Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden hailed India captain Jasprit Bumrah for his perfect delivery to dismiss India’s nemesis Steve Smith on Day 1 of the first Test against Australia in Perth. Notably, Smith was dismissed for a golden duck as he trapped in front of the stumps by Bumrah which left Australia reeling at 19/3 …
Steve Smith ‘modern-day enigma’, got a perfect delivery from Jasprit Bumrah: Hayden
Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden hailed India captain Jasprit Bumrah for his perfect delivery to dismiss India’s nemesis Steve Smith on Day 1 of the first Test against Australia in Perth. Notably, Smith was dismissed for a golden duck as he trapped in front of the stumps by Bumrah which left Australia reeling at 19/3 in 6.5 overs. It was the 11th duck for Smith of his Test career and his second golden duck in the longest format.
At the end of the day’s play, Hayden spoke about Bumrah’s dismissal of the former Australia captain and hailed him for his ‘genius planning’. He further called Smith’s dismissal as the crowning glory of the day and hailed the India captain for bowling the ‘perfect delivery’ to get the Australia star.
AUS vs IND 1st Test Day 1 Highlights
“Think of Steve Smith’s career. He’s always been a modern day enigma. You’ve always kind of expected him at some point to fall over the crease and get trapped in front like that dismissal. That was kind of all the old fellows that look, look at the game, consider Smith to do that. But in reality, it’s also genius planning,” Hayden said on Star Sports.
Further speaking ahead, the former opener said how Smith’s dismissal helped India expose the Australian batting and get into a dominating position.
Bumrah’s menacing spell leaves Australia reeling
“I mean, to have that sort of velocity, 140, jamming it into the, into the stumps, that was going on to clean up middle stump. We thought that that was the perfect delivery. We thought that Cummins would have the perfect delivery against Virat Kohli as well in that matchup, but to me that was the crowning glory of the day. Get Steve Smith out, expose Australia, and you get them in a position where you want them as a Team India,” he added.
It was just the second time in his career that Bumrah dismissed Smith with his last one coming during the second Test of the 2020-21 series in Melbourne. The India skipper was in full flow with the ball as he scalped four wickets in the day finishing with figures of 4/17 in ten overs. Bumrah got the prized scalps of Usman Khawaja (8), Smith, Marnus Labuschagne (2) and debutant Nathan McSweeney (10).
Apart from him, Mohammed Siraj (2/17) also chipped in with two wickets as Australia finished the day on 67/7 in reply to India’s 150 in the first innings trailing by 83 runs.
