Jackson Barrett: Yashasvi Jaiswal masters mind, conquers tricky wicket with hard yards

Don’t let 17 first-day wickets distract you — this is one of the all-time Perth Test pitches. And don’t let 17 first-day wickets cloud the best spell of bowling ever seen at Perth Stadium, perhaps ever in Western Australia, by Jasprit Bumrah. Some perfect weather helped this wicket settle a little bit on day two of Australia’s clash with India. There was a touch less sideways movement off the track, and Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul proved after lunch that good batters willing to do the hard yards could score out there. It’s just that no one had been willing to do the graft. The two batting groups are likely to shaped by their two old masters this series. India by Virat Kohli because they are depleted and inexperienced away from home. Australia by Steve Smith because perhaps the best No.4 we have ever had has returned to the position and because the ageing group need to see a mighty late-career resurgence. They were brittle and completely blown off the park on Friday by Bumrah, whose brilliance seeped into Saturday’s morning session. His pace and bounce was violent again on Saturday and standing 22 yards away was no place for the feint-hearted. Perth saw the best bowler in the world this week across the past two days and he lived up to every bit of the hype. So too did Jaiswal. The prodigal Indian, who has battled outside of his home country, looked uncomfortable trying to defend Josh Hazlewood’s persistent hard length. A thick arm-guard is only one sign of a batter more confident getting after the ball than getting in behind it. When the bowlers wore and the ball got softer, he was given the width he needed to launch into breathtaking stroke-play. In a match where their king Virat Kohli hasn’t come to the party, India’s prince did. In their monster partnership, he and KL Rahul proved there were runs in this wicket if you worked hard enough for them, got set and put overs on the board. But Australia may not be so lucky on Sunday. Mitchell Starc warned on Friday evening there were cracks emerging and those are at great risk of becoming deeper and wider with another day tipped above 30 degrees. It’s why this has been a really good Test cricket wicket. Good bowlers were rewarded early in the game, good batters were rewarded later in the game. Then the elements come into play.