Jasprit Bumrah left speechless as Usman Khawaja's mistimed shot defies belief, finds KL Rahul perfectly

Jasprit Bumrah had a rollercoaster morning on the first day of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, but he finally found some success by getting the crucial wicket of Usman Khawaja. This marked the fifth time he has dismissed Khawaja in the ongoing series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Khawaja’s dismissal was also odd, as he managed to toe-end a pull shot off the first delivery of Bumrah’s latest spell in the middle session, looping a regulation catch to KL Rahul at short mid-wicket. Khawaja, well set on 57 having registered his first half-century of the series, was beaten perhaps by a little sudden slowness in the pitch, as he completely mistimed his stroke.

Bumrah, who was still searching for the first wicket of his match, couldn't believe his luck as one of his more non-threatening deliveries of the day, an innocuous hip-high loosener, managed to earn him the important wicket of the southpaw opener.

Bumrah can be seen reacting with a wry grin, almost breaking out into laughter over the manner in which he had succeeded in taking this wicket. Khawaja had done well to stay away from facing Bumrah, only having to play three balls against India's lead seamer in the first session against the new ball, but ended up losing his wicket to him yet again in this series against the older ball in a soft nothing dismissal.

Sam Konstas throws off Bumrah's rhythm

Earlier in the day, Bumrah had seemingly gotten off to another strong start with the new ball, as he looked to be all over debutant Sam Konstas in his first two or three overs. Konstas played and missed at a sequence of several duties, with Bumrah breathing fire and extracting plenty of seam movement from the Melbourne pitch.

While Bumrah looked due a wicket, Konstas flipped the script in his fourth over, finally connecting with three scoop shots in the space of just one over as he pilfered Bumrah’s over for two boundaries and a maximum. Konstas had a debut to remember, scoring 60 off just 65 deliveries in the first session as he heaped all the pressure onto India in just his first Test innings with a display of audacious shot-making.

Konstas ultimately fell to Ravindra Jadeja, but India were dominated in the first two sessions of play, as Australia head into the tea break at 176-2 with Marnus Labuschagne also having reached 44*.

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