Left Arm Around

Jasprit Bumrah snaffled five before Yashasvi Jaiswal hit a measured 90 not out to leave the visitors 218 runs ahead of Australia on day two of the first Test match in Perth.

Stand-in captain Bumrah ended with incredible figures of 5/30 from 18 economical overs to dismiss the hosts for only 104, a deficit of 46 runs on first innings.

This was his 11th five-wicket haul in Tests and second in Australia, taking his tally in the country to an incredible 37 wickets from eight games.

The 30-year-old immediately picked up from where he left off on day one to remove Alex Carey caught behind for 21, just before his opposition captain Pat Cummins was consigned to the same fate when a delivery slightly angled away and caught the edge.

Seamer Harshit Rana then marked his impressive start to international cricket by claiming the final two wickets of his KKR teammate Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood to leave the Aussies shellshocked.

He finished with figures of 3/48, including the prized scalp of Travis Head for 11.

Brimming with confidence after an outstanding bowling effort, openers Jaiswal and KL Rahul made up for failures in the first dig with stunning displays of patience and control on a surface that seems to have lost some zip.

Rahul remains unbeaten on 62, including just four boundaries, but Jaiswal was undoubtedly the star with a fine effort of 90 not-out as he approaches his first century on Australian soil.

He reached his half-century in 123 balls, the slowest in his short-lived Test career so far.

However, the accomplishment of his milestone seemed to flick a switch in the 23-year-olds mind when he began to inflicts moments of flair and bordering arrogance into his strokeplay at the Optus Stadium.

The highlight of the afternoon was an incredible 100m six over-long on off Nathan Lyon as he met the ball with the full force of his bat and watched it sail deep into the crowd- much to the jubilation of a raucous Indian support.

Australia encouragingly found the edge of Rahul four times despite the ball falling short of the cordon, but the only genuine chance came when Jaiswal nicked Starc and Usman Khawaja was adjudged to have grassed the ball when attempting to take the catch.

All four previous Tests at the Optus Stadium have been won by Australia, though on each occasion they batted first.

They will require wickets in bunches early on day three to stand any chance of maintaining that magnificent record.

If anybody can do that, it’s Pat Cummins and co. Stranger things have happened but India will be more than happy…