Indian bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah in particular, produced spectacular performance in the field to bowl Australia out for 151 runs in their first innings in the third Test in Melbourne on Friday.
Australian batsmen had no clue on how to counter Bumrah as he finished his career-best spell of 6/33. In the process, the Indian pacer also became the first bowler from the subcontinent to take five or more wickets in an innings in South Africa, England and Australia in the same year.
India had declared their innings at 443/7 before asking the hosts to bat. The Aussies kept losing wickets at a regular interval before being bundled for 151 runs. This gave India a first innings lead of 292 runs. At the end of the third day’s play, India were reduced to 54/5. India now have the overall lead of 346 runs. Debutant Mayank Agarwal, who scored a magnificent 76 runs in the first innings, is batting at 28.
For Australia, Pat Cummins was the pick of the bolwer on the day three as he scalped 4 wickets for 10 runs. His four wickets came in the space of 19 balls as he sent Virat Kohli (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (0) back to the dressing room in two consecutive balls.
Speaking about his achievement, Bumrah said, “It’s been a good start. I always wanted to play Test cricket. But, I am still learning. I hope I keep evolving and keep learning.” He said that his dream was always to take wickets for India and he was living his dream.
Bumrah’s 6-wicket haul in Melbourne was the second-best figures for an Indian bowler in Australia after Kapil Dev’s 8-106 at Adelaide in 1985. But, according to news agency PTI, he has now surpassed B Chandresekhar’s twin hauls of 6-52 in each innings at this ground in 1977.
The four-Test series between India and Australia is currently tied 1-1.