Live blog - Bumrah and Siraj wrap up comprehensive India win

Harshit Rana wraps it up, and he shows off some of his white-ball-adjacent skills while doing so. Beautiful delivery to Alex Carey, who defends with feet going nowhere. It's the slower offcutter from round the wicket, and it pegs back off stump after turning past the left-hander's outside edge.

More on the moment and India's performance after I collect my thoughts.

India have pulled off several memorable wins over their Test-match history: some of them overseas, some after being written off, some after stirring comebacks from desperate positions, some with key players missing. Only a handful have ticked all those boxes. This one certainly has. And while you could have envisioned India fighting back from 150 all out on day one, you definitely wouldn't have seen it coming in quite this manner. Two hundred and ninety five runs. That's the margin. Let that sink in.

It's India's third-biggest Test win by a runs margin away from home, and their biggest in Australia, England, New Zealand or South Africa. And Sampath Bandarupalli tells me only one team has ever won by a bigger margin after being bowled out for 150 or less in the first innings. That was West Indies, also against Australia, in Bridgetown in 1991.

West Indies had a four-man pace attack of Ambrose, Patterson, Walsh and Marshall in that Test match. India have won this with Bumrah, Siraj and two debutants, but I guess the key word in that sentence is Bumrah. He finishes with 8 for 72, and takes home one of the most obvious Player of the Match awards (though they've inexplicably gone to batters in similar circumstances before).

Where everyone else on both sides looked difficult to face when this pitch was at its most helpful, Bumrah looked lethal. When the pitch eased off and everyone else became triers, Bumrah still looked incisive, still likely to send you on your way if you made the smallest error of judgment. After 41 Tests, he has 181 wickets at 20.06. Just an all-timer doing all-timer things.

India came here on the back of a 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand, and absurd as it seems, this performance reinforces a few truths about Test cricket. One, there are a lot of very good teams floating around right now. Two, conditions really, really do make a difference. New Zealand were both lucky enough to have conditions go their way in India, and good enough to make the best of that advantage. The same two things applied for India here. And just as India remained a very, very good team after that series defeat, Australia remain a very, very good team after this drubbing.

This result, though, sets up the series perfectly. I would hazard that this was the result the neutral would have wanted (though maybe not by this margin), because it puts the home side and the favourites under pressure, and it makes the fact that there are four more Tests look like the most enticing prospect imaginable rather than an ordeal to brace for, which series of this length can sometimes become.

Adelaide is where these teams will meet next - the Indians will play a two-day practice match against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra before that - and that second Test begins on December 6. It feels like such a long time away, and it is, but this result has given all of us so much to talk about before the first ball is bowled. How will India fit in Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, and, potentially, Mohammed Shami? What will Australia do in their bid to bounce back? What will Adelaide's pitch look like? What of the pink ball under lights? This series is already on fire. It can only get better from here.

Offspinner got offspinner in the third innings of this Test, bowled. Offspinner has got offspinner in the fourth innings as well, bowled once more.

Yesterday's dismissal came off a missed sweep. THis is more aesthetically pleasing. Nathan Lyon stretches out to defend, gets a long stride out but he's still quite some distance from the pitch of the ball. He plays for turn, and the ball keeps going with the arm, past the outside edge to hit off stump.

India are one wicket away.

Alagappan: "Washington Sundar getting the penultimate wicket to fall and Harshit Rana bowling the next over, with India almost on the cusp of victory, is a pretty cool way to round off this Test match for India. They were both huge calls made by the management. These two are not without their merits. Washington is accurate and capable of getting good bounce off hard surfaces. But picking him meant keeping R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja out of the team.

"Rana came into this game with 11 first-class matches behind him. He came into recognition for his T20 skills but that first spell on the first day in Perth alone showed that he has the chops for red-ball cricket (that Travis Head bowled is still the ball of the match). He had a tough time in the second innings, bowling at Head and Marsh who took the attack to him. It'd be interesting to see if being put under that kind of pressure here, with the match pretty much won, has given him any insight on how to deal with it later on in the series. Because Australia will be coming back."

From Shiva Jayaraman: Travis Head’s weakness against right-arm quicks bowling around the wicket perhaps looks bigger than it actually is. Out of the 72 balls bowled by India pacers to Head, only one was from over the wicket. Perhaps Head’s tendency to get out to that angle from right-arm quicks early in his innings across formats encouraged India to persist with the strategy. However, since December 2021 – around when Head started the attacking brand cricket he is playing in Tests – Head averages a very healthy 60.69 and strikes at 90.79 against right-arm pacers bowling around the wicket. Interestingly, he averages a far lower 39.73 against them bowling over the wicket in comparison.

Bowlers have to be accurate against Head from around the wicket, otherwise he takes them apart. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, against balls pitching on a length and arriving on or outside the off-stump from right-arm quicks, Head averages 28.40. These are the balls that don’t give him room to flay through the off side. Against all other balls from around the wicket, his average goes up to 80.87 at a strike-rate of 104.02.

Moreover, once Head gets his eye in, it’s even more difficult to make that around-the-wicket angle work. Once he’s faced more than 20 balls in an innings, even against balls that are perfectly directed, Head average improves from 28.40 to 51.50. Head’s weakness against these balls (that pitch on a length and arrive at the stump or off-stump) is clearly only early in his innings: his first-20 balls he averages just 13.00 since 2021, and 16.00 overall in his career.

That’s why Bumrah’s dismissal of Head was special. Not only did he dismiss Head from around the wicket after the Australia batter was well set, but also got him off a length that the latter usually doesn’t get out to. Bumrah’s ball that dismissed Head pitched back of a length. Against back-of-length deliveries from around the wicket, Head had been dismissed only once in 310 deliveries before that ball since 2021. It wasn’t that ball that got Head. It was the bouncer before that messed up his head. And therein lies Bumrah’s genius.

Superb short-leg catch sends back Mitchell Starc after a 45-run eighth-wicket partnership, lasting 62 balls, with Alex Carey. Just reached over his head and plucked it out like he had all the time in the world. Good ball from Washington Sundar to earn his first wicket of the match, angling into the left-hander from around the wicket, turning less and bouncing more than Starc expected as he shaped for the front-foot flick. Popped up in the air off the high part of the inside edge.

And with that, it's tea. India are two wickets away.

Nitish Kumar Reddy has a lovely, smooth bowling action that's got the TV people putting up a split-screen comparison with DK Lillee himself.

Not too many things are going to top that, but a first Test wicket comes close, and he gets it soon after, with Mitchell Marsh chopping him onto his stumps while looking to carve him away through the off side. The diagonal bat strikes again. It's always risky, but particularly on an up-and-down pitch. It can expose the top edge, as Travis Head found out a little while ago, and now Marsh discovers it can expose the bottom edge too.

This has been a good little spell from Reddy overall. Started by beating Marsh with one that straightened and climbed past his outside edge, and bowled a few that seemed to swing into the right-hander too. Possibly reverse, though I'm not sure.

Rana and Washington had conceded 50 in eight overs after lunch. Life for Australia was beginning to look, well, liveable.

And then Bumrah came back. It took him five legal balls. He gets Head with extra bounce in the corridor. Head was loving the width he'd been getting, but this ball wasn't wide outside off stump but the kind of outside off stump that makes you play with a diagonal rather than horizontal bat. Diagonal bat plus hard hands away from the body plus extra bounce tends to equal outside edge, and that's what happens here.

He goes for 89, and Australia are 161 for 6.

Alex Malcolm puts it simply: "Australia have a Jasprit Bumrah problem."

He goes on: "Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh looked very comfortable against Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar. Head was in a mood, flaying them with typical aggression. Rana went at more than five-an-over as Head crunched him through the offside time and again. But Bumrah read the moment. Head's mood shifted immediately when he saw the shuffle coming at him. Head's innings showed Australia can put pressure on India's inexperienced bowlers in this series. But they've got to get past Bumrah first. And that is proving impossible for them right now."

Then Alagappan (the two of them should do a show called The Two Als) chips in with this:

"That's the same feeling in the crowd as well. When Bumrah was about to bowl his first ball of the spell, there was a loud yell of "bowledddd!". Didn't quite happen that way but something has always happened when India's captain has brought himself on. Will India be able to keep him going for all five Tests?"

No one in world cricket punishes width like Travis Head. Two crunching examples off Rana in the 37th over of Australia's innings. The first is a full, wide ball that he lashes through the covers - not by getting his front leg across and hitting with a straight bat but by sinking low to the ground, extending his arms, and slapping the ball away with a flat bat. The second is a short one that sort of stops on the pitch, and he smacks it thrillingly between mid-off and extra-cover, with only this slow, lush outfield preventing the ball from reaching the boundary. He's into the 80s now.

They've put on 56 at exactly a run a ball, and batting hasn't looked this straightforward in a while. A reminder of two things: the variable bounce on this pitch tends to be at its starkest when the ball is new; and India have a fair amount of inexperience in their attack. Harshit Rana has bowled some good balls but also bowled cut and pull balls to two batters who love to cut and pull, and he's gone for 44 in eight overs so far. Marsh has just stepped out to Washington Sundar, meanwhile, and launched him for a crisp straight six.

Washington has caused the left-handed Head a couple of problems, though, particularly when he's tried to manufacture room to cut and found the ball skidding at him with the angle. But there have been no major alarms otherwise in this bright little stand.

Whatever the conditions, whatever the circumstances, Travis Head will back himself to play his shots, and score runs quickly if he survives the passages between those shots. He's done that today, and he's looked so decisive when he's attacked the bowling. The shot that took him to fifty was the perfect example, a short ball from Siraj ramped over the keeper for four.

He reaches lunch batting on 63 off 72 balls, with Australia five down for 104. Another terrific session for India. They probably knew the uneven bounce would become less frequent as the ball lost some of its hardness and shine, and they didn't go searching for wickets. Just kept hitting their areas and waiting for the moment.

"A home game in the fourth day and the home team's only batted three sessions of it. India's bowling has been something else in Perth and although they didn't have it all their way - Travis Head has found a way to defy them again - they haven't dropped their intensity. They packed the leg side for Steven Smith and kept him scoreless for 12 balls leading up to his dimissal. Jasprit Bumrah once again found ways to do things the batter didn't expect, Mitch Marsh constantly surprised by how he seemed to gather pace and bounce off the pitch. This was a much more even session - 92 for 2 at 3.58 an over - but India have mountains of scoreboard pressure to apply."

And he gets him with a jaffa. Just short of a length, tight on off stump, straightening, bouncing, squaring him up with just enough movement, less than a bat's width when it reaches Smith, and finding the edge, which carries low to Rishabh Pant's right.

Smith had changed his technique for this innings, to better equip him against the lbw ball, and that's most probably the right choice for these conditions. But it may have left him slightly more vulnerable to the ball in the corridor.

Smith and Travis Head have shown you can still bat on this pitch, though they've both survived a few anxious moments. Both have had lbw appeals turned down (India reviewed both, with one returning an umpire's call verdict and the other getting chalked off), and a short ball from Harshit Rana that kept a little low smacked Smith in the ribs. But the runs have come at a decent clip, close to three-and-a-half per over, with Head playing his shots whenever he's had half a chance to free his arms.

Australia are 71 for 4 in 21 overs.

"18.5 was not really the worst ball to bowl in Test cricket. Pitched up. Outside off. Drawing the batter to play away from the body. Steven Smith was able to pick up a couple of runs, though, and he did it easily. Because that ball is not the ball India want to spend too much time bowling on this Perth pitch where the cracks are starting to play a part in terms of creating up-and-down bounce. Like in 2020-21, they’ve focused on a straighter line, and encouraged it by having extra fielders on the leg side. Smith’s had mid-on, midwicket, square leg and long leg. Head in the 21st over had only one fielder in front of the wicket on the off side. Midwicket, mid-on, deep square leg and long leg suggested where he could expect the ball. At the body. At the throat."

"Steven Smith is often spoken about as Australian cricket's greatest problem solver. At the moment, he looks to have solved the problem of his repeated lbw issues. After being pinned lbw in the first innings, his third straight lbw in Tests and fourth in five first-class innings, his trigger is so much smaller in this innings. In the first innings he started with his back foot on leg stump and moved his back foot outside off in one large motion only to be beaten on the inside and trapped plumb in front. In this innings he is starting with his back foot on middle and making a little trigger to middle and off. There have been deliveries where he hasn't triggered at all. It's keeping his eyes in line with off stump and his head much more still at the point of release. It's a running joke in Australian cricket that's he "finds his hands" at the start of each summer. In reality, his problem has been his feet and his head position. He looks good so far. That's a small positive for Australia in what has been a grim innings so far."

It takes eight balls for India to get their first wicket of the day, and it's Mohammed Siraj who strikes. Goes short, gets it up in thzt awkward area around the back shoulder, and cramps Usman Khawaja and forces him into something like a half-aborted hook. The top edge loops high in the air and Rishabh Pant gets safely under it, covering a decent amount of ground towards the short fine leg region.

Seven wickets. That's all that stands between India and one of their all-time-great Test wins. They came to Australia on the back of an unprecedented, shell-shocking 3-0 home whitewash against New Zealand. They came here as a team with questions hanging over both ends of its transitional spectrum. Then they got bowled out for 150 on the first day of the series.

And now they're seven wickets away, with two whole days remaining, with an absurd number of runs to play with. All the questions now are being asked of Australia, many of them the same ones. They too are a team in transition.

Six sessions, 522 runs. Seven wickets. But India will be aware they have to dismiss some bloody good players before this result that feels so close can become real. Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey will be desperate to leave a mark on this game. This is becoming a tricky, up-and-down fourth-innings surface. But if Australia can somehow keep it together until this ball loses its shine and hardness, they could still make India work very, very hard.

Australia are three down, and Bumrah has two. There's no one better at finding the perfect length for any set of conditions, and Bumrah has twice hit the perfect length for this Optus pitch where the ball is beginning to keep low at regular intervals. He got Nathan McSweeney lbw in his first over, and now he has Marnus Labuschagne, lbw again. He offers no shot to this one that nips in from outside off and shoots through low, but I don't think this was a ball he meant to leave; he was left with no time to react to the ball's behaviour that he effectively made no response to it.

Australia are 12 for 3. Australia, chasing 534 with more than two days of play remaining, are 12 for 3. Jasprit Bumrah has figures of 2.2-1-1-2. This uneven bounce may get a little less tricky to negotiate when the ball becomes older and softer, but how many wickets will Australia have remaining when that happens? India are all over them, and there appears to be no way back. Seldom have India dominated an overseas Test in this manner. And they're doing this after being bowled out for 150 on day one.

An incredible day of cricket for India. Utter dominance. The toss and the conditions have worked out perfectly for them here, just as it worked out perfectly for their opponents when they lost 3-0 at home to New Zealand before this. But as New Zealand did in that series, India have done everything in their power to make the best of the conditions. They've bowled better than Australia, and attacked the stumps far more relentlessly in both innings.

And when conditions allowed them to bat, they dug in and batted beautifully, going at just the tempo that every situation demanded. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul put on a double-century opening stand, Virat Kohli made a cathartic hundred, and others chipped in around them to set Australia an outlandish target.

Now Bumrah and Siraj have blown away Australia's top order. Indian cricket has had its share of great days. This one may be one of the greatest yet.

Nope. Cummins isn't doing a Tony Mann. He edges a very good ball from Siraj, straight to Kohli at second slip. It looks like a bit of a poke away from the body, but Siraj creates a proper angle into the right-hander with his beyond-the-perpendicular release, and you're always drawn into playing his deliveries in the fifth-stump channel. Plus there's always the threat of that scrambled-seam ball he bowls that nips into the right-hander. This one leaves Cummins, and there's a bit of extra bounce too.

Australia are 9 for 2 in 3.1 overs.

Virat Kohli brought up his hundred with a fine sweep – a shot one doesn’t associate him with. But if you followed IPL 2024 closely, you would know it’s not the first time this year that he has used the sweep to counter spin.

During the IPL, he got the better of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed and R Sai Kishore using the same shot. In that match against Gujarat Titans, Kohli played six sweeps during his unbeaten 70 off 44 balls. He had never played these many sweeps in a T20 game previously. In all, he scored 61 off 34 balls against spin - the most he has ever done in a T20 innings.

Later in the season, Kohli said: "I have brought out the slog sweep to the spinners. I just mentally put myself in that situation and I didn't practise it at all. For me, that shot is something I used to hit regularly back in the day. And that is allowing me to hit off the back foot as well."

Here, his five sweep shots fetched him 14 runs. As per ESPNcricinfo’s logs, he has only once scored more runs off this shot: 19 during his 141 against Australia in Adelaide in 2014.

It takes four balls for Jasprit Bumrah to give India their first breakthrough. He hits the pitch hard, attacks the stumps with his line, and gets the new ball to keep low. The length is definitely one for back-foot defence, and there's little wrong McSweeney does, but this is why batting in the fourth innings can be so hard, anywhere in the world but especially when it gets up-and-down here in Perth. Scoots through low, smacks his pad shin-high, right in front of the stumps.

And who walks out at the fall of that wicket? It's a nightwatcher, but not any nightwatcher. It's Australia's captain, Pat Cummins. I wonder if he knows of Tony Mann's feat as nightwatcher in this city (though not this ground) and against this opposition, back in December 1977. Australia chased down a target of 339 in that Test match.

What a moment for Virat Kohli. He's absolutely loving the reception he's getting as he walks off the field, with Jasprit Bumrah declaring as soon as he reaches the landmark. Really hurried along once India decided to declare, went from 70 to 100* in just 20 balls, hitting a six and four fours in that span.

The century comes up with one of those fours, down on one knee to sweep a Labuschagne legbreak fine. Brings up his seventh Test hundred in Australia, drawing level with Walter Hammond. Only Jack Hobbs (9) has scored more among visiting batters. He's had a monumental career, and Australia has been the scene of so many of its most glittering moments.

Speaking to the broadcaster as he walks off the field, his first words of gratitude are to his wife Anushka Sharma.

"Anushka has been there by my side through thick and thin so she knows everything that goes on behind the scenes when I'm in the room, what goes on in the head when you don't play as well or you make a few mistakes when you are getting yourself in. So I just wanted to contribute to the team's cause, I'm not a guy who wants to hang around just for the sake of it. Take great pride in performing for my country, just feels amazing and fact she's here makes it even more special."

India declare at 487 for 6, setting Australia a target of 534. They'll have about 20-25 minutes to bat out tonight, and come back tomorrow with Bumrah and co. able to use a ball that's still nice and new.

You would think India would want to keep batting for as long as possible given that this is only day three, but they're really going for their shots now, and on TV, Sanjay Manjrekar has spotted the padded-up Jasprit Bumrah removing his arm guard. It's possible they want two cracks at the Australia top order, one nearing stumps today and one early tomorrow morning, with fresh bowlers and a new ball.

Kohli has pulled and flat-batted Marnus Labuschagne for two authoritative fours in one over, and is moving through the 80s in a hurry.

Excuse the atrocious pun, but Nitish Kumar Reddy is playing some incredible shots. He hit the seventh ball he faced, off Mitchell Marsh, for a helicopteresque flicked six, and then thrashed the same bowler for three fours in a row in his next over.

Then Kohli launches the first ball of the next over, from Lyon, for a whistling step-hit straight back over the non-striker for six. India are hurrying along here, their lead is now eight short of 500.

A graphic just popped up on TV suggesting only 6% of the balls Australia's quicks have bowled in this innings would have hit the stumps. It was one area India outperformed Australia in on their 2018-19 and 2020-21 tours, and even in the first innings here (four of the ten wickets their fast bowlers got were bowled or lbw, compared to none for Australia's quicks).

More in this video (only available to our readers in India, sadly):

Washington Sundar is bowled missing a sweep, and I think that was a nice bit of bowling from Nathan Lyon, slowed it down slightly so the batter was through his shot a little early. In walks Nitish Kumar Reddy, who took a bit of a liking to Lyon's bowling in the first innings. India are 410 for 6 in 125.5 overs, and they lead by 456.

Gets there with a lovely, smooth, front-foot flick for three off Cummins. He might have got to the milestone a little quicker if the outfield here hadn't been this slow. He'd played another similar shot a little earlier too, and again he'd had to run three instead of being able to hold his pose and watch the ball run away to the boundary.

This could be a very important innings for Kohli, after the run he's had over the last few weeks. It's come at a very good time in the series too.

Nathan Lyon draws Kohli forward to defend, and beats him with monster turn and bounce, ball going between bat and pad and bouncing over the stumps. Washington Sundar might have enjoyed watching it from the other end.

India are 375 for 5 in 114 overs. They lead by 421.

India are 359 for 5, and their lead is now 405. One full session and two full days remain in this Test match, so I'd think they'll just want to keep batting and batting for as long as they can, with no thoughts of declaring, and put as many miles in the legs of Australia's bowlers and fielders as possible, and give this pitch as much chance of wear and tear as possible before they have to bowl again.

Since that mini collapse, Kohli and Washington have put on 38, and they're both now looking in excellent control.

Here are Alex Malcolm's thoughts on the session:

"A better bowling session from Australia but India remain firmly in control. Josh Hazlewood set the tone with a wicket first ball after lunch. Pat Cummins bowled with more energy than he had in the previous two-and-a-half days. But India still gifted them two of the four wickets. Yashasvi Jaiswal left a double-century on the table when he slapped a Marsh half-tracker to backward point. Rishabh Pant had a complete brain-fade when he ran at Nathan Lyon. The concern now is the pitch is starting to play a few tricks with the odd ball shooting low as the cracks open up. You get the sense Australia could face a tricky burst from Jasprit Bumrah in the shadows tonight, chasing 500-plus to win."

He's hit a couple of eye-catching boundaries in the last 10 minutes or so, and moved into the 30s: first a flourishing uppercut six off Starc that landed just outside the rope and bounced into the side of an unfortunate security guard's head, then a hard, square sweep off Nathan Lyon. In between, Washington Sundar unfurled a terrific, wristy, inside-out six over wide long-off, off Travis Head.

Make that 4 for 46. And 3 for 8.

Pat Cummins gets his first wicket of the innings, and while India will mind its timing, they may not mind how it happened. Dhruv Jurel is on the crease, rising to his toes to negotiate a short-of-good-length ball, and it both nips in and keeps low to beat his inside edge as he hurriedly jams his bat down and thud into his pad.

India are bowling last, and they'll be thrilled if uneven bounce begins to occur frequently. Cummins had bowled another grubber a little while earlier, to Kohli, and on that occasion the batter was lucky that the ball finished outside off stump.

India are 321 for 5, effectively 367 for 5.

Nathan Lyon comes into the attack, and strikes immediately. Spots Rishabh Pant charging out of his crease, and dangles his offbreak wide of off stump. Turns it sharply from there too, beats the desperate slog, and Carey does excellently to collect it way outside off stump and complete the stumping.

Out of nowhere, India have lost 3 for 45. Their lead at the moment is 366. The last time they got into a position like this in an overseas Test, on a pitch that kept improving for the batters, this happened.

Completely and utterly against the run of play. But that's batting. One moment you're in, and a fraction of a second later you're out. Mitchell Marsh gets Jaiswal for 161, with the kind of ball he's been square-cutting for fun all through this innings. This time he hits it a little uppishly, however, and he hits it straight to Smith at backward point. India are 313 for 3.

He's got to three figures four times in his Test career, and he's gone past 150 each time. What a cricketer.

Sampath Bandarupalli from the stats team tells us only Graeme Smith has previously converted his first four Test hundreds to 150-plus scores. Javed Miandad, Brian Lara, Andrew Jones, Matthew Sinclair and Mahela Jayawardene turned their first three into 150s.

Brings Padikkal forward to defend one that leaves him in the corridor, and he nicks it low to second slip. A sense of anticipation from the crowd as Virat Kohli walks in. He spent a lot of this morning not just padded up but with his helmet on too.

India are 275 for 2.

"Virat Kohli has made a shift in his set-up for the second innings. After bizarrely batting nearly two feet out of his crease in the first innings, in the second he is setting up in a similar fashion to what he did when he made a century here in 2018. He is batting only a foot out of his crease and his first trigger is a little back-and-across movement to unweight his front foot. In the first innings he was propping forward initially and getting stuck on the front foot."

Four overs with the second new ball have brought India 20 runs, including a gorgeous off-drive from Jaiswal and a rasping square-cut from Devdutt Padikkal, both off Starc. Australia have tried to attack, as is their only option, and fallen foul of the small margin for error that that brings.

It's lunch now with India 275 for 1, their lead now 321. They've lost Rahul, but other than that they've enjoyed the perfect first session, with Jaiswal now nine runs away from 150.

Here's how Alex Malcolm sees Australia's position:

"Australia look listless. Mitchell Starc has been very loose with this second new ball. The quicks are flagging after a third straight day of bowling as the heat of the Perth sun slowly saps them. Mitchell Marsh did not bowl an over in 27 this morning. His 11 overs through seven sessions is the most he's bowled in a match since July 2023 and the second-most he has bowled in three years. He had only bowled four overs in any cricket since the IPL prior to this game. The cost of Cameron Green's injury will never be more evident than right now. India have the chance to decimate Australia's bowlers this afternoon. Yashasvi Jaiswal looks in a mood for it."

Alagappan brings us an interesting thought:

"India bowling Australia out for 104 might have a huge impact on not just this Test match but maybe the entire series. It’s forced Australia's quicks to bowl on all three days of the game and right here, with the new ball, which their coach Andrew McDonald said was their way back in, Josh Hazlewood is bowling 128kph. Two balls in the over slid down the leg side for four byes each. India started day three in the pink. Now they’re approaching all the other pretty fluffy colours in the spectrum."

KL Rahul’s 77 in the second innings in Perth has lifted his average in SENA countries in the last four years to 39.84, second only to Rishabh Pant’s 43.10 among Indian batters to play at least eight innings in these countries since 2021.

However, it was a departure from norm for Rahul as he has seldom scored second-innings runs in his Test career. His overall second-innings average in 54 Tests is 25.43, compared to 40.43 in the first innings. Since 2021, he averages 43.83 in the first innings and 20.64 in the second; in SENA countries in this period, those numbers are 55 in the first and 23 in the second. With a cut-off of 30 innings among India’s top-four batters, only Murali Vijay has a poorer second-innings average (24.17) in all Tests.

The last time Rahul passed 50 in the second innings before this game was 20 innings ago, when he scored 149 at The Oval in 2018. That’s another aspect of his batting that Rahul needs to address going forward.

That's India's tally from the first hour today. They've lost Rahul, but they've rattled along at four an over, and made Australia worry about the scoreboard getting away from them. Mitchell Starc was getting a bit of what looked like reverse swing, and made Jaiswal jam his bat down hurriedly to keep out an inswinging yorker, but his spell is done now, and Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon are in operation. Someone will need to produce something soon for Australia to stay in this game.

Finally, a wicket for Australia. They've had to wait 63 overs for it, and India's openers put on 201 in that time, but it has arrived now. Good ball from Starc, angling the ball into the fifth-stump channel from around the wicket. Nice length, draws Rahul forward to defend, and gets it to straighten just a touch to find the outside edge.

Rahul goes for 77, an absolute masterclass and one of the best knocks of his Test career.

Yashasvi Jaiswal gets to his century with a six. The third of his innings, the 35th of his incredible year. Of course he gets there with a six, though - like Rahul Dravid in Adelaide 21 years ago - there's a little bit of a top edge about this. Josh Hazlewood bangs in a rising short ball, Jaiswal bends back to make a bit of room for the ramp over the slips, and the ball ends up going in an unintended direction, landing directly on the boundary cushions at fine leg. What a moment, what a special, special player.

It's been an interesting morning so far. Australia have looked to start the day with attacking lengths, as you might have expected, and they've created a little bit of uncertainty every now and then - Jaiswal, perhaps a little anxious in his 90s, has played and missed a few times, and edged Hazlewood towards the slips once, without the ball carrying - but they've also erred on a few occasions, with KL Rahul caressing Mitchell Starc twice through the covers when he overpitched.

Then soon after Jaiswal gets to his century, there's a mix-up between the two openers, the second of their partnership. This time Jaiswal is well out of his crease, but Pat Cummins can't find the direct hit from mid-off.

"So that's what VAR feels like. The ramp - which Jaiswal may have intended to go over third man - flew over to fine leg instead and it landed right underneath the press box. It looked like six. Jaiswal wasn't sure but he might have had a feeling. It might have been nicer for him to experience the joy as it happened naturally but he had to wait. He had to hold his breath. Just like footballers waiting on an offside call. And then when confirmation came, it was party time. KL Rahul's face split into a big grin and it kept growing as Jaiswal milked it. Bat raise. Head raise. Hand raise. Big hug. There were multiple celebrations and all of it was well deserved. He's played incredibly well."

If you're a team touring Australia, this is the stuff dreams are made of. You lead by 218 in the first Test, and you have all ten wickets in hand. All this is happening at the Optus Stadium, Australia's new fortress, the place they moved the first Test of their season to when the old fortress began to become less of one.

It's the stuff of dreams, and India are living it. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is on the cusp of a very, very special hundred, and KL Rahul are enjoying the partnership of their lives.

India are dictating terms here, but champion teams get into these positions and just don't let go. Australia still have a sliver of a chance if they can get a couple of wickets early on today. They'll surely come back full of resolve, with new plans and a refreshed sense of belief.

It's the morning of day three, and mornings don't come with more riding on them than this.

...for India, that is.

It's stumps, and the day ends with KL Rahul defending Marnus Labuschagne elegantly off the back foot. That image tells you all about where this match currently stands. India are 172 for no loss, effectively 218 for no loss, and three days remain as they look to push for a jaw-dropping win after being bowled out for 150 on day one.

Seventeen wickets fell yesterday, and three more this morning as Australia's lower order added 37 to their overnight score of 67 for 7. No one could have foretold at that point that no more wickets would fall all day, over 57 overs.

The sun has beaten down on this Optus Stadium pitch, and the seam movement that had so imperilled batting over the first two innings of this match didn't go away but became manageable. Australia's bowlers, back in the field so much sooner than they would have hoped for after bowling India out yesterday, were perhaps a little off their best. But how well did India's openers bat?

Even yesterday, KL Rahul had moved into beautiful positions and played with beautifully soft hands while showing impeccable judgment outside off. Today he got the score that batting of that quality deserves.

And how about Yashasvi Jaiswal? A loose shot got him out yesterday, against a style of bowling he's racked up a few dismissals against, and questions over his ability to score runs in these conditions amplified in volume. Today he showed he has the game to score runs in any conditions where run-scoring is a reasonable expectation: the defence, yes, and also the utter confidence of a born run-scorer, which allows him to back himself to take jaw-dropping risks at times, like that slog off Starc, or that uppercut, or that flicked six, or that monster hit off Lyon. He's batting on 90 now, and we already know he loves to go really really big when he does go big.

India are in the kind of position they wouldn't have dared dream of before this tour began, never mind after they'd been bowled out for 150 yesterday. But they'll want to keep going for as long as they can, and stretch this lead as far as it can go. Perth has witnessed nine fourth-innings scores of 300 or more, and yes, all of them - including South Africa's successful chase of 414 in 2008 - have come at the WACA and not this ground, but the soil that makes up this pitch, and weather conditions, are the same. We don't know yet how much the surface will crack up, and how much those cracks will widen.

This match isn't done yet, but India for the moment are far, far in front. It's goodbye from me for now, but we'll have a lot more content up soon, reflecting on this magnificent day of cricket.

A little while ago, Jaiswal stepped out and clobbered Lyon for a massive six over long-on.

It was the 34th six he had hit in 2024. No one in history has hit more sixes in a single year. Brendon McCullum (33 sixes in 2014) is now in second place.

Alagappan Muthu is in the Perth press box, savouring this partnership:

"This Jaiswal innings really began to take shape when he absorbed all the venom on a back-of-a-length delivery from Starc to end the third over. The ball trickled away harmlessly to point and his partner at the other end loved it. He seemed to gesture, "yeah, that's it, that's what we want, keep doing that."

"KL Rahul had scored 26 off 74 in perhaps the toughest conditions this Test match had to offer. It looked like they had eased off in the afternoon on day two but not entirely. Ball-tracking data suggested that there were 28 deliveries in the first 26 overs that seamed more than one degree off the pitch. For context, the jaffa that Harshit Rana bowled to Travis Head and blew up his off stump moved 1.36 degrees off the pitch.

"So, if you were an opening batter, there was, on average, one ball coming at you with your name potentially on it every over. In the 12th, it was the very first one, with Jaiswal flashing hard outside off stump. Starc wasn't able to get the nick but having seen that shot and its potential to create unnecessary trouble, Rahul immediately came down the pitch and had a word with Jaiswal. He'd already seen the benefit of meeting the ball under his eyes with soft hands. In the middle of those three maidens, his outside edge was taken, but it didn't carry to the slips. There were some moments where they weren't in sync, like the 43rd over when Australia missed a run-out opportunity, but otherwise Jaiswal and Rahul had a plan and they stuck to it so well that in time they were able to dictate terms. Jaiswal was flicking Starc for six. Rahul was cutting Lyon who does not give a lot of cuttable balls. Starc was getting frustrated. Cummins was off colour. Hazlewood was phenomenal but even he couldn't get the breakthrough.

"This was partnership batting at its finest. This was a KPI being ticked. This was even a little bit of history made. The last time India had two opening batters making a half-century in the same innings against Australia in Australia was in 1986."

KL Rahul has batted beautifully in both innings of this Test match, and he's brought up a well-deserved fifty now. He's had an incredible rollercoaster of a career, and he has, for reasons within and outside his control, not managed to do full justice to his ability, but for all the rough patches he's gone through, India have always trusted in his innate technical quality and range of shots, whether at the top of the order or in the middle. Who knows what will happen next, but this is definitely one of the high points of his Test career.

Jaiswal drives away from his body at Starc, much as he did when he got out in the first innings, and the ball goes low to Usman Khawaja at first slip. It's one of those where you can argue whether or not the ball carried, so let's call it a half-chance.

Then Rahul hares out of his crease in the next over when Jaiswal dabs Lyon behind square on the off side. He's halfway down the pitch when Jaiswal sends him back, but Steven Smith's throw to Lyon is wide, and he makes his ground safely.

The openers remain unconquered for the moment. It's drinks, and India are 106 for no loss in 43 overs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal gets to his fifty with a drive to sweeper cover off Nathan Lyon. Rahul brings up the century opening stand later in the same over.

In the face of all this, Josh Hazlewood has figures of 9-4-8-0. They call him HazleGod in one corner of cricket Twitter, and he's been bowling like that today. Even in the face of this opening stand, he's given no inch, offered nothing to easily score off, no easy leaves, found far more seam movement than his fast-bowling colleagues, and has been beating the bat at least once every over after tea.

First innings: 85 balls in 45 overs, five wickets, 3.8 runs per wicket
Second innings: 90 balls in 49 overs, six wickets, 2.83 rpw
Third innings: 28 balls in 26 overs, no wicket.

The frequency of big seam movement has clearly reduced.

Left-arm pacers against Yashasvi Jaiswal is a match-up across all formats of cricket. Against right-arm pacers, Jaiswal averages 49.30 in Tests as opposed to only 12.25 against left-armers. Overall in international cricket, he averages 20.44 against left-arm quicks as opposed to 50.62 against right-armers. He is dismissed once every 20 balls against left-arm quicks but only once in 67 balls against the right-arm kind.

Jaiswal is aware of this weakness. He’s often dismissed going hard at the ball outside off stump – as he was in the first innings here – and that’s why, perhaps, he tries to leave balls from left-armers more frequently. Until tea on the second day in Perth, Jaiswal had left alone 39.36% of balls from left-arm seamers in Tests. This leave percentage comes down to 25.48% against right-armers. That could be because the angle from right-armers is usually more difficult to leave. However, it’s also true that no other left-hand batter to face at least 50 balls in Tests from left-arm quicks since Jaiswal’s debut has left alone a higher percentage of balls from them.

That’s why it’s been an intriguing battle between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mitchell Starc in this innings. Starc has made Jaiswal play more. Out of the 27 balls from Starc in this innings, Jaiswal has left alone only three. Twenty-seven balls are also the most Jaiswal has played against left-arm pacers without getting dismissed in international cricket.

No one could have expected this after 17 wickets fell yesterday, but India have got through an entire session without losing a wicket. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal have batted beautifully, and India are 84 for no loss, effectively 130 for no loss, at tea on day two. It's possible conditions have eased out quite a bit, and Australia's attack may also be feeling the effects of being back out on the field so quickly after having bowled India out for 150 on day one.

It says quite a bit that Australia brought on Marnus Labuschagne to bowl his medium-pace bouncers for the penultimate over of the session.

"The ball is 24 overs old, midway through the second day on a surface where 20 wickets have fallen and Australia have already turned to Marnus Labuschagne to bowl bouncers to try and get a wicket," Alex Malcolm says. "It is a bizarre concession from Australia. Even the previous over, Mitchell Starc bowling around the wicket to the left-handed Yashasvi Jaiswal with four men in the deep was a concession in itself.

"Australia's bowlers look frustrated and it would not be surprising if that frustration is at their batters, after being asked to back up for a second straight day of toil having bowled the opposition out for just 150."

That's what Jaiswal seemed to yell out after defending Mitchell Starc off the back foot in the 19th over. Earlier in the over, he had slogged him over the leg side for a six of unexpected, out-of-the-blue unsubtlety. He's batting on 37 now, and India are 72 for no loss, leading by 118.

India are 35 for no loss at drinks, one run away from the number a lot of their fans may have thought about when they began this innings. The third innings of that Test match began in pretty similar circumstances.

From what we can tell from ball-tracking data, the pitch hasn't eased out much, if at all, in terms of seam movement. Average seam movement over the first 10 overs of India's innings was 0.7 degrees. Yesterday, it was around 0.8 degrees through their first innings.

In any case, India are getting into a nice little position here, their lead now 81.

"India fans have really found their voice after lunch," Alex Malcolm reports. "The buzz in the crowd in the outer is very much in favour of India. The drums are beating. KL Rahul's straight drive for four was met with a great roar. India fans believe."

India are 27 for no loss after 10 overs, and both their openers are looking a lot more comfortable than you'd imagine on a pitch where 20 wickets fell over the first four sessions. It's hard to say, without raw seam-movement data, to say whether the pitch is easing out, but there are reasons why it could be: the pitch has been rolled twice today, once at the start of the day's play and once between innings, which tends to flatten the grass cover and reduce the scope for seam movement. Plus the pitch has been under the sun for a while and most of the moisture it would have had at the start must have dissipated.

Yesterday, it looked like a wicket would fall every other ball, so the crowd was all glued in. The atmosphere was quiet, pensive, tense.

Right now the crowd’s got a Mexican wave going – and when it doesn’t go they make their displeasure known with big old boos. They’re having to entertain themselves because out on the pitch there’s not much happening.

That doesn’t mean batting’s suddenly become easy. It just means Yashasvi Jaiswal has learned from his first-innings mistake. He’s not pushing hard at the ball anymore. To end the third over, when he played a short ball under his eyes to point, he had KL Rahul coming up to him with a gesture that was almost “yeah, keep doing that. That’s good.”

India are doing here what they wanted to do in the first innings, absorb the new-ball pressure, and they’ve been able to push back, too, with several quick singles. There are only four fielders in front of the wicket on either side. India have been tapping and running to them and it's been very deliberate too which suggests they are more or less getting a measure of the pace and bounce.

Rana wraps up the innings. Mitchell Starc looks to slog a good-length ball that kind of stops on him, and skies it high and square over the off side. Rishabh Pant calls for it, makes sure everyone else is out of his way, and settles neatly under the catch. Starc goes for 26 off 112 balls, Rana finishes with 3 for 48, and India have a 46-run lead. Handy, but perhaps less than they would have hoped for at the start of the day.

Terrific effort from Australia's last-wicket pair. Here's Alex Malcolm's assessment of where this Test match stands:

"Australia had felt that this series might be won by the lower order given the vulnerability of both top orders. The tail had made huge contributions in the two Test wins in New Zealand earlier this year. Pat Cummins spent a lot of time working on his batting during his time off and there was a hope the other bowlers were doing the same. Mitchell Starc played very well this morning and made a valuable contribution of 26. Australia’s last five wickets combined to add 66. India’s last five wickets contributed 91, including a vital 48-run stand between Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy. The decision not to review Reddy’s catch down the leg side yesterday when he was just 10, and Cummins dropping Pant on 26 might prove very costly in the context of the game. It’s very clear when the ball gets softer on this surface, batting is a lot easier. Australia have only ever won once after being bowled out for 104 or fewer in a Test on home soil and that was in the very first Test against England in 1877."

Starc tucks Nitish Kumar Reddy through square leg for a single, and Australia go into three figures.

It feels like the seam movement has either subsided or slowed down, with the ball now more than 40 overs old. Batting did seem to get easier even for India around this period yesterday. Anyway, as a result, after the fast-forward cricket we've seen right through this Test match so far, we're seeing something a little more attritional, with Starc, who's now faced more balls than anyone else in this match (88 and counting) and Hazlewood having put on 21 for the last wicket. Reddy has bowled with a decent amount of control so far, though he's not looked particularly quick, only rarely getting into the 130s. Mohammed Siraj, meanwhile, is settling into a spell at the other end.

"Bowlers can bowl good balls too" Mitchell Starc said yesterday in defence of a pitch where 17 wickets fell. Today he kind of, maybe, sort of trying to prevent Harshit Rana from doing that. After taking one on the shoulder of the bat, Starc looked dead straight at his IPL team-mate and said "I bowl faster than you Harshit." Rana didn't hear him that time. So Starc said it again "I bowl faster than you." This time Harshit just smiled. "And I've got a long memory."

The warning didn't work 100% because Rana was still happy to go short at Nathan Lyon and he got him out, but maybe he did back off just a tiny bit when Starc was on strike. Or maybe he didn't want to overdo the short stuff. In any case, Starc had a chance to step forward and whack his IPL team-mate for a four over midwicket. Twelve balls after that, Rana went short again, this time with Starc on strike and the ball didn't rise as much as it should have. Starc was already ducking. The ball kept following him from around the wicket and hit him flush on the helmet. 112 kph the speed on impact according to the broadcast. Starc waved it off like it was nothing.

Rana has given India a way to keep the intensity up, even in the middle of some mind games, and now Mohammed Siraj has been following his example and peppering Starc with short ones, who wears one on the shoulder and doesn't even blink. This is giving-not-even-an-inch-to-the-opposition Test cricket.

No bowling changes yet, no sign of Siraj. They've taken drinks after Starc took a blow to the helmet after ducking into a Rana short ball that was either not as short as he thought or didn't bounce as high as expected. He's okay to continue batting.

Starc and Hazlewood have added 14 for the last wicket so far, and India's lead is now down to 57.

Alagappan Muthu has some thoughts on how India's morning has gone:

"Fifteen runs in nine overs. There have been several times in Indian cricket, especially when they go away from home, that good work taking out the top order hasn't been followed up and the tail hurts them. Here, they've started day two full of vigour. The fans sense it too. They're clapping the bowler on as he runs in and there's a loud ooohhhh when the ball beats the bat. Mitchell Starc bowled a ripper to James Vince here over at the WACA once. He got almost a mirror image of that delivery to end the 33rd over - almost because the movement wasn't that dramatic - but Starc knew it was too good to put bat on. Angled into middle and off and raring away like a legbreak. He just laughed in disbelief.

"Bumrah's excellence - and he's definitely raised his level in this Test match - is one thing. But for Harshit Rana to do what he's been doing - he might be the quickest India bowler out there. He's hitting 145 kph today. And his effort ball has demonstrably been too quick for some of the Australian lower-order batters. Nathan Lyon thought he could just glide one through to third man but not only was he late on it, it also bounced way more than he was ready for, taking the glove through to third slip. He's also listened to his captain. Bumrah told his bowlers at the change of innings to keep hitting a good-length spot so he's been careful not to overdo the short stuff, which for a bowler on his first tour of Australia, in his 11th first-class game, is impressive. Rana's produced 13 false shots today, more than twice that of Bumrah (6)."

Update Just as I post this, Bumrah nearly gets his sixth, finding Josh Hazlewood's edge only for the wrong-footed Rishabh Pant to miss a diving catch to his left. The ball was angled in from round the wicket, and was around the line of middle stump when Hazlewood, staying leg-side of the ball, nicked it, so Pant's initial impulse was to follow the angle of the ball.

Harshit Rana gets his second. He's been using the short ball liberally all morning, and hit his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mate Mitchell Starc on the glove on one occasion, which was followed by this little exchange.

Now Rana adds to the threat of his short ball with a leg slip for Nathan Lyon, and bangs in two in a row. The first is down the leg side and harmless. The second is at the body and climbs awkwardly, and all Lyon can do is fend it loopily to gully.

Australia are 79 for 9.

Six balls into day two, Australia are facing Jasprit Bumrah again. One ball later, they're eight down. Round the wicket to Alex Carey, goes hard and into the pitch while angling it into the corridor. Gets it to lift and straighten, and Carey has a little poke at it and nicks off to Rishabh Pant, with the ball kissing the edge up near the shoulder of the bat. With that, Bumrah completes his 11th career five-wicket haul. In just his 41st Test.

Hello, hello. Who could have predicted that we would be here at this point of the Test match. Seventeen wickets fell yesterday, and at the end of it Australia found themselves trailing India by 83 runs with just three wickets remaining. How will day two shape up?

Jasprit Bumrah suggested at the toss that batting would be relatively easier at the start of the match before the pitch would begin to quicken up. It seems like that might have indeed been the case. But how will the pitch evolve from here? The curator suggested before the match that, thanks to unseasonal rain, the "big-snake cracks" that Perth is known for may not necessarily materialise. There was quite a bit of grass left on the pitch at the start too, so it may hold up pretty well and maybe get a little better to bat on for a while? But with nearly half the 40 available wickets having already fallen, in just one day's play, how long will this match even last?

So much to look forward to, and we've got every angle covered here on ESPNcricinfo. Here's to another great day of Test cricket.

WHAT A DAY. An absolutely brutal one for any batter facing the fast bowlers today. Two brilliant, skillful attacks getting a high degree of seam movement from start to finish, with a ball kicking up awkwardly every now and again to boot.

Australia end the day trailing by 83 runs with just three wickets in hand. They would not have expected anything like this when they bowled India out for 150, but this can happen in extreme conditions, particularly when the opposition includes a guy named Jasprit Bumrah.

The last ball of the day sums it up. Mitchell Starc on strike, and he strengthens the leg-side field with a leg gully. Starc is a reluctant mover of his feet at the best of times, and now the field is placed to put the threat of the short ball in his mind and push him back even more. Starc probably knows the field is set for some sort of bluff, and with Bumrah it's very likely the bluff will be the full slower ball. But all the reasoning you can do happens in the mind. The body only obeys muscle memory. Out comes the slower ball, and a half-flick, half-jab sends it looping up back towards the bowler. Would have been the perfect Bumrah moment to finish the day with a c&b that completes a five-for. Doesn't quite carry, though, but what a bowler.

So how have India got themselves into this position? Two things come to mind. One, they won what could be an important toss. Bumrah said he expected the pitch to be at its best for batting early on, and quicken up under the sun. That may have happened through the day, and made India's seam movement that much harder to negotiate.

Second, India finish with four bowled or lbw dismissals out of their seven wickets. All 10 wickets Australia took, meanwhile, were caught. In both 2018-19 and 2020-21, one of the keys to India's success was how well they attacked the stumps compared to Australia's bowlers. From the evidence of today, that seems to be happening again.

A long way to go still, though, in this Test match first of all and then the series. We couldn't have asked for a more gripping start, and we hope the rest of this series is just as good.

Captain gets captain, and the ball continues to seam unplayably in Perth. Angled in, fullish length, nips away from an off-stumpish line. Tries to drive, edges to the keeper, and Australia are 59 for 7, with 10 minutes left in the day's play.

Siraj has his second, Labuschagne's head falling over on a flick, and the old scrambled-seam inducker beating his inside edge and thudding into his pad. Burns a review too, but I guess you take that chance if you're 47 for 6.

Quite an innings from Labuschagne. Was dropped early on, then struggled for fluency, and eventually out for 2 off 52 balls. He spoke in the lead-up to this series that he wanted to do to India what Cheteshwar Pujara has previously done to Australia, but today, on this pitch, it meant he had barely moved the scorecard by the time the wicket ball came along.

It's 38 for 5 now, and all three of India's main quicks are among the wickets. This wicket is the classic Perth wicket. Corridor ball, straightening, kicking up at Mitchell Marsh, and he tries his best to soften his hands and somehow keep the ball from carrying to the cordon off the shoulder of his bat, but it juuuuuuust about carries to Rahul, who moves smartly to his left from third slip and picks it up inches off the ground. The third umpire is called on to adjudicate this, and as in all really low catches this could have gone either way, but it goes India's way on this occasion.

Already 15 wickets today, and just the 188 runs scored. Brutal.

I've watched a good bit of Harshit Rana in the IPL, and as good as he is at that sort of bowling - changes of pace, into-the-pitch cutters at the death - nothing about it prepared me for what he can do with a red ball, on a pitch like this.

His first over was full of hit-the-deck menace, and he twice squared up Labuschagne and struck him on the thigh/groin area with balls that straightened past his edge. His second over showed the small margins for error that a hit-the-deck bowler can have against a batter like Travis Head, who doesn't need the ball to be particularly short or particularly wide to carve it away repeatedly to the boundary.

At the start of his third over, Rana course-corrects immediately. still hitting the pitch, but hitting it a little fuller, and the ball straightens after angling in from round the wicket, beats Head's outside edge, and hits the top of off stump. I haven't seen too many Indian fast-bowling debuts this good. Australia are 31 for 4 in 11.1 overs.

That ball to Head, incidentally, seamed 1.36 degrees. On average, this pitch has produced 0.8 degrees of seam. It's been a tough, tough strip to bat on for both teams, so keep that in mind when you assess how the batters performed here. For comparison, here is the average seam movement for three of the other four Optus Tests: 0.65, 0.56 and 0.62 degrees.

Alagappan paints a picture from Perth:

"There's not a lot of runs on the board. The conditions aren't as spicy as they were in the morning (but that doesn't mean they're easy now). He's seen a catch dropped off his bowling. And yet he's bowling as if he has the wind in his back. He's bowling as if it's possible to take a wicket every single ball.

"He always starts over the wicket. Even though he's so so good to left-handers from the other way around. 47 of his 64 left-hand-batter wickets have come from around the wicket. Maybe he has to start from over to judge how much movement is on offer. In any case, it doesn't take long for Bumrah to shift his line of attack. And four balls later he has Usman Khawaja. Then he's on a hat-trick after pinning Steven Smith lbw. And that is such a perfect ball too. It's the kind Australia often use to target Joe Root on the front pad. Hit an in-between length and have it jag back in off the pitch. Smith's hands may have made it into Perth but they weren't quite ready to face Bumrah.

"And he could've got his hat-trick but for Travis Head's inside edge."

Alex Malcolm shares his thoughts:

"Australia spent six months talking about the batting order, with Steven Smith central to the discussion. The chorus was almost unanimous. Smith had to get back to No.4. It was his rightful spot. A spot where he has been one of Australia's best ever. Cameron Green's injury paved the way. Australia picked a makeshift opener in Smith's place. And now Jasprit Bumrah has blown that preferred top order apart. Nathan McSweeney's new-ball inexperience showed. Usman Khawaja got opened up by a beauty. Marnus Labuschagne is only still at the crease because Virat Kohli dropped him. And Smith lasted just one ball. Pinned lbw in a similar fashion to some of his lbw dismissals in his brief stint as a Test opener. India are back in the game. Australia's batting frailties have been exposed."

There's a feeling among analysts that Usman Khawaja is more comfortable with the ball angling across him than the one angled into him from right-arm around. Having started out from over the wicket, Jasprit Bumrah shifts to round the wicket in his fourth over, and almost immediately gets his man.

Obviously it wasn't as simple as change angle, get wicket, because you still need to bowl good balls. He bowls a beauty, angling into the channel, forcing Khawaja to play, then getting it to kick up and straighten to produce the edge to Kohli at second slip.

Then Steven Smith walks in. And Steven Smith walks back after one ball. Caught shuffling all the way across his stumps by a ball that was full enough for him to be on the front foot to. Nips in too, beats his defensive jab by a long way, and the lbw is so plumb that he doesn't take the review.

Australia are 19 for 3 in seven overs, after Travis Head survives the hat-trick ball. Bumrah has figures of 4-2-7-3.

McSweeney's first Test innings is a short one. He survived two lbw appeals while shouldering arms, and both showed good judgment of length. But Bumrah shifts his length a little fuller and gets one to nip back in. McSweeney is caught halfway forward in defence, and the ball beats his inside edge and thuds into his knee-roll. The on-field decision is not out, but India review and have their man with three reds on Hawkeye.

In both their series wins in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21, one facet of India's seam-bowling displays was how many more bowleds and lbws they got vis-a-vis their Australia counterparts. Will be interesting to see how they go on that front this time around.

Australia are 14 for 1 in 2.3 overs.

Update It could have been 14 for 2, with Bumrah getting one to straighten on Marnus Labuschagne later in the over and find his edge, but Virat Kohli, falling to his right at slip, fails to hold on to the low-ish chance.

It's something you can do on Australian pitches, particularly Perth pitches, even against balls of fairly straight lines. Nathan McSweeney does it twice in the first two overs of Australia's innings, against Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, and loud lbw appeals ensue on both occasions, but both times it's pretty clear the ball will bounce over the stumps.

With only the No. 11 for company, Reddy begins to take chances every ball. He crunches Cummins down the ground for four, but either side of that miscues attempted leg-side heaves high over the leg side. Usman Khawaja, at midwicket, drops the first of these, a straightforward chance, but takes the second, a far more difficult catch for which he has to sprint to his right and dive low.

Hazlewood finishes with four wickets, and Cummins, Starc and Marsh with two each. Reddy is out for 41, a most promising debut innings, and he'll have some work to do with the ball too.

It's tea as well. Here are Alex's thoughts:

"Australia weren't perfect but they were very good. Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc were outstanding. Hazlewood finished with the rewards of four scalps but Starc deserved more than his two. He set the tone early with his pace and accuracy. Had Australia reviewed and caught better, Starc could have had four himself. But the relentlessness of the pair was what was most impressive. India's batters didn't have a chance to breathe. Pat Cummins was a little off-colour. He has come in underdone and it showed. But he still contributed with the key wicket of Rishabh Pant. Mitchell Marsh's two were a bonus. Australia have set the game up now. Their batters have a chance to pile up a big score and ensure they only bat once."

Few bowlers in history have been this relentless with their line. Sometimes it's a little shorter, sometimes it's a little fuller, but usually it's somewhere in the good-length ball and in a narrow channel outside off stump, forcing the batter to play. Jasprit Bumrah is the batter on this occasion, and he's a little late getting a front-foot stride in, and the ball nibbles away and finds his edge.

India are 144 for 9.

A No. 8 on debut, gets a pinpoint bouncer from one of the greats, who has set a fine third man for the ramp, knowing that this No. 8 can play that shot from having captained him in franchise cricket. The No. 8 takes on the shot and just clears the fielder. A snapshot of how exciting Test cricket often is in this era.

Josh Hazlewood gets his third wicket with a typical Hazlewood delivery in the corridor. Straightens, kicks, and Harshit Rana pokes and edges. What happens next is pure brilliance: it flies low to Nathan McSweeney's left at gully, and he dives and gets a hand to the ball but can't hold on. He manages to parry it in the direction of third slip, though, and Marnus Labuschagne plucks out an outstanding reflex grab, reaching to his right and behind him to complete that magnificent bit of action.

India are 128 for 8. How many can Reddy and the tail cobble together?

It isn't often that Pat Cummins bowls 13 wicketless overs and concedes 50 runs on a quick, seaming pitch while his bowling colleagues fill their boots. Having endured that, however, he comes back with the biggest possible wicket.

Pant goes for 37, and yes, he plays a lot of shots so we take the rough with the smooth, but this was a particularly low-percentage shot on this Perth pitch. Cummins was bowling over the wicket and slanting it across him, and given the bounce on offer, you probably don't want to try to whip the ball against that angle unless it's pitched right up. This wasn't, and he gets an edge that flies to Smith at second slip.

India are 121 for 7 in 45.5 overs.

We're kind of used to the sight of Rishabh Pant falling onto his backside while hitting sixes, but we'll never stop gasping in disbelief. Especially when he does it against Pat Cummins while clearing the backward square leg boundary. The man is a genius.

Nitish Kumar Reddy, meanwhile, is also looking good. He's reverse-swept Lyon a couple of times while looking in full control, and driven Hazlewood straight back for another four.

Australia are still well on top, but India are finally beginning to have a bit of a say. They're 121 for 6 in 44 overs, and the seventh-wicket partnership between Pant and Reddy is now at 47.

"Batting can be about technique. Getting behind the ball. Using soft hands. It can be about bloody-mindedness. Never giving up. Willing to put your body on the line. Rishabh Pant, often enough and right here just a few minutes ago, shows it is about imagination too.

"Pat Cummins bowls a fullish delivery on off stump. If it merits any kind of punishment, it’d probably happen with a straight bat. An on-drive perhaps because the angle of the ball was coming into the left-hander from around the wicket. But Pant sees things in a way few others do and he’s armed himself with this this fall-away shot for any time there’s a fullish ball on middle and leg. He gets low to get under the ball, bends his torso outside the line of the ball, and then whips his wrists to send it flying anywhere between square leg to fine leg.

"It was sit up and notice time at Perth stadium when he played it to the Australian captain and got six runs."

Mitchell Marsh bowled a high-impact five-over spell after lunch, and Alex was keeping a close eye on him:

"This is Mitch Marsh's longest spell in Test cricket since his return in the Ashes last year. He has bowled four overs in competitive cricket since injuring his hamstring while bowling during the IPL in April. He did not bowl in the T20 World Cup and was not planning on bowling at all during the white-ball tour of the UK but bowled four overs in the second last ODI of the tour at Lord's, only because Cameron Green got injured. Such was Marsh's fragility, he suffered back spasms after that game and missed the final ODI. He did not bowl in his two Shield appearances either. He has been nursed to the line so he could bowl in this series. And despite barely touching 125kph, and only bowling after lunch to help Pat Cummins manage the loads of his quicks, Marsh has been able to pick up two wickets and help open up India's lower order."

After that NKR non-review, it's Pant's turn for a reprieve. Has a slog at Starc and skies it high, and Cummins has to turn around to try and take a sprinting, diving over-the-shoulder catch. The ball is slightly out of his reach, and he can't quite complete it cleanly. Pant was on 26 at this point. Now he's on 27, and India are 98 for 6 after 39 overs.

When Rishabh Pant is batting and you get a chance to review, you probably take it. Australia have already lost two reviews doing that - one for an lbw appeal that was very, very clearly missing leg and bouncing over - and that may have contributed to their not taking a review for a not-out caught-behind decision when Reddy tries to swivel out of the way of a Starc bouncer. He doesn't quite keep his hands out of the way, and Snicko suggests there may have been a bit of glove onto ball.

India are 93 for 6 after 37 overs.

After bowling just two overs out of the first 35 of India's innings, Nathan Lyon returns for a second spell, and the debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy hits him for two exquisite, wristy fours. First one's whipped up and over the straight mid-off region, and the second, following a sashay down the pitch, is lifted over extra-cover.

India are 91 for 6 after 36.

Also, a measure of how good Australia's bowling has been today: Rishabh Pant has faced 52 balls and his strike rate is currently just below 50. He's played a few shots, including a delightful lap sweep way back in Lyon's first spell, but he's been forced to bide his time and show off that underrated facet of his game, his defence.

Before this series began, Cameron Green's absence loomed as a potential problem for Australia. Without his overs, you felt they were relying on an ageing four-man attack to bowl a lot of overs over five Tests. Mitchell Marsh has always had skill with the ball, but whether he would be able to match Green's workload remained to be seen.

The workload question will be answered in time, but for now the skill is doing plenty. After getting Dhruv Jurel, he slants a discomfiting lifter across Washington Sundar, and gets him to fend and glove it behind. India are 73 for 6 in 31.4 overs.

Australia began the post-lunch sessions with Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins, and for a little while there was an illusion of the match situation easing slightly for India. Marsh, of course, is Australia's fourth seamer, bowling to give Starc and Hazlewood a bit of rest. And sacrilegous as it may sound, Cummins was looking significantly less threatening, and more likely to offer width, than Starc and Hazlewood even in the first session. Dhruv Jurel had played a couple of nice-looking shots square on the off side.

But then, these are conditions where a wicket-taking ball can come out of anywhere, and Marsh produces one, straightening a good-length ball off the seam in the corridor, getting it to kick a bit, forcing Jurel to play with his line and finding the edge to second slip.

India are 59 for 5 in 27.5 overs.

...from Alagappan Muthu:

"India have done a lot of shadow batting in this session. Dhruv Jurel leaves the field playing a couple of punchy drives down the ground. It’s possibly a sign of how hard it is out there and how desperately they’re trying to gee themselves up to face it. Rishabh Pant was flashing thumbs up signs at KL Rahul being nice and switched on, it didn't matter that he had no real opportunity to score runs.

"A support staff member claps them inside at lunch. There might be an understanding in the dressing room as well that batting here is really not straightforward. A third of the balls that they’ve faced in this session (45 out of 150) have resulted in false shots. It’s been a serious examination."

It's one of those weird DRS situations where the ball may or may not have kissed the outside edge of the bat at the same time that the other edge of the bat hit the pad. The decision from on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough was not-out, and third umpire Richard Illingworth asks him to reverse it.

The situation gains some extra piquancy from the producers not providing the third umpire a side-on angle from the off side. Rahul walks off shaking his head - could be at the decision, could be at nicking off after battling for so long. Who knows.

Interesting thing is that the same method, of batting with bat and pad close together, and leaving a lot of balls by effectively hiding the bat behind the pad, had contributed to Rahul looking as solid as you can against an attack like this, on a pitch like this, and scoring 26.

He goes off the 74th ball he faces, and India are 47 for 4 in 22.2 overs.

Yes, it's a verb now.

Kohli's been batting outside his crease and has been alert to anything a touch full that he can score off. It's a method that's brought him a lot of runs in Australia, but it's also one that makes surviving this particular kind of delivery a little trickier: extra bounce in the corridor from just short of a length. Josh Hazlewood gets one to kick at Kohli in exactly this way, and he fences at it and pops a catch to first slip.

Walks off playing a shadow-leave, and yeah, he could have left that ball, but sometimes when the ball jumps unexpectedly like that, your hands just react and go towards the ball. Tough, tough ball to get, especially so early in your innings.

Kohli is out for 5, and India are 32 for 3 in 16.2 overs.

Here's Alex Malcolm's assessment of Kohli's batting today:

"It's hard to understand Virat Kohli's decision to bat so far out of his crease in that brief innings. If you watch the highlights of his epic 2018 Test century on this venue, it is noticeable how different his pre-delivery movement was compared to today. In 2018 he started with his back foot just outside the popping crease line but triggered back and across a touch and then moved his weight into the ball when Australia's quicks overpitched. Today he was batting with his back foot nearly two feet outside the popping crease and propped onto the front foot very early. That early commitment of his weight forward makes it very difficult to push back. Josh Hazlewood never overpitched to him. Everything was back of a length and climbing. Kohli tried to ride the bounce off the front foot and just guided it to first slip. It's not a method for success in Perth, and the complete opposite of what worked for him in 2018."

Alex Malcolm sums things up from the Optus press box:

"A truly magnificent opening spell from Mitchell Starc. He beat or found the edge 10 times in five overs. Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins had only done it five times between them at the other end. Starc's pressure led to Hazlewood getting Padikkal in the end. Starc has come into this game off one of his best ever pre-Test series preparations. Last year he was carrying a significant groin issue through the World Cup and into the summer. This year he played a Sheffield Shield game at the MCG where he took seven wickets, including a second innings six-for, and bowled with sustained pace and accuracy throughout. He then took three wickets in the first ODI against Pakistan at the MCG. He has been working on a simple cue in his load-up at the crease. The rhythm, the execution, the swing, the pace are all there. He's going to be a handful for India in this series."

A harrowing first innings in Australian conditions for Devdutt Padikkal. He survived a searching examination from Mitchell Starc (17 balls faced, eight not-in-controls), but his luck doesn't hold out when Josh Hazlewood comes back into the attack from Starc's end. Slants the ball across the left-hander from over the wicket, brings him forward, makes him play for the threat of the ball straightening into him. It doesn't. Just keeps going with the angle and kisses the outside edge through to Alex Carey.

India are 14 for 2 in 11 overs. Australia's bowlers have given them nothing to pull or cut, and barely anything to drive safely.

Mitchell Starc's bowling as well as he's ever done with a new ball. His line, particularly to the two left-handers in India's top three, has been terrific - around that fourth-stump channel almost always, no easy leaves - and he's been getting enough balls to keep going with the angle into the stumps to make the away-swinger to the left-hander that much more dangerous. And he almost took out Devdutt Padikkal's off stump with a searing, outswinging yorker.

As of now, he's bowled 11 balls to Padikkal, and drawn false shots from five of them.

Alagappan Muthu, our man in Perth, is keeping a close eye on KL Rahul:

"The bowler is at the start of his mark. There is a hush. He starts running in. There’s electricity. The ball flies through, past the bat, there’s an “ooohhhh”. Trying to keep his cool in the middle of all this is KL Rahul. He is taking this opening-the-batting business really seriously but there’s something else that he’s done a lot more of in the half hour that he’s been out there. Gardening. Kicking the dirt off his batting crease. Marking and re-marking his guard. Patting the grass by the side of the pitch. Patting the good-length area of the pitch. He’s got too much energy and he’s trying to shed it all before he has to face the ball. This is a big morning for India and it’s not started perfectly."

Lovely delivery from Mitchell Starc to bring up the first wicket of the series. On the fuller side of a length, leaving the left-hander in the fourth-stump channel, a bit of that Perth bounce. Not the greatest shot from Yashasvi Jaiswal, though, looked to drive on the up, bat well in front of body, and the thick edge flies low to gully, to Nathan McSweeney who hasn't had to wait too long to get on a Test-match scorecard.

India are 5 for 1 in 2.1 overs.

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are two of India's greatest spinners of all time. They have the experience of playing in Australia and contributing to back-to-back Test-series wins. Neither will feature in this Perth Test.

Instead, India will play just the one spinner, and that spinner is Washington Sundar. What an incredible last few weeks he's had. At the start of their last series, at home against New Zealand, he wasn't in the squad, and hadn't played a Test in three-and-a-half years. Then he came back, and it didn't seem like he came back on the back of his bowling, because he'd just scored a Ranji Trophy century batting at No. 3 for Tamil Nadu.

Since then, it's been all fairytale. A seven-for on the first day of his comeback, terrific performances with ball and bat in both Pune and Mumbai, and he's leapfrogged two all-time greats into the first Test of a massive overseas tour.

Here's what I think made India go with him. They wanted a spinner who could turn the ball away from Australia's many left-handers, and someone who could exploit Perth's bounce with his overspin. If Kuldeep Yadav had been fit, he may well have been playing this Test match. And India could have gone with Ashwin too, because he ticks those boxes as well, and has been one of Test cricket's greatest bowlers to left-hand batters. But they've gone with the man in form, a man with a style suited to these conditions, and with serious batting ability to boot. Plus, he handled himself pretty well on Test debut the last time India were in Australia.

India have picked four quicks in Bumrah, Siraj and the two debutants, Rana and Reddy, and they've brought Devdutt Padikkal, who wasn't even in the original squad, straight out of the India A side and into the No. 3 slot.

Australia line up as expected.

I can't think of the last time India began a series with so little idea of their best XI. They have a couple of big names missing, and they have a large squad with a lot of interesting options that could allow them to go many different ways with their selection, but so many of those options are unknowns, near-unknowns, or unknowns in Australian conditions.

There are, therefore, probably four certainties in India's XI - Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah - and five if you count Mohammed Siraj. And a number of players are in line for their Test debuts. From what Alagappan Muthu has seen at the ground, it looks like two new caps have been handed out.

"India are in their huddle right now," he says. "Virat Kohli's got the grandpa duties, doing the team talk and dishing out a new cap. Think he might have given one to Nitish Kumar Reddy. There is a second debutant as well. Harshit Rana. He'd already marked his run-ups before he was given his cap. Clearly very eager to get out and bowl."

That's two seam-bowling allrounders, then. Reddy is more of a batter and a steady holding bowler - who has been talked up by India bowling coach Morne Morkel in the lead-up - while Rana is tall, strong, quick, and likes to hit the deck and hit the ball hard down the order.

Australia, of course, have a debutant of their own, and we've known this for a while. Nathan McSweeney will open alongside Usman Khawaja.