<p>It took <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/yashasvi-rahul-score-half-centuries-as-india-take-commanding-218-run-lead-against-australia-23434659" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><strong>India</strong></a> less than four and a half hours on Monday&rsquo;s Day Four to complete the formalities, newcomer Harshit Rana delivering the final blow to cement a record 295-run win over Australia in the first of five Tests.</p>
<p><strong>Head tale</strong></p>
<p>The writing was on the wall when they slumped to 12-3 at stumps on the third evening after being set a monumental 534 for victory, Australia rolled over for 238, Travis Head providing the lone pocket of resistance with a counter-attacking 89. It was India&rsquo;s biggest victory by runs on Australian soil, temporarily returning them to the top of the World Test Championship points standings.</p>
<p>Not even a miracle could have bailed Australia out of the predicament they were in when Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith kicked off proceedings, and their situation became even direr in the day&rsquo;s second over when Mohammed Siraj packed off the former, caught on the pull. Australia&rsquo;s designs coming into the day would have been to spend time in the middle, as much for some confidence as to tire India&rsquo;s bowlers out, but the dismissal of the left-handed opener, one of the few batters in the team capable of batting time, didn&rsquo;t help their cause one bit.</p>
<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/i-automatically-want-to-put-myself-in-tough-scenarios-jasprit-bumrah-23436217" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">"I automatically want to put myself in tough scenarios": Jasprit Bumrah</a></strong></p>
<p>Smith, not exactly flush with runs in the recent past, endured a troubled stay even as Head played his strokes freely and without inhibition on a surface that had lost a fair bit of its sting. Alongside Marnus Labuschagne, Smith is the middle-order mainstay, but the former captain struggled for fluency during his hour-and-a-half vigil, Siraj putting him out of his misery by nicking him off to Rishabh Pant.</p>
<p>The left-handed Head and Mitch Marsh then put on 82 in Australia&rsquo;s brightest batting phase of the entire Test once Jasprit Bumrah took himself and Siraj off the firing line and brought on Rana and Washington Sundar. India&rsquo;s plans were clear &mdash; to keep the pressure on Australia without their two lead pacers running themselves into the ground &mdash; but as the sixth-wicket alliance assumed pesky proportions, the captain for the Test brought himself on and immediately struck paydirt when he forced Head to edge one through to Pant.</p>
<p><strong>Rana, Reddy claim one each</strong></p>
<p>Bumrah then sat back and allowed <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/ind-vs-aus-1st-test-rishabh-pant-nitish-kumar-reddy-rescue-india-after-early-collapse-23434311" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><strong>Nitish Kumar Reddy</strong></a>, Washington and the profligate Rana to do their thing. Marsh helped himself to a few runs, including well-executed sixes off Rana and off-spinner Washington, but he was always fighting a losing battle and perished three short of his half-century, giving Nitish his first Test wicket with a drag-on to a loose delivery.</p>
<p>After Washington got rid of Mitchell Starc to a stunning catch at short-leg by Dhruv Jurel and Nathan Lyon in the same over split by the tea break, Rana uncorked a beauty to castle Alex Carey and consign Australia to their first defeat, after four consecutive victories, at the Optus. Bumrah was the Player of the Match in a game where India found multiple heroes as he handed the reins back to Rohit Sharma, who watched the end from the dressing room after a 40-minute session at the nets facing up to the pink ball.</p>
<p><strong>Brief scores</strong><br />India 150 &amp; 487-6d beat Australia 104 &amp; 238 (T Head 89, M Marsh 47, A Carey 36; J Bumrah 3-42, M Siraj 3-51, W Sundar 2-48) by 295 runs</p><p>
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Jasprit Bumrah & Co dismiss Australia for 238 to secure a dominant 295-run win in opening Test at Optus Stadium; visitors go 1-0 up in 5-match series

It's a perthfect start for India!

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It's a perthfect start for India!

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