India crawl to 51 for 4 after losing top-order

Perth: Indian top-order failed to counter seam and extra bounce after their captain Jasprit Bumrah’s inexplicable decision to bat first as the visitors crawled to 51 for 4 at lunch on the first day of the opening Test against Australia here on Friday.

Save KL Rahul (26 off 74 balls), who displayed good technique and admirable temperament till he was at the crease, youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) and Devdutt Padikkal (0) were left searching for answers along with Virat Kohli (5), whose indifferent run of form continued.

Rahul’s contentious dismissal just before lunch put India in complete disarray.

At the break, Rishabh Pant was batting on 10 with Dhruv Jurel (4 batting) for company.

Exactly a year back in South Africa, Jaiswal looked all at sea on the bouncy tracks of Centurion and Cape Town. On Friday, Mitchell Starc started with a few back of the length deliveries before he pitched one further up. The ball seamed away and also met Jaiswal’s willow at a height that would have been at least a foot above had it been played in the Indian sub-continent.

The result was a flash drive and the ball was snapped at gully by Marnus Labuschagne.

Devdutt Padikkal, coming in place of injured Shubman Gill, never looked intent on coming on the front-foot and even left some over-pitched deliveries which he could have scored.

The result was the 23rd delivery, a fuller one from Josh Hazlewood which Padikkal played with hard hands to offer a regulation catch to Alex Carey.

Virat Kohli (5) perhaps got the best delivery of the morning session when Hazlewood dug one short and the star Indian batter couldn’t remove his bat from the line of the ball. The edge resulted to a regulation slip catch.

The Australian pace troika of Starc (2/10), Hazlewood (2/10) and Pat Cummins (0/23) were disciplined during the first hour, keeping the batters quiet.

Rahul followed the basics during this course — playing the one coming into his body while leaving all other deliveries from length. He did play a couple of push drives and the first boundary was a streaky one when he tried to sway from the line of a short delivery and the edge flew over slips.

But there were a couple of punchy cover drives with a few that went past his bat.

However, Rahul got out with less than 10 minutes left for lunch. Starc, back for his second spell, got one to move a shade and the snicko showed deflection although the batter perhaps suggested that his bat hit the pad at the same time when the ball went past the edge.