The second Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) got off to a near-perfect start for Australia. On the opening delivery of the match, Mitchell Starc (6/48), the premier bowler, trapped Yashasvi Jaiswal in front of the ball to start the day. After a 69-run partnership between KL Rahul and Shubman Gill, the innings collapsed due to the former’s departure.
The notable loss of four wickets for 18 runs in seven overs left Team India (IND) reeling at 87/5. India then surpassed 150 thanks to some of Nitish Kumar Reddy’s most daring strokes (42 off 54).
With India’s score at 180 and Mitchell Starc finishing his 6-fer, Reddy was the final man out.
The only player Australia (AUS) lost to the birthday boy, Jasprit Bumrah, was Usman Khawaja. With a partnership that is still undefeated at 62*, Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne gave Australia a big lead in this Test.
Meanwhile, here are the best stats from Day 1 of AUS vs IND Pink ball Test:
9 – Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal was the ninth instance of an Indian batter getting out on the first ball of a Test match. In all, he became the seventh batter, as the great Sunil Gavaskar had suffered this fate thrice in his illustrious career
6 – Mitchell Starc taking the wicket off the first ball was the sixth instance of an Australian bowler doing so. Each of the last three instances have been by Starc while all of the previous three came in the last century.
2 – Starc became the second bowler, after Pedro Collins, to take a wicket off the first ball of a Test match on three different instances. The fiery Aussie pacer had delivered the same fate to Rory Burns in 2021 and Dimuth Karunaratne in 2016.
2 – With his 15th fifer in Test cricket, Mitchell Starc moved to second place on the list of most fifers in Test cricket among left-arm pacers. Wasim Akram stands first with 25, while Starc broke the tie he had with his compatriot Alan Davidson.
4 – Jasprit Bumrah became the fourth Indian batter to get out on a duck on his birthday in Tests. Syed Kirmani, Venkatapathy Raju and Ishant Sharma are the others.
1 – Mitchell Starc registered his career-best bowling figures of 6 for 48 in Tests. Incidentally, the best bowling figures in ODIs (6/43) also came against India.
4 – Starc registered his fourth five-wicket haul in pink-ball Tests, no other bowler has even three.
India
