Jasprit Bumrah was the star of day 1 in Indian team's second practice match in Australia - against Australia A at Sydney. However, on a day where 20 wickets fell, the Indian pacer stole the show not with his bowling but, surprisingly, with his batting. Bumrah, a regular no. 11 in the Indian team, scored the only half-century in the entire day, remaining not out on 55. This is Bumrah's maiden 50 in first-class cricket. What's more, he took just 57 balls to score 55 runs.
It was a 71-run partnership for the last wicket between Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj which got India to a score of 194 in their first-innings. This may have seemed a highly disappointing result for the Indian team, until the opposition starting batting on the same wicket.
Thanks to a collective bowling effort from Indian pacers, with Mohammad Shami leading the way by picking up three wickets, India bundled out their opponents for just 108. Navdeep Saini also picked up three scalps in the innings while Bumrah got two. Siraj got one wicket while a run-out completed the innings.
The 86-run lead for India should be enough on this wicket to provide them safety and push them towards a positive result.
At the start of the day, Indian team had reason to be happy as the two up and coming stars in the line-up, Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw, looked in terrific form. Gill came in to bat after the fall of the first wicket - Mayank Agarwal for a personal score of just 2. Shaw batted with great aggression and scored 40 off just 29 balls while Gill managed 43 in 58.
Their 63-run partnership took India to 72/1, but then a collapse ensued. The tourists were 123/9 when Bumrah and Siraj lifted their team up to a challenging score. Sean Abbot and Jack Wildermuth starrted for Australia A team with three wickets each.
Cameron Green, centurious from the last match, picked up one wicket before having to go off the ground due to a blow to the head, from a drive by Bumrah. Due to him suffering concussion, he was substituted by Patrick Rowe.
Gill, Shaw, and Agarwal would all look to make a mark tomorrow. These two are not just competing against each other for a spot in the team but also, with Rohit Sharma declared fit for the last two games, with the latter also.
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