India’s captain Jasprit Bumrah is applauded by fans as he leaves the field after winning the first cricket test against Australia in Perth, Australia, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Trevor Collens)
Border Gavaskar Trophy: Former England player Michael Atherton was all praise for skipper Jasprit Bumrah after India completed a remarkable turnaround after a horror batting show in the first innings to defeat Australia in the 1st Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy by 295 runs.
“I thought Jasprit Bumrah was absolutely fantastic. Those two new ball spells. I mean, there’s a few bowlers when you retire, you don’t really think about, you know, your time as a player, but there’s the odd bowler that I just think, thank goodness I did not face him with a new ball. I mean, how would you play him? He’s like a nightmare, isn’t he? He stutters away from off about 10 yards and then unleashes these thunderbolts, usually bang on a sixpence,” he said in a Sky Sports podcast with Nasser Hussain.
Talking about the Test in general, Atherton branded the result as “real shellacking” for the Australian team.
“Australia can’t have been beaten like that, that heavily and that badly at home for a long time. That was a real shellacking. But what struck me, a brilliant Test cricket to watch. And I love the fact that you had that contrast from day one where 17 wickets fell and it looked a real struggle and you can see two quality attacks there. And then, of course, it changed in nature and became much tougher for the bowlers,” he said.
The Indian team will leave for Canberra on Wednesday, November 27 where the entire team is expected to attend an official reception thrown in their honour by the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The two-day Pink ball match will give the Indian team a chance to get some game time under its belt.
PMXI is a squad full of youngsters but India will get some good match practice with pacer Scott Boland expected to play the game.
The rules of the game will be decided by the two teams and it is expected that everyone will bat and ball as it won’t have an official status.
