‘Not interested in attempting it’: Starc declines Jasprit Bumrah’s weapon after India captain dazzles Australia in Perth

The pressure of leading the team proved to be a huge motivating factor for Jasprit Bumrah, who guided India to a dominant position on Day 1 of the ongoing Test match against Australia in Perth. With regular captain Rohit Sharma on paternity leave, Bumrah stepped up and displayed exceptional bowling skills, taking four crucial wickets to dismantle the Australian batting order. His spell with the new ball during the final session was widely praised as one of the best in modern cricket. The Australian camp also showered praise on Bumrah for his remarkable performance.

Speaking after Stumps, Australia pacer Mitchell Starc lavished praise on Bumrah's dominance across all formats.

"Maybe, he's obviously got a fair bit of hyperextension in, that elbow and does things, a lot of actions, one that you do. So, there's no surprise that he's been a fantastic bowler across the formats for a long time. And again, his skills were on show today as to how, how good he is. So, yeah, I'm sure there's something in that release point. That’s significant to his action. It's something a lot of people can't do, so I'm not, I'm certainly not going to go and try it. I’ll probably snap," he said.

Day 1 began with Bumrah winning the toss and opting to bat. But the Indian batters put in a disappointing show, and were bundled out for 150. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for an eight-ball duck and Devdutt Padikkal left for a 23-ball duck. Meanwhile, veteran Virat Kohli could only muster five runs off 12 balls.

Rishabh Pant (37) and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) came up with key knocks for India, when other batters failed. Meanwhile, Josh Hazlewood took four wickets for the hosts. It was also the ninth instance of India getting bowled out on the opening day of an away series, and the first since Kingston 2011. Also, 49.4 overs is the fewest overs faced by India in those nine instances.

In response to India's total, the Aussie batters faced a similar fate, crumbling to Bumrah's four-wicket haul. Steve Smith was dismissed for a golden duck and Marnus Labuschagne managed two runs off 52 balls. Australia posted 67/7 at Stumps, with Alex Carey (19*) and Starc (6*) remaining unbeaten.