58-4 (Pant 10, Jurel 11) This is good from Jurel. Plays a little late dab at Cummins for four, finding the gap, then gets forward and drives for three, also quite square.
Stephen Lewis writes in to say that the Rahul wicket “is not at all contentious. Bat hitting the pad does not make a spike like that and the bat clearly hits the pads after the spike.”
What isn’t clearly shown, though, is ball hitting bat. There’s no frame of that. That’s like an umpire being unsighted. Not sure you can credibly give dismissals on sound graphs alone. And bat spikes are usually sharper. That was a flatter bump of sound. Enough doubt for me, Your Honour.
26th over: India 51-4 (Pant 10, Jurel 4) To take the ball after lunch is… Mitch Marsh? That’s an unexpected one. It surprises Pant enough that he plays out a maiden against medium pace.
Hello, hello. We’re back after the refreshments.
Lunch, Day 1 – India 51 for 4 after choosing to bat
Good bowling morning. Pace, bounce, carry, movement, swing. India raise their 50 in that final over, but at heavy cost. Four wickets down, their keeper and their six batting, with a few all-rounders to come. Jasprit Bumrah should maybe have taken the ball himself and put Australia’s new opener under pressure.
Either way, that’s the break. We’ll be back after a sandwich.
25th over: India 51-4 (Pant 10, Jurel 4) Almost holds on to a screamer! Nathan McSweeney in the gully flies to his left but can’t quite mitt it, as Jurel squeezes out a full Starc ball off an open face. It reaches the boundary. Cameron Green would have caught that with both feet planted, but it was out of the smaller guy’s reach.
24th over: India 47-4 (Pant 10, Jurel 0) Press box chat reckons that KL clipped his pad, and that was the movement on the sound graph. Lyon bowls a maiden to Pant.
“Fully agree that we can’t write off India here. They’ve had one young guy (Jaiswal), one debutant (Paddikal) and an-out-of-form Virat, who unsurprising failed to rediscover his form on a difficult wicket. Plenty of time and enough batting for visitors to consolidate and start putting on runs,” wrote Boris Feigin before the fourth wicket. Throw in some bad luck there.
That is the thing with this Indian side, though: experience. Padikkal did play one Test before this one, but that’s it. To come they’ve got Jurel and Sundar, who’ve played a couple of Tests, and Rana and Reddy on debut. It’s a big ask to expect so many new players to take down Australia in Perth. A lot riding on Pant here.
23rd over: India 47-4 (Pant 10, Jurel 0) Dhruv Jurel faces his first four balls in Test cricket. Keeps Starc out.
WICKET! KL Rahul c Carey b Starc 26, India 47-4
This one will be contentious. Another review for Starc, though this time it’s not at the bowler’s urging, the whole slip cordon thinks that KL Rahul has edged this ball. Slight angle across the right-hander, kicking off a length, and there’s a nick on the sound graph as the ball passes close to the shoulder of the bat.
Now, I don’t know if this was a mistake from the camera operators, but there is no clear from of the ball making contact. The point of contact is slightly out of frame on the usual close-up, the one that marries with the sound graph. So you can see the spike, but not what made the spike.
Then they have to switch to other angles to show the ball passing close to the bat, but honestly on the main close-up it looks like it might be missing the bat.
KL certainly thinks so, he is furious as the decision is reversed and he’s given out. He speaks with both umpires as he walks by them. He may have a case. The spike could have come from another source, coinciding.
22nd over: India 47-3 (Rahul 26, Pant 10) Here is Lyon, on cue. Pant wants a piece first ball, driving hard but stopped by the bowler. No rush problem third ball, swept very fine for four! Cheeky shot, very Rishabh. Who then shows his range with some sensible defending.
“This Test could all be over in one day, do you think? Amazing bowling. And India caught in the headlights, shocked and powerless to react.” Three down is a long way from all out, Andrew Benton.
21st over: India 43-3 (Rahul 26, Pant 6) No Lyon to the left-hander yet. Starc comes back. I know nobody is great at reviews, but he’s particularly not great. Clearly going down the leg side, the left-handed Pant falling across his crease, but Starc wants the referral and burns it. Pant follows up with a half-timed drive, forcing through cover for three runs toward the long square boundary where the goalposts are set up in footy season.
20th over: India 40-3 (Rahul 26, Pant 3) Back to leaving, as KL sees off a maiden from Cummins.
“I know you shouldn’t judge a wicket till both sides have collapsed on it, but this is shaping like a decent toss to have lost.” A fine start from Australia, Rowan Sweeney, but a lot of teams recover well from three or four down.
19th over: India 40-3 (Rahul 26, Pant 3) Time for some Rishabh Pant magic? Off the mark by taking one hand off the bat as he drives square for three. Why not. Cummins then gets an edge from Rahul, near the shoulder of the bat, but played so softly that it loops down in front of Smith at second slip. Phew. Glances a run to fine leg.
18th over: India 36-3 (Rahul 25, Pant 0) KL Rahul has had enough of all the traffic going one way, and throws hands at a Cummins delivery. Streaky four in the air that eludes gully. Takes India to their 2020 Adelaide score of 36.
17th over: India 32-3 (Rahul 21, Pant 0) Josh Hazlewood 2 for 6 from 7 overs. That is all.
WICKET! Kohli c Khawaja b Hazlewood 5, India 32-3
And just like that, a momentary good time for India becomes bad again, as the big fish is hauled into the dinghy. Hazlewood vicious this time. Horrible bounce, only up around armpit height but from a difficult length. Kohli flails at it, just trying to play the ball down I think, but there didn’t look to be any clarity in the shot. More flinch than shot, and the angled bat lifts an edge through to first slip.
16th over: India 32-2 (Rahul 21, Kohli 5) India still don’t have a deliberate boundary in this Test match. KL Rahul tries to find it, and Cummins gives him the chance with some full balls. The first, through cover, is reeled back in. Kohli tries one down the ground, but it stops short of the rope. Three runs from each. Then finally, last ball of the over, KL gets it! Really laying into a cover drive with an angled bat, and gets enough juice in the shot to hit four.
15th over: India 21-2 (Rahul 14, Kohli 1) Happy Somebody Other Than KL Rahul Has Scored a Run Day! Kohli has been moving around a lot at the crease, and here he’s able to get across in order to glance a Hazlewood ball for a single. KL sees out the rest of the over.
14th over: India 20-2 (Rahul 14, Kohli 0) Another horrible ball to face from Cummins, as it leaps from a length past Rahul’s bat. The next ball is straighter and he’s able to tuck it away for two, before Cummins appeals for a pad-first v bat-first call, but it’s bat first, just.
13th over: India 18-2 (Rahul 12, Kohli 0) First over for Kohli, and he gets through Hazlewood. Nice wrists on one flick to midwicket, though it doesn’t beat the field. Almost coughs up a leading edge from another such shot. And Hazlewood beats him to end the over, moving away from the bat.
13 overs in the first hour, which would equate to 78 of 90 in the allotted time. No reviews, no delays.
12th over: India 18-2 (Rahul 12, Kohli 0) This Australian bowling attack… Starc starts brilliantly, Hazlewood returns to make an impact, now Cummins is all over KL Rahul. Another peach from that close line that decks away and nearly gets the edge, then a short ball that has KL trying to sway away but it follows him and only bounces around ribcage height. In the end it glances off the edge of his bat while held in the backlift, so more of a top edge than an outside one, and ramps over the cordon for an accidental four runs. First boundary of the day for India, by mistake, after nearly an hour of play.
11th over: India 14-2 (Rahul 8) The wicket falls from the last ball of the over, so there’s plenty of time for India’s supporters to cheer Virat Kohli to the middle.
WICKET! Padikkal c Carey b Hazlewood 0, India 14-2
Oh, works him over. Hazlewood returns for Starc, change of ends, and Padikkal hasn’t faced him yet. Hazlewood is so close to that off stump line to start, then bowls a couple quite full at the stumps. The wicket ball is also full but angled across, and a minor wobble of the seam decks it away from the drive. It looks full enough for that shot but the movement is enough to bring about the nick. Brilliant bowling. Padikkal faced 23 balls and batted a good while but didn’t score.
10th over: India 14-1 (Rahul 8, Padikkal 0) Cummins just keeps on working at KL Rahul outside the off stump. Some a little wider, some moving closer. KL is picking the lines well, leaving where he can, withdrawing the bat at times, playing when he must. No run.
9th over: India 14-1 (Rahul 8, Padikkal 0) Starc still rolling, beats the edge once more as the cordon hop and hover. Padikkal tries an IPL shot when he sees the line stray down leg, looking to pick it up over deep square for six. Instead he misses. Then Starc misses, wide outside the off stump, almost off the pitch as it passes the batter. Three slips still: Khawaja, Smith, Labuschagne, with the new guy in the gully, Lyon at point, Head at short leg, Cummins mid off, Mitchell Marsh at mid on, Hazlewood grazing.
8th over: India 13-1 (Rahul 8, Padikkal 0) Bowling change, just the three overs for Hazlewood as Cummins comes on, and nearly snares KL immediately! Close to the stumps, that Cummins line that just moves away enough. So close to the edge. Rahul follows up with soft hands past gully for a couple of runs.
7th over: India 11-1 (Rahul 6, Padikkal 0) Survival and not much else for the left-handed Padikkal, who is twice beaten by outswing in this over. Serious spell from Mitchell Starc.
Arun writes in. “Just checked the Guardian OBO scorecard and had a mini-scare when I saw the score as 0-5 before realizing it was Australian style scoring (runs before wickets). Panic replaced calm again as Rahul’s just got out.”
You’re right, we may have to reverse that given we’re a global publication.
“Any reason offered by the Indian camp why Akash Deep isn’t playing?”
Ha! Is there ever an explanation offered by India’s camp for anything? Pretty sure they only confirmed why Rohit wasn’t here a couple of days ago. I had a feeling Harshit Rana would play, because picking a 22-year-old quick is very much the energy of a touring Indian side. Try the untried. It could be fun. Absolutely baffled by Washington Sundar over Ashwin and Jadeja though.
6th over: India 11-1 (Rahul 6, Padikkal 0) This is good from KL Rahul. Two runs off the inside half. Leaves the wider stuff, defends the tighter line, ducks the bouncer. Not giving Hazlewood a way in.
5th over: India 9-1 (Rahul 4, Padikkal 0) KL Rahul handles Starc more comfortably than his two partners have so far, though the ball is still swinging for the left-arm quick. One run from the final ball, another cover push.
4th over: India 8-1 (Rahul 3, Padikkal 0) Runs off the bat! Huge cheers, last ball of Hazlewood’s second over, as KL props forward and plays a controlled check drive through the covers for three.
3rd over: India 5-1 (Rahul 0, Padikkal 0) Facing the fire early is Devdutt Padikkal at No3, and he gets an absolute unplayable first up. Swinging in, seaming away, narrowly missing stump and edge. Starc is on one. Adds in a huge lbw appeal for a ball angling down leg, then a full swinging yorker that nearly lands on the batter’s toes except Padikkal gets the toe of the bat in the way instead. Whoosh. What an over.
WICKET! Jaiswal c McSweeney b Starc 0, India 5-1
Early wicket! Starc pitched it up, gets his line right, and the scrambled seam maybe shifts the ball away slightly. Jaiswal aims a big drive at the wrong length to play that shot, and edges low into the gully. McSweeney into the game right away, great signs for him.
2nd over: India 5-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) A maiden for Hazlewood first up, of course, Rahul playing and missing at one ball outside off.
1st over: India 5-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) We’re away in true Mitchell Starc fashion! Tries to produce the Rory Burns ball to the left-handed Jaiswal, but it doesn’t swing back in, instead seaming away on the angle to beat Carey behind the stumps for four byes. Next ball, across the lefty, nick into the cordon on the bounce. There must have been a chorus of “They usually carry at Perth!” from every comm box in the stadium. Throw an overstep in there, and it’s five extras from the over.
And we’re about to get underway! Here come Jaiswal and KL for India, with the running stripes down the legs of their trousers in true Adidas style. Let’s go.
The national anthems are run and won. Big cheers all around. Lots of people out on the ground standing in some kind of dot pattern formation. Do they spell something? Do they join up with red strings to paint a picture? Get a drone onto it.
Geoff Lemon
Thanks Marty, and good morning from Perth, as it is here. Lovely day, stripes of high white cloud, no precipitation in them, and strands of blue in between that mean we’re getting periods of sunshine. And it’s mild! Temperate! Not the anvil-busting Perth temperatures of legend. At least not until later in the week. Australia won’t mind bowling in the cool conditions.
The countdown is well and truly on to the first ball in this blockbuster five-Test series. Thanks for following along to this point – Geoff Lemon will now steer you through the rest of the build up and across the first half of the day’s play.
India XI
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah (capt), Mohammed Siraj.
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana make their Test debuts but off-spinner Sundar is very much the surprise selection in place of Australia’s old nemeses Ashwin and Jadeja.
Australia XI
Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (capt), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
No surprises for Australia as Nathan McSweeney makes his debut among what Pat Cummins casually calls “all the regulars”.
India win the toss
Jasprit Bumrah calls correctly and India will bat first at Optus Stadium.
“Looks like a good wicket,” the India skipper says. “We played a Test here [in Perth] in 2018 so we know what to expect. The wicket gets quicker after the first session.”
Pat Cummins says it was “pretty 50-50” which way he would’ve gone if Australia won the toss.
The simmering rivalry between the two leading Test sides across the past two WTC cycles, and for the best part of a decade, has elevated the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to become one of the most highly-anticipated and hard-fought series in international cricket.
But have Australia and India clashes replaced the Ashes as the premier red-ball battle? Jack Snape and Josh Nicholas dig into the data.
India has become not only as much as a draw for crowds as the “old enemy” in England, the broadcast windfall of Australia-India clashes will underpin CA’s financial recovery.
Jasprit Bumrah is set to lead a new-look India lineup in just his second Test as captain, while also carrying the load as the dangerman in their bowling attack on a juicy deck in Perth.
Yours truly takes a closer look at Bumrah and the other Indians that will play a major hand in this blockbuster five-Test series.
Nathan McSweeney is presented with his baggy green by former Australia batter and coach Darren Lehmann. The 25-year-old earns Australia Test cap #467.
Nathan McSweeney was the winner of the Great Australian Bat Off as the reigning World Test champions search for an opener to replace David Warner (and Steve Smith), especially with Cameron Green sidelined for the summer with a back injury.
India have many more selection concerns with captain Rohit Sharma yet to arrive in Australia for personal reasons, Mohammed Shami still recovering from injury and Shubman Gill under a cloud after taking a blow to the thumb.
But India were in an ever greater predicament three years ago, as Geoff Lemon reminds us:
India became the subcontinent team that figured out how to win in Australia, taking down the first-choice home bowling attack both times in the process. Then last year, when hosting was reversed, Australia got swatted in Nagpur and Delhi to let India keep a grip on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the first day of the first Test between Australia and India. The first five-Test series between the pair of powerhouses since 1991-92 has all the hallmarks of being a rip snorter with established stars and emerging talents on both sides set to lock horns as the tourists seek to maintain their firm grip on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
While India have won the past four series – twice in Australia and as many times on home soil – they arrive this time under even more pressure than usual after a shock series defeat to New Zealand and with several players from their first-choice XI missing this opening Test in Perth. Australia’s lineup is more familiar but a debutant at the top of the order in Nathan McSweeney is sure to get the heart racing on the bouncy deck at Optus Stadium.
First ball will be at 10:20am local time / 1:20pm AEDT. I’ll be seeing us through to the toss, when Geoff Lemon will take the reins. The forecast in Perth is a bit cooler than usual for this time of year with a maximum of 23 while there is a bit of cloud and light wind around, making the toss a curious call for Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah.
Get in touch with any comments, questions, thoughts and predictions – you can shoot me an email or find me @martinpegan on Bluesky or X. Let’s get into it!