PERTH, Nov 25: India achieved a dominant 295-run victory over Australia in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, marking one of their largest Test wins and the first-ever victory by a visiting team at the new Perth Stadium on Monday.
Indian skipper Jasprit Bumrah and pacer Mohammed Siraj delivered crucial performances with the ball, each claiming three wickets to dismantle Australia’s second innings. Bumrah’s leadership and his timely breakthroughs were instrumental in Australia’s collapse as they were bowled out for just 238 on the final day, far from the target of 534 runs set by India.
On the batting front, India was powered by Virat Kohli’s commanding unbeaten century and a stellar knock of 161 from young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Their contributions helped India set an imposing target for the hosts, who struggled to chase it down despite some resilience from Travis Head, who top-scored for Australia with 89 runs. Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey made valuable contributions with scores of 47 and 36, respectively, but the Australian innings ultimately fell short.
Earlier, Australia had started their second innings with hopes of staging a comeback, but the Indian bowlers proved too strong. Bumrah’s outstanding performance earned him the Player of the Match award.
With this commanding victory, India moved to the top of the ICC World Test Championship standings, now holding 61.11 percentage of points, surpassing Australia, who dropped to second place with 57.69 percentage of points. This win also gave India a 1-0 lead in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
The second Test is scheduled to begin on December 6 at the Adelaide Oval, where both teams will look to continue their battle for supremacy.
