Bumrah's Day

All-Round Show From Pacer Headlines Opening Day As Visitors Bowl Out Australia ‘A’ for 108 After Making 194

Sydney: Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah headlined the opening day’s play with a maiden first-class fifty and a couple of wickets in an impressive all-round effort to put India in the driver’s seat against Australia ‘A’ in the pink ball warm-up game on Friday.

With his unbeaten 55 off 57 balls, Bumrah was the top-scorer for the visitors, who folded for a disappointing 194 in 48.3 overs at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The Indians, however, came back strongly with the ball to bundle out Australia for 108 at stumps as 20 wickets fell on a curtailed day on which almost an hour was lost due to heavy rain.

India’s four-pronged pace attack did well to intimidate Australian youngsters with short-pitched stuff as Mohammed Shami and Navdeep Saini got three wickets apiece.

On a day when the recognised batsmen struggled to put runs on the board, Bumrah, who came into the game with a Test batting average of 2.9, produced a stellar performance with the willow, smashing the ball six times to the fence and twice over it. The 27-year-old, known for his wily bowling, reached his half-century in style, hooking a bouncer by all-rounder Will Sutherland for a huge six over the deep square-leg fence.