Team India sans Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, team's premier batter, produced a remarkable show in the Border-Gavaskar opener in Perth. Jasprit Bumrah, the stand-in skipper, led from the front and helped India recover from a dismal 150 in the first innings. What followed next was complete dominance as KL Rahul along with Yashasvi Jaiswal stitched 201 runs for the opening stand. While Rahul missed out from a well deserved century, Jaiswal hammered 161 in his first Test on Australian soil and Virat Kohli ended his century drought.
The all-round brilliance by the visitors saw them thrash Kangaroos by 295 runs, marking their biggest win in terms of runs in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries.
It was a brilliant display and England's all-time great Alastair Cook didn't shy from praising the Indian unit, calling them 'brave'.
"I thought India was so brave. They win the toss and bat on that wicket. Even though there's only 150 they got, the thought process to say, 'we're going to take Australia on there. We know it's going to be hard, but we think it's going to be hard for both sides only, and then it'll be a one-innings game'," remarked Cook while speaking on TNT Sports.
He added: "I think most captains would have bowled first, certainly would have done and probably got the end of a bad result, like normally in Australia. But India took it on brilliantly. It was just an all-round fantastic performance. Bowled out for 150, you think we're struggling here, but to bounce back when you've got Boomer (Jasprit Bumrah) up with the new ball on those kinds of wickets, he's always going to be outstanding and backed up by team."
Cook also touched upon some big decisions India took ahead of the match, one of which was to omit proven performers Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja from their plans. "Just think of how brave they were? They didn't bother playing Ashwin who has got 500 Test wickets. I thought Ashwin would have been outstanding, but great thinking by them. And isn't it nice to see Australia get thrashed?"
Cook then lauded "classy" Jaiswal for dictating the show against a fierce Australian pace battery, highlighting the exchange between him and Mitchell Starc. "We've seen his celebration enough but it's more enjoyable against Australia than England, certainly."
"And sledging Mitchell Starc, he's telling him you're bowling slow. I've faced Mitchell Starc and he certainly doesn't bowl slow. And if he was bowling slow, I'd keep my mouth shut and not wind him up, but have the confidence to do that as a 22-year-old."
"I think he scored the most runs as any Indian player up to after 15 Test matches at the top of the order, which I'll keep saying it, no one else believes me, it's the hardest place to bat. What a classy player he is."
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