No one quite knows what to do when Jasprit Bumrah stands at the top of his mark and starts that stuttering run of his. There should be no rhythm, no pace, and with that action, his body shouldn’t hold up. But the only thing the Australians, or any other opponents for that matter, have on their minds at that point is survival because they aren’t quite sure what he’ll make the ball do.

Very few bowlers have succeeded in instilling fear into the Aussies, and on a fiery Friday at Perth, Bumrah once again cemented his place among them. Over the years, his sorcery has scarred them — the accurate bouncers, the change of angles, the burst of pace, the sudden seam movement, the Shaun Marsh slower-ball dismissal in 2018. So, though India were bowled out for 150 on the first day of the Test — after Bumrah, the captain, decided to bat first in what led to another horrible collapse — the Aussies weren’t celebrating yet. They knew that Bumrah had not had his say.

Over the next few hours, at a venue Australia have used to intimidate the world, Bumrah gave terror a new name with a spell for the ages. As the day came to an end, the hosts were 67-7, with Bumrah grabbing 4 for 17 in 10 overs. More than the figures, it was the idea of Bumrah — what he can do himself, and what he can inspire his pace colleagues to do — that stood out.

If any evidence was needed of his relentlessness and his resolve, it was when Marnus Labuschagne was dropped off his bowling in the third over of the Australian innings. Bumrah had already started celebrating but had to abruptly stop as Kohli, at second slip, was unable to hold onto the ball, which popped out as his body hit the ground.

It could have thrown Bumrah off, and given that India had a pace bowling attack made up of an out-of-form Mohammed Siraj and two debutantes, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy, a drop in intensity would have hurt. But it takes more than that to unsettle Bumrah.

He shrugged it off; got back to work; and found success in the seventh over — setting Usman Khawaja up with a ball that seemed to cut away like an off-break, and then, a couple of balls later, finding the edge. This time, Kohli didn’t make a mistake.

Then came the show stealer. Steve Smith, even in tough batting conditions, presents very different problems to the bowling side, and after a brief fling with the opening position, he was now back at the No 4 spot where he has scored 5,966 runs at an average of 60.87.

Before Smith could get his eye in or understand what the pitch was doing, Bumrah got one to come back a long way. The right-handed batter, as he usually does, went across, but the big movement caught him out and trapped him LBW. The speed gun had the delivery at 141 clicks but the golden duck really set the cat among the pigeons.

During the innings break, Bumrah’s message to the bowlers was simple, as Reddy later revealed: “Don’t try too much, hit the right lengths in the right areas and let the ball do the work for you.”

It’s simple stuff, but when you see the skipper stand up and deliver, the others fall in line. Harshit Rana stepped up to send back Travis Head with a delivery that moved just enough to beat the bat before crashing into the top of off-stump. And then Siraj got into the act, picking up two wickets.

Even as the day was winding down, and the shadows starting extending across the stadium, Bumrah wasn’t done. His first spell was a brilliant 6-2-9-3 but now he was back and you could see the Aussie batters and the crowd hold their breath. Every ball of that first spell was an event, and he now was back for more.

He struck again, this time one captain to another, sending back Pat Cummins.

At the end of the day, who better than a fellow great Mitchell Starc to break down what makes Bumrah special.

“He’s obviously got a fair bit of upper extension in that elbow and does things a lot of actions won’t let you do, so there’s no surprise that he’s been a fantastic bowler across the formats for a long time,” Starc said. “And again, his skills were on show today as to how good he is. So I’m sure there’s something in that release point that’s significant to his action. It’s something a lot of people can’t do. So I’m certainly not going to go and try it. I’ll probably snap.”

The Australians respected Sachin Tendulkar; Virat Kohli got under their skin; Rishabh Pant reminds them of Adam Gilchrist. But Bumrah? He is unfathomable. And the opening day of the 2024 Border-Gavaskar Trophy drove that point home more strongly than ever.

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