Siraj helps India assert dominance despite Head fifty

Mohammed Siraj picked up two key wickets of Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith as India continued to march on towards victory in the first Test in Perth on Day 4. Travis Head scored a fighting 63* to give Australia some respite as they scored 92 runs in the session but with 430 still to get and only five wickets in hand, the result seems to be heading only in one direction.

Jasprit Bumrah was on the money straight away as he hit Smith on the pads first ball but the batter got off his king pair a couple of balls later with a cover drive through the offside. From the other end, Siraj got a back of a length delivery to shoot up as Khawaja top-edged a pull to the 'keeper Rishabh Pant.

The Indian bowlers were unrelenting as the duo, along with first-change Harshit Rana, thudded the pads and beat their bat on numerous occasions. Siraj got Head rapped on the pads and went into a celebrappeal, but the umpire didn't give the batter out as Head marginally survived the DRS appeal on umpire's call when the ball was found to be just about clipping the stumps.

After drinks, the left-hander Head continued to punish loose deliveries down the leg-side or if width was on offer as the hosts scored 22 runs off the first four overs after the break. Smith from the other end was slowly beginning to look back to his fluent best. However, his innings was cut short as Siraj got one to straighten after angling in which found the outside edge of the batter to Pant.

Head brought up his fifty after a bumper from Siraj was ramped over the 'keeper for four and there was a round of applause as he soon brought up the 100 for Australia as well. At the other end however, Mitchell Marsh looked all at sea. He was hit on the glove a few times as the back of the length deliveries kicked off to him while he was beaten on the outside edge as well. It took Marsh 16 deliveries to get off the mark with a streaky three. Australia are currently 104 for 5 at Lunch.

Brief Scores: India 150 and 487/6 – declared (Yashasvi Jaiswal 161, Virat Kohli 100*, KL Rahul 77; Nathan Lyon 2-96) lead Australia 104 and 104/5 (Travis Head 63*, Steve Smith 17; Mohammed Siraj 3-34, Jasprit Bumrah 2-26) by 430 runs