What happened on Day 4 of the 1st India vs Australia BGT 2024-25 Test in Perth?
India registered a famous 295-run win at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Day 4 of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test on Monday, November 25. Set to chase a target of 534, Australia had a mountain to climb. The task became tougher after they lost three wickets for 12 runs in the closing stages of Day 3. Travis Head (89) offered resistance, but the hosts were bowled out for 238 in 58.4 overs.
India began Day 4 of the Perth Test in emphatic fashion as Usman Khawaja (4) fell to Mohammed Siraj, top-edging a pull. The out-of-form Steve Smith showed resilience and hung around for 17. His stay, however, ended when Siraj got a delivery outside off stump to hold its line and forced the batter to nick it. Smith's wicket left Australia in a deep hole at 79-5.
Head and Mitchell Marsh held fort for Australia, adding 82 runs for the sixth wicket. Head was his usual aggressive self as he cruised past his half-century, while Marsh slammed a couple of impressive sixes. It needed another moment of brilliance from Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah to deny Head a century. The pacer got the well-set Australian left-hander to nick a back of length delivery outside off.
Marsh (47) also missed out on a fifty, becoming Nitish Kumar Reddy's first Test victim, dragging a shortish delivery outside off back onto his stumps. Mitchell Starc (12) perished to a brilliant reflex catch by Dhruv Jurel off Washington Sundar's bowling. The dismissal brought tea and Sundar had his second of the over after the break as Nathan Lyon (0) was completely foxed by the Indian off-spinner.
The winning moment for the visitors came when debutant Harshit Rana deceived Alex Carey (36) with a 109kph slower ball and cleaned him up. The Perth Test saw fantastic batting performances from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, but skipper Bumrah was named the Player of the Match for claiming eight wickets.
India register biggest win in terms of runs in Australia
India's 295-run triumph in Perth in their biggest in Australia in terms of runs. Their previous best was 222 in Melbourne in December 1977, which was also their maiden Test win in Down Under.
Overall, the Perth victory was India's 10th in the Test format in Australia. After the win at the MCG in 1977, India beat the Aussies by an innings & two runs in Sydney in January 1978 followed by another 59-run win in Melbourne in February 1981.
It was another 22 years before India won a Test in Australia. The drought was broken when they won by four wickets in Adelaide in December 2003. The visitors registered a famous 72-run win at the WACA, Perth in January 2008 and have won the last two Border-Gavaskar series in Australia by 2-1 margins. They registered their maiden series win in 2018-19 and won again in 2020-21.