Bumrah rejoiced cheerfully along with his Australian counterpart Cummins as both the teams took their positions at the center of the Optus stadium with the match officials. This has been nothing short of a miracle in the world of cricket. Perhaps, for the first time in the sports history of India and Australia, two teams involved in a cricket dispute were led by bowlers doing the most dreaded art known as fast bowling. Having succeeded Finch as Captain in 2021 cummins has been suspended as Captain of Australia and replaced with Bumrah who was assigned to fill the captaincy void for the first Test conducted in Perth in absence of Rohit Sharma who was on paternal leave to welcome the baby boy.
When players first traveled to Australia, Test match series between India and Australia initiated in the year 1947-48. This ended in a 0-4 defeat for the Indians. While Australia led by the iconic personality Sir Donald Bradman, Indian captain was none other than Lala Amarnath, a cricketer who was an all-rounder.
It also has to be noted that Kapil Dev was the last Indian fast bowler to captain the team in a Test series Down Under. He was in charge of the side on the 1985-86 tour. As for the Australian outfit, no Test captain from the pacers has been in the history books of years of the recent past to compete against India in Australia. Tim Paine was captain for the two tours of India previously, both in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Thus, watching of Bumrah and Cummins together at the time of toss also was an uncommon sight to the cricket viewers.
“We are going to bat first, looks like a good wicket. Very confident with our preparation. We played a Test match here in 2018 so we know what to expect. The wicket gets quicker. Nitish makes his debut. We have 4 quicks and Washi is the lone spinner,” Bumrah said at the time of toss on Day 1 of the Perth Test.
“And we were 50-50, either way, we are quite pleased. Feel well placed, quite fresh. Any format be it (India-Australia) is played, it is always competitive. Nathan McSweeney is making his debut at the top of the order,” said Cummins when asked if he preferred one of the two.
