India destroy Australia in series-opening test match in Perth

India have made a stunning comeback in Test cricket to hammer Australia by 295 runs and win the opening match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth.
The visitors’ fast-bowling stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah and fellow pacer Mohammed Siraj took three wickets apiece as they romped home to a statement win and left Australia searching for answers on Monday.
India came into the crucial and much-hyped five-match series on the back of a shock home series whitewash at the hands of visiting New Zealand, and played the first match without their regular captain Rohit Sharma.
However, Bumrah led from the front with a superb display of fast bowling and his eight wickets in the match earned him the player of the match award.
“Very happy with the beginning, we were put under pressure in the first innings but the way we responded after that, I’m really proud of the team,” said Bumrah.
“Obviously, this wicket was a little less spicy than the last one that I played here, but we were really well prepared.
“So I was just telling everyone to have faith in their process and ability, because over here at this moment, you have an opportunity to do something special.”
The hosts were bowled out for 238 after tea on day four, with paceman Harshit Rana wrapping up the fourth innings by clean-bowling keeper Alex Carey for 36 to secure India’s 1-0 lead.
The last time Australia won a home series after losing the opening test was 55 years ago against West Indies.
“Fairly disappointing,” said Australia captain Pat Cummins after the match.
“It was just one of those games where not much went right. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance in a few different facets … so there’s a few different areas we’ve got to clean up.”
After electing to bat on a seaming first day, India were all out for 150 before fighting back to dismiss Australia for 104 courtesy of a Bumrah five-fer.
Dual centurions Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal lifted the tourists to 487-6 declared, setting a huge fourth-innings target of 534 for the hosts.
Resuming day four on 12-3, the hosts quickly lost Usman Khawaja (four) after the opener mistimed Siraj (3-51) to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Rana (1-69) bowled with fire, temporarily immobilising Steve Smith with a rib-tickler and getting Travis Head jumping as the pair added 62.
Steve Smith, returning to his favoured number four position after an ill-fated opening experiment, fell caught-behind on 17 to Siraj.
Head crunched boundaries aplenty on his way to his 89 but fell shy of an eighth test ton when he edged to Pant off Bumrah (3-42), who picked up eight wickets for the match.
Mitchell Marsh put up 47 before chopping debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy onto his stumps, and Dhrev Jurel showed off his reflexes at short-leg to catch Mitchell Starc (12) off Washington Sundar (2-48) before tea.
Washington bowled his Australia spin counterpart Nathan Lyon after the break for a duck as India marched towards a welcome victory, which comes after they were humbled 3-0 at home by New Zealand earlier this month.
Tailender Josh Hazlewood remained unbeaten on four.
The win also helped India climb back on top of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) World Test Championship (WTC) table. The top two teams at the end of the current WTC cycle will contest in the final in June 2025.
India have held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2016-17.