India humble world champs with massive opening Test win

India have issued a definitive early statement in their quest to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and secure an unprecedented third consecutive Test series triumph in Australia after completing an emphatic triumph at Perth Stadium.

India's 295-run win was secured at 3.47pm amid lengthening shadows and in front of 6,627 fans, of which a vociferous portion were loudly cheering the touring team.

The final blow brought the wicket of Alex Carey who played all over a slower ball from Harshit Rana and was bowled as Australia's second innings finished on 238.

It would have been significantly less than that if not for middle-order contributions from Travis Head (89), Mitchell Marsh (47) and Carey's 36.

But the reigning world Test champions were never going to challenge the distant target of 534 after being reduced to 3-12 last night and then 4-17 first thing this morning.

Symbolically, the end came with a rush as Australia surrendered their final three wickets for 11 runs in 30 balls, having made similarly disastrous starts to both their batting efforts in this game.

In both innings it was India's stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah who inflicted the early damage, and the unstoppable quick – who will likely hand over the captaincy reins to Rohit Sharma for the next Test starting in Adelaide on December 6 – was deservedly named player of the match for his eight wickets.

If they are to wrest back the Trophy which India have held since winning it on their own patch in 2017, Australia must achieve a feat they've not managed since 1968-69 by triumphing in a series at home after losing the opening match.

The final margin represents Australia's heaviest defeat (in terms of runs) on home soil since they were humbled by 309 against South Africa at the nearby WACA Ground in Ricky Ponting's farewell Test of 2012-13.

It was also India's biggest Test win here using that same criterion since their one and only innings triumph to date – their innings and two-runs margin achieved during the 1977-78 summer when Australia's team was reshaped by World Series Cricket.

That series had provided the visitors' biggest margin in runs (222 runs at the MCG) while their only previous victory in Perth was a 72-run success at the WACA Ground in 2007-08.

After Marnus Labuschagne was knocked over from what proved the final ball of day three, there was a fleeting scare that Steve Smith had suffered a similar fate on the first delivery of day four.

Mercifully, the former Australia captain – facing a king pair for the first time in his Test tenure after being pinned for a golden duck on Friday – was spared by a call of no-ball after Bumrah had engaged in a lengthy chat about reviewing the lbw shout.

In keeping with the game's theme, Australia's good fortune lasted one over, at which point opener Usman Khawaja's miscued pull shot against Mohammed Siraj eventually nestled in the keeping gloves of Rishabh Pant.

At 4-17, Australia were facing the most dire start to a Test batting innings since the previous Friday when they staggered to 5-38.

Smith and Head provided a measure of resistance with Australia's first 50-run stand of the match which, in itself, underscored how ruthlessly dominant India's bowlers have been.

But having survived a bowler's review for lbw on 12 (deemed umpire's call), Smith's vigilance ended eight overs later.

While the 17 runs Smith scored seemed minimal given his bountiful career to date, the fact they were hewn from 60 deliveries faced across an hour and half without a solitary boundary highlighted the task's complexity.

In contrast to his former skipper's resolute stoicism, Head remained true to type and melded watchful defence with regular flourishes of counter-punching aggression.

It was fitting that his half-century – the first and only by an Australia batter in this Test – arrived thanks to some trademark innovation that echoed the stroke India's Yashasvi Jaiswal unfurled to reach a memorable hundred yesterday.

Head's ramp shot against Siraj was slightly more orthodox in that it soared above the slips cordon rather than fine leg, and pitched inside the boundary whereas Jaiswal's landed flush on the rope to yield six runs.

The other demonstrable difference was the scale of the respective celebrations upon claiming a milestone.

While Jaiswal's maiden hundred in Australia understandably brought a triumphal salute with both arms raised to a rapturous ovation, Head fleetingly tipped his bat towards the team dressing room and accepted a pat on the back from batting partner Marsh before getting back to work.

That indifference was due to the still-hopeless match situation with Australia barely within 450 of their fanciful target, a deficit Head and Marsh had decreased to 430 by lunch.

The pair emerged after the break clearly intent on taking the game to their tormentors.

They rattled on 57 runs from 53 balls with Marsh launching a couple of huge sixes square on the leg side and down the ground.

The all-rounder offered a half-chance on 13 when he slapped a front-foot pull off Harshit Rana through mid-wicket where Devdutt Padikkal barely had time to react before the ball bounced off his fingertips outstretched above his head.

The Australia duo who had enjoyed the least intensive lead-up to the first Test of the entire squad by dint of their respective stints of paternity leave put on the most productive batting union for their team in the match worth 82 from 87 balls.

But just as Head was eyeing Australia's first fourth-innings Test century in more than five years, the spectre of Bumrah returned and removed the threat with a classic one-two combination.

A fast bouncer that fizzed over Head's batting helmet was followed by an equally rapid, very full delivery around off-stump that the Australian instinctively poked at with feet anchored to the crease.

The resultant edge was accepted by Pant, with Marsh the only specialist batter standing between India and a deservedly thumping win.

That impediment was removed when Marsh was within a single blow of the innings' second half-century when he second-guessed himself for the first time in his 93-minute stay and chopped on to his stumps.

His dismissal heralded all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy's maiden Test wicket, thereby completing an impressive debut for the 21-year-old who belted an unbeaten 38 from 27 balls in India's second innings.

A match that became a non-stop highlights reel for India after they were bowled out for just 150 inside 50 overs on day one delivered one more memorabilia moment shortly before the inevitable end.

From what proved the final delivery before tea, Mitchell Starc stretched forward to spinner Washington Sundar and squeezed a catch that flew from the inside edge of his bat above the head of short leg fielder Dhruv Jurel.

By the time India keeper Pant had shouted "catch it", the chance appeared to have passed the team's reserve gloveman who somehow managed to extend his right hand and completed the dismissal that seemed to have eluded him.

From there, the end came at a clip.

Nathan Lyon's studied defensive push to the second ball he faced from rival spinner Sundar failed to prevent it slamming into his off stump.

And last man Josh Hazlewood copped a frightening blow to the back of his protective helmet in trying to evade a bouncer from debutant quick before Carey's stumps were scattered to add a suitably emphatic exclamation point to a decisive result.

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: (first Test only) Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal