Things get dire enough that Marnus Labuschagne gets a bowl before tea, as Australia misses its only chances while India’s openers remove any concerns over the Perth pitch.
Check out the quick hits from day two of the first Test in Perth.
1. Starc’s warning to rookie Rana
Harshit Rana (left) bowled a few short balls to 2024 IPL teammate Mitchell Starc (centre). (AP: Trevor Collens)
Mitchell Starc is no stranger to bowling bouncers to tail-enders, and he got some of his own medicine from Harshit Rana.
Early in his surprisingly lengthy knock, debutant Rana fired in more than a few short balls that left Starc ducking and fending.
After Rana, who repeatedly stared down and shared some words with batters in his follow-through, caught Starc on the bottom glove, the big Aussie issued him a warning.
“I bowl faster than you, Harshit. I’ve got a long memory,” he said to a laughing Rana, who will team up with Starc for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the upcoming Indian Premier League season.
Rana seemed unperturbed, continuing to pepper Starc, hitting him in the shoulder and helmet, although the young Indian showed due concern for his foe after the latter incident.
2. Starc’s century (of balls faced)
Mitchell Starc offered some resistance at the bottom of the Australian order. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Starc was, perhaps surprisingly, Australia’s top scoring batter during their disappointing innings.
Reaching 26 runs might not be much to crow about, but in hanging about for 112 balls, Starc achieved something he’d only managed three times before in his career — facing a century of deliveries.
It was the first time Starc had batted for longer than 100 balls in a Test match since the second innings of the Edgbaston Test of 2015.
On that day he scored a half century and, although he was well short of that on Saturday, his 25-run, 18-over partnership with Josh Hazlewood, displayed all the hallmarks of an established Test batter, farming the strike and reducing Hazlewood’s exposure to the Indian quicks.
It bought Australia to within 43 runs of India’s paltry first innings total as well which, in a low scoring match, could prove crucial.
3. Making it look easy
On his first trip to Australia, Yashasvi Jaiswal looked immediately composed. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)
After 17 wickets fell on day one, day two all of a sudden looked like it was being played on a different surface.
Alex Carey and Nathan Lyon fell cheaply early, but then number nine Starc and number 11 Hazlewood settled into a partnership that lasted more than an hour.
So, if they were managing in the face of Jasprit Bumrah, it should have come as no surprise that experienced batters would settle in.
And India openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal did just that, working singles with ease from the get-go, building the first 50-run partnership of the Test summer. Then, after making it through the first hour, they started really attacking.
Jaiswal in particular showed what he’s proven he can do in his first 15 Tests, unleashing an array of shots from the conventionally perfect to seemingly impossible, including a slog sweep for six off Mitchell Starc.
Having started the second innings with a 46-run lead, the tourists looked to be building a platform that could take the game away from Australia.
4. Marnus’ ‘clap-trap bouncers’
Marnus Labuschagne was given a bowl before tea. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
No matter how many times it happens, it remains an odd thing to see Marnus Labuschagne getting himself geared up to have a bowl in a Test match.
A man who started as a batter with a urgent desire to bowl passable leg spin, how has a new purpose with the ball — bouncing.
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Labuschagne, who has 84 first class wickets — including three this Shield season — bowled at a decent lick, hitting 135kph at one stage with his egregiously short-pitched deliveries to Rahul and Jaiswal.
Not everyone agreed it was worth a shot though.
“I thought it was an admission of defeat,” ABC Sport’s Jim Maxwell said.
“To get Marnus on before tea, bowling medium-pace, clap-trap bouncers at good batsmen.”
He only got one over in the end. But with Australia struggling for ideas, he even got another go in the final over of the day.
5. Two missed chances in two overs
KL Rahul could have been run out for 42 with a better throw from Steve Smith. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
With the openers cruising, completing India’s first 100-plus partnership against Australia since 2013, the Aussies desperately needed a break.
Unfortunately, the breaks went India’s way, with two chances in as many overs going the way of the tourists.
First, Jaiswal on 51 got an edge after playing a full-blooded drive off Mitch Starc, with the ball dropping tantalisingly close to Usman Khawaja a first slip.
Did the ball carry? It was desperately close, with Khawaja not quite down as low as he might have been to get his fingers under a rapidly dipping ball.
Then, in Nathan Lyon’s next over a mix-up saw Rahul set off for a single form the non-strikers end after Jaiswal defended a delivery to backward square leg.
Steve Smith tore after the ball from slip, turned and hurled the ball back towards Nathan Lyon, but got nowhere near the stumps — and gave Lyon no chance to whip the bails off, giving Rahul a life on 42.
In a match that India looked like they were running away with, one of those needed to go Australia’s way.
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