[Watch] Marnus Labuschagne’s stunning rebound catch after Nathan McSweeney drops it in BGT 2024/25 1st Test
Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne took a spectacular rebound catch to get the better of Harshit Rana on Day 1 of the opening Test against Team India at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The rebound came off Nathan McSweeney as he dropped the catch, prompting his fellow teammate to go for it.
The dismissal occurred in the 47th over of the innings sent down by Josh Hazlewood. With Rana pushing at a back-of-a-length delivery to the slip cordon, McSweeney at gully dived to get a hand to it. However, the 30-year-old, standing beside him was quick to see that the catch had been dropped and reacted quickly to pouch it.
Rana, one of the two debutants along with Nitish Kumar Reddy, got off the mark with three runs and then hit a boundary. However, the right-arm pacer couldn't carry on any further.
Marnus Labuschagne had taken another sharp catch earlier in the innings to dismiss Dhruv Jurel
Earlier, Labuschagne had taken another sharp catch to dismiss Dhruv Jurel, who edged to slip off Mitchell Marsh's bowling. It was Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah who had won the toss and elected to bat first, citing it as a good surface to do so.
Mitchell Starc struck in the third over of the innings, dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck. Devdutt Padikkal, who batted at number three in only his second Test, perished for a 23-ball duck.
KL Rahul's 74-ball vigil for 26 runs ended in controversial fashion as the DRS came into the spotlight, while Josh Hazlewood removed the big scalp of Virat Kohli for just five runs. The 48-run partnership between Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rishabh Pant was the highest for the visitors in the innings. Reddy, on debut, top-scored with 41 to drive the hosts to 150.
Bumrah and co. now need to put in a massive effort with the ball to stay in the game.