The West Test: Aussie top order crumbles as wickets tumble in record numbers on opening day

Australia has lost seven wickets and been left reeling in a session of carnage and a hair-raising spell by Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah on the opening day of The West Test.

The hosts are 7-67 at stumps and still 83 runs behind, despite an embarrassing collapse that had the visitors rolled for just 150.

It marked the most wickets to fall on the opening day of a Test match in Australia since 1952.

Alex Carey is on 19 and Mitchell Starc six after Bumrah’s rampage — the best spell of bowling Perth Stadium has seen — hauled his team back into the contest on Friday.

The country’s lowest-ever score in Perth is 76, made against the fearsome West Indies in 1984.

Question marks will grow over the form of Marnus Labuschagne, who was dismissed for two off 52 balls and threw away a desperate review, while Steve Smith marked his return to No.4 with a first-ball duck.

With another single-figure failure and a mind-boggling dropped catch, megastar Virat Kohli is becoming the face of the Indian form crisis.

He was one of a string of Indian batters dismissed in a fierce Australian pace onslaught, only to have their blushes saved by their own bowlers.

They took four wickets in just over an hour in the final session, including a harrowing examination of debutant Nathan McSweeney, who fell for 10.

The crowd of 31,302 also broke the record for single-day attendance in Perth.

Kohli — the main character of this month’s Hollywood-like build-up — had his career-low slump laid bare.

Forced to the crease early at 2-14, Kohli had his outside edge beaten in the first over he faced by Hazlewood and then fell victim to a rising ball he couldn’t get his hands away from.

The former Indian skipper had been widely tipped to bounce back to form on a tour almost certain to be his last and most important to Australia.

His nightmare day continued in the evening session when he let a catch out of his grasp at second slip, even after teammates had begun celebrating.

The blunder relieved Labuschagne before he had scored and left Bumrah, who had gone into bat for his teammate pre-Test, furious.

Kohli batted well out of his crease and used a new guard to counter the extra bounce and access the leg side.

“He has changed his guard. He is up and out of his crease, you’ll see that back foot is more over on middle and off-stump than we’re used to seeing,” Australian legend Ricky Ponting said on Channel 7 and 7plus.

“He is trying to get into the line of ball so he can hit the ball through the leg-side.

“The reason he is doing that, is because the way the Australians have bowled to him the last couple of times he has been in Australia, it has been this wider line has been his undoing.”

Bumrah, standing in as captain, took 4-17 from 10 overs and his extra yard of pace was too much for Australia’s top-order.

McSweeney was forced into making quick and nervous decisions and left the ball with great apprehension. The Bumrah heat was on show when Khawaja edged behind while both of his feet were in the air and when he clattered a ball into Smith’s pads for a first-ball duck.

Travis Head wasn’t shy in his brief stay at the crease, he unfurled into a hook for four but became Harshit Rana’s first Test wicket, clean bowled, for 11. Labuschagne was far more cautious and it took him 24 balls to get off the mark.

Returning for a final spell, he had rival captain Pat Cummins caught behind.

Tempers flared into three spot-fires late in the day. Labuschagne flicked a ball he had defended to his feet away from the inbound Mohammed Siraj, Smith was in his crease and in the clear when he used his pads to block a ball Rana had fired back at the stumps and Labsuchagne claimed KL Rahul’s catch to dismiss Marsh on six hadn’t carried.

Local hero Marsh took two wickets in the middle session to accelerate the collapse and quash concerns over his bowling fitness for the five-Test series.

Josh Hazlewood took four wickets in a stunning start to the summer, while Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins snared two each.

It did take Starc a moment to find his radar. The towering left-armer flung the first ball of the day down the leg-side and watched it race to the fence for byes before striking an unplayable length he camped at for the rest of his first burst.

Starc had Yashasvi Jaiswal out edging in the third over of the day and McSweeney’s start to Test life began by pouching the catch after replacing the injured Cam Green in the team and at gully.

The trio of Hazlewood, Starc and Cummns then bullied Duvdett Pradikkal for half an hour. The Aussie quicks peppered his outside edge and slammed balls into his pads with the Indian No.3 glued nervously to the crease.

He was then caught behind off Hazlewood for a torrid 23-ball duck.

A measured but at times acrobatic counter-attack by Rishabh Pant salvaged something out of the innings.

Pant received little help from teammates until debutant No.8 Nitish Kumar Reddy arrived at the crease. His selection because of his strong batting record proved a masterstroke and he top-scored with 41.

The most remarkable stroke of Pant’s explosive 37 was a six he hit over fine-leg around his front pad off a ball that pitched on middle.

Nitish got out of jail when he feathered a ball off his glove to Alex Carey, but Australia knocked back a chance to have it checked. He got another life on 37 when Khawaja dropped him on 37, but the Aussie opener held another one two balls and four runs later.

Rana — India’s other first-gamer — was the victim of a stunning bit of work by McSweeney and Labuschagne, where a deflection off the debutant was snared down low by his mentor.

Marsh was injected into the attack to start the session and delivered a maiden before he had Dhruv Jurel caught at third slip by Labuschagne. He then removed Washington Sundar.

India made five changes to their side and in a shock move axed veteran spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. They confirmed on Friday Shubman Gill, who broke his thumb in the nets this week, is still in the mix to play the second Test.