During the first test match that started on 17th December, India was all out for just 36 runs in the second innings of batting. During the first innings, as India won the toss and chose to bat, both the openers failed to create a decent start. Prithvi Shaw gave his wicket in the very first over and fell prey to Starc’s incredible pace. He was soon followed by Mayank Agarwal who scored 17 runs and then lost his wicket to Pat Cummins. Cheteshwar Pujara and Captain Virat Kohli handled the responsibility of batting and created a decent partnership. India scored 244 runs in their first innings.
Australian batsmen did not perform well given that they had to face Shami and Bumrah who are both very lethal. Australia scored 191 runs in their first innings which gave India a lead of 53 runs going into the second innings. This where the Australian bowling tactics worked perfectly for them.
Getting Prithvi Shaw out once again early was easy for Cummins as his weakness was not a secret any longer. Shaw tends to leave a bat-pad gap when he tries to defend a ball. As the day was about to get over, India sent in Jasprit Bumrah as their Nightwatchman. Continuing with same batting pair the next day, Bumrah could not withstand the strong bowling attack from Australia and soon India’s new wall, Cheteshwar Pujara had to come in. Soon before India knew what had hit them, the entire batting line-up was back in the dressing room. With Shami as the last wicket, Australian bowlers did everything they could to get him and Umesh Yadav out. Shami got hit by a beamer and was sent back as retired hurt. This was one of the best performances by the Australian bowling attack. With Mitchell Starc’s perfect yorkers and bouncers; and Pat Cummins’s perfect line and length bowling, Australia is one of the strongest bowling line-up currently.