India circling huge win over Australia in Perth Test

Australia are on the brink of a heavy defeat to India in the first Test in Perth, with the home side trailing by 522 runs with seven wickets remaining at stumps on Sunday.

India began the third day ahead by 218 and quickly stretched their lead, piling on the runs to declare at 6/487 with a handful of overs remaining in the final session.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (161) and Virat Kohli (100*) were the chief scorers for the visitors, with the former converting his overnight score of 90 into his fourth score of 150 or more.

After Jaiswal went out, the momentum appeared to be swing back towards Australia as both Rishabh Pant and Dhuruv Jurel fell for one run, taking the visitors to 5/321.

However, Kohli steadied the ship alongside Washington Sundar (29) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (38), getting through to his first Test century since July 2023 before India’s declaration.

“I just wanted to contribute to the team’s cause,” Kohli said after his ton.

“I don’t want to hang around just for the sake of it, I take pride in performing for the country.”

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj then deepened Australia’s woes, taking three quick wickets to leave the hosts reeling at 3/12 by the close of play.

Nathan McSweeney fell to Bumrah for a duck in the opening over, then nightwatchman Pat Cummins (2) edged to the slips off Siraj before Marnus Labuschagne (3) was trapped LBW by Bumrah.

When asked after the close of play how his side can salvage the Test, Cummins did not inspire confidence.

“You probably have to ask one of the batters that question,” the Australian captain said.

“I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment.

“I’m probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters.”

Top online bookmakers now have India as enormous favourites at $1.01 to win the Test, with Australia paying $23 to pull off what would be the greatest run-chase in Test history.

Cricket betting sites had India at $4.50 in pre-match odds, while Australia were $1.40 favourites.

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