Australia’s hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar are grim after suffering one of their heaviest defeats on home soil in their first Test debacle in Perth.
The local batters finally provided some resistance on day four with Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh counter-punching but It India had already landed the knockout blow on the opening three days.
After the 295-run shellacking, Australia’s gun-shy selection panel will be under immense pressure to make changes to the line-up for the second match in Adelaide next Friday with Marnus Labuschagne and openers Nathan McSweeney and Usman Khawaja in the most danger of getting the chop.
With the tourists due to get captain Rohit Sharma back from parental leave and fellow top-order Shubman Gill from injury as well as veteran seamer Mohammed Shami, the outlook looks bleak for Pat Cummins’ team as they attempt to avoid a fifth straight series defeat to India and third in a row on home soil.
Head goes down swinging
Nobody at Perth Stadium thought Australia had any realistic chance of avoiding the draw, let alone a history-making win, when they resumed on Monday at 3-12 in pursuit of the target of 534.
It looked like the “contest” could be over before lunch when Khawaja threw his wicket away on four in the second over of play when he was late on a pull shot to Mohammed Siraj which ballooned straight up in the air.
Steve Smith avoided a king pair but didn’t contribute too much more when he was worked over on 17 by Siraj as he induced an outside edge which was also gleefully collected by Risabh Pant.
At 5-79, Head didn’t overthink his response – playing his carefree natural game to put the pressure back on the Indian bowlers for the first time in Perth.
He found the boundary six times as he brought up his half-century in 63 deliveries and with Marsh getting into the swing of things, they put on an 82-run stand in 14 overs to stem the bleeding.
Head appeared to be on track for a ton when he reached 89 from 100 deliveries but Bumrah struck for the third time in the innings and the eighth occasion in the Test to find the outside edge and Pant’s gloves.
India celebrate Travis Head’s wicket during the first Test. (Photo by Paul Kane – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Marsh chopped on debutant all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy three runs shy of a half-century a few overs later after getting some much-needed time in the middle.
But unlike the Indians who profited from tons to Yaishasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, there was no big score from the Aussies to even go close to extending the Test into the fifth day.
Mitchell Starc exited on the stroke of tea for 12 when Dhruv Jurel snared a sharp chance at short leg off Washington Sundar’s off-spinners.
With Australia at 8-227 it was all over bar the shouting when play resumed for the final session of the day.
Sundar skidded the ball past Nathan Lyon’s blade and onto off stump before he could get off the mark and there was a scary moment late when Josh Hazlewood copped a bouncer from Harshit Rana to the back of his helmet after turning away from the impact.
Rana also struck Alex Carey in the back as the variable bounce made for treacherous batting conditions.
The Aussie keeper put a high price on his wicket even though it was a lost cause before he was bowled by Rana for 36 to put an end to the home team’s misery with the total on 238.
Historically bad hiding
In terms of losses by runs, Australia’s Optus Stadium obliteration was one of the worst on record.
While it was nowhere near the 675-run caning they copped in the Brisbane Ashes Test of 1928-29, there have only been six worse in this category and this was Australia’s heaviest hiding since South Africa dished out a 309-run smash-up in the WA capital 12 years ago.
What makes this result hard to take for the Australian camp is that they dominated the opening two sessions of the match when they rolled India for 150.
To lose from that position of strength is bad enough but to cop such a lopsided flogging should set alarm bells ringing in the green and gold dressing room.
Whether that translates into the selectors making a move remains to be seen. It would be rough to jettison McSweeney for a specialist opener after 10 and a duck on debut but Khawaja and Labuschagne can no longer be considered automatic selections.
Labuschagne struggled to get bat on ball in both innings, trapped in front on both occasions for a collective return of just five runs.
With just one score above 10 in his past 10 innings and an average of 13.66, the selectors have the ammunition to fire him out of the side but they have been habitually reluctant to pull the trigger when it comes to underperforming stars.
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