Jasprit Bumrah turned spinner as he bowled couple of leg-spin deliveries during practice ahead of the third Test match against Australia in Brisbane starting Saturday. In a video posted by journalist Bharat Sundaresan on X (formerly Twitter), Bumrah was seen two leg-spinners with a short run-up before going back to his full run-up and going full throttle against the batters. There were some concerns regarding Bumrah’s fitness after he struggled a bit during the second Test match but the fast bowler looked completely fit as he bowled quite well in practice against KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Meanwhile, former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden urged the Indian batters to bat “better and for time” during the third Brisbane Test against Australia starting from December 14 onwards.

After a disappointing batting performance against the pink-ball at Adelaide, Team India would be desperate for big runs and a series lead-providing win against Aussies at Brisbane.

Jasprit Bumrah started off with a couple of leg-breaks alongside R Ashwin but he’s now running in hot & bowling at full tilt, being an absolute handful to KL Rahul & Yashasvi Jaiswal #AusvInd pic.twitter.com/3IRzE0QXbm

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) December 12, 2024

Following a humiliating loss to the visitors by 295 runs at Perth’s Optus Stadium, which saw Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal deliver standout contributions, the hosts bounced back big time as top bowling spells from red-ball magicians Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins and a counter-attacking ton from Travis Head helped them flatten India by 10 wickets, chasing down an extremely easy target of 19 runs.

Though India delivered a fine performance at Perth with 487/6 declared in the second innings thanks to exploits from KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, Team India’s batting has largely looked listless since the start of their home Test season against Bangladesh and New Zealand.

In seven Tests and 14 innings since the start of Test season against Bangladesh, India has managed totals of 250-plus only four times. They have been skittled out for less than 200 runs seven times. Only twice India have gone on to score above 300, a 462-all out in the first Test against New Zealand and at Perth during the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

(With ANI inputs)