Sydney, Dec 11: India seamer Jasprit Bumrah achieved a wonderful feat as he became slammed his maiden first-class half-century in the pink-ball practice match against Australia A at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday (December 11).
Pleasantly surprised with his batting heroics, Bumrah's teammates got up, clapped and gave him a guard of honour when he walked back into the dressing room.
India A vs Australia A: Jasprit Bumrah makes maiden first-class fifty but India fold for 194
The pace spearhead remained unbeaten at 55 off 57 deliveries on a day when the likes of Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha failed to impress with the bat.
Bumrah was the top-scorer for the visitors, who folded for a disappointing 194 in 48.3 overs after captain Rahane elected to bat first. Bumrah, who came into the game with a Test batting average of 2.9, produced a stellar performance with the willow, smashing the ball six times to the fence and twice over it.
The 27-year-old, known for his wily bowling, reached his half-century in style, hooking a bouncer by all-rounder Will Sutherland for a huge six over the deep square-leg fence. Bumrah and fellow pacer Mohammed Siraj stitched a valuable 71-run partnership for the 10th wicket before the Indian innings ended.
The Indians, however, came back strongly with the ball to bundle out Australia for 108 at stumps as 20 wickets fell on a curtailed day on which almost an hour was lost due to heavy rain. India's four-pronged pace attack did well to intimidate Australian youngsters with short-pitched stuff as Mohammed Shami and Navdeep Saini got three wickets apiece.
Bumrah made the day even special as he picked up a couple of wickets in an impressive all-round effort to put India in the driver's seat at stumps.