India In Australia: The Men in Blue have started the tour of Australia in 2024/2025 with a magnificent win. India won the opening encounter by a margin of 295 runs at Optus Stadium in Perth. Under the leadership of Boom Boom Bumrah, India’s win at Perth was a historic one and that too without the leadership of Rohit Sharma. HITMAN has already joined the team and he will play the second Test, which will be a Pink Ball match at Adelaide Oval and before that, the visitors will also play a two-day warm-up game at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
India In Australia: Before Perth, India Has Won The Opening Match Of The Test Series In 2018 and 2019 Tour Of Australia –
vThe first instance in which India started the tour of Australia with a win was in the 2018 and 2019 Red Ball series, played under Virat Kohli‘s leadership. The Men in Blue won the first red ball match which was played at Adelaide Oval in Adelaide. Kohli and his men won the opening encounter by a margin of 31 runs and took a lead of 1-0.
India batted first and posted just 250 runs in the opening innings of the 1st Test match. It was Cheteshwar Pujara’s 123 runs which allowed the visitors to get that score. Pujara was India’s designated number three batter of the team on the 2018 and 2020 tours of Australia and India won the series both times when Pujara had played.
After a not-so-good batting performance from Team India, the team’s bowlers fought back in this match with collective efforts with the red cherry. The Aussies were bundled out for just 235 runs in their 1st innings and India also gained a lead of 15 runs in that match. Bumrah and Ashwin got three wickets each to their names while Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami bagged two scalps each.
India batted well in their 2nd innings and Pujara was again the top scorer for the Men in Blue with 71 runs. Ajinkya Rahane, who was the vice-captain of the team was the second-highest run-scorer of that match played at Adelaide Oval. Jinx scored 70 runs as India got to 307 runs in their 2nd innings. But still, the visitors would have got more if the lower order had contributed with bat in hand.
The target for the Aussies was 323 runs to win the opening encounter of that series and also maintain a winning run in the 1st Test matches against India at their home. But apart from Travis Head, no other batter from Australia could get a half-century. Tim Paine, the skipper of Australia in that series scored 41 runs which was the second highest runs in that innings for them.
Nathan Lyon’s roar with the bat in hand scared India. Lyon scored 38 runs and it looked like he would take his team over the line. But the bowlers of the Men in Blue held their nerve and clinched the first-ever opening match on Australian soil. Australia was dismissed for 291 runs and India won the game by 31 runs.
Bumrah, Ashwin and Shami bagged three scalps each while Ishant Sharma picked up a lone wicket of the Australian top scorer, Travis Head. India won the opening match of that series and later, India won the Test series, which was their first-ever series win in Australia. Can India achieve that similar feat on this tour of the Aussie Nation after they won at Perth?
Also Read: Australia Vs India: 5 Best Performers From India In The 1st Red Ball Match Versus Australia
