The West Test: India close out comprehensive 295-run victory over Australia on day four in Perth

Australia are in for fierce backlash and a week of soul-searching in the wake of an embarrassing defeat in The West Test against India.

The visitors, who have now surged into series favouritism, sealed a famous Perth victory on Monday, taking the final seven Australian wickets to win by 295 runs.

Travis Head’s score of 89, before falling painfully short of a century, was Australia’s biggest highlight since tea on the opening day. He and hometown hero Mitch Marsh were the only meaningful resistance and kept the wolves at bay through the opening session in a score of 238.

Debutant Harshit Rana took the final wicket of Alex Carey just before 4pm (WA time).

A crowd of 6,627 watched the final day’s play, leaving The West Test just short of the all-time record for a match in Perth.

The cricket world has been whipped into a frenzy over fears around Australia’s brittle batting order in this match and the heat is rising on under-siege star Marnus Labuschagne.

Calls are growing for Labuschagne to be replaced in the side after dual-failures at the hands of Indian destroyer Jasprit Bumrah, who was named player-of-the-match.

Former Australian opener Simon Katich worried Labuschagne was too concerned with the ball swinging away he was caught off-guard by one coming back into his pads when he shouldered arms to Bumrah.

“If you’re facing someone like Bumrah, you know he is running the ball back into the stumps as a right-hander,” Katich told Channel 7 and 7plus.

“You have to defend the stumps and make sure you don’t get bowled or lbw. He looks like he is worried about nicking the ball hence the reason why he’s not playing a shot.”

But he isn’t the only Australian player with question marks looming over them. A total of 29 was the lowest-ever compiled by the country’s top four batters across two innings.

Bumrah finished with 3-42 and Mohammed Siraj took 3-51, completing a stunning fast-bowling assault on wickets conducive to their speed and Bumrah’s violent swing and seam.

The stand-in Indian captain’s two new-ball rampages at the end of day one and again on day three were the defining periods of the match.

AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST HOME LOSSES - BY RUNS

• 675: v England, Brisbane, 1928
• 408: v West Indies, Adelaide, 1980
• 338: v England, Adelaide, 1933
• 322: v England, Brisbane, 1936
• 309: v South Africa, WACA, 2012
• 299: v England, Sydney, 1971
• 295: v INDIA, PERTH STADIUM, 2024

Very rarely has Australian been slammed against the ropes more by a travelling paceman on home soil.

Head arrived at the crease 10 minutes into what proved the final day. Usman Khawaja, who resumed on day four with Steve Smith, was dismissed for eight — his second single-figure score of the match — when he skied an attempted pull-shot to Rishabh Pant.

Smith copped a Harshit Rana ball to the rib-cage and laid flat on his back on the Perth Stadium wicket before receiving medical attention and continuing.

Word out of the Australian camp was that Smith, who has returned to the No.4 position this summer after a short-lived experiment at the top of the order, had “found his hands” and was hitting the ball well before the series.

But he fell late in the first session, edging a Siraj ball behind for 17. He showed glimpses of evidence he may be in better touch than his day-one first-baller suggested, but has now gone 23 innings without a century — the longest drought of his career.

Head took the counter-attack to India and his boundary spree were the first real blows Australia had landed for more than two days.

The punchy left-hander cashed in on a softer ball on Monday, surviving some demons in the Perth wicket early before freeing his arms after lunch.

He looked easily the most comfortable Australian at the crease at any point in this Test. He drove well and played typically smartly behind square, bringing up his half-century by flicking a ball from Siraj over the wicket-keeper’s head for four.

Dhruv Jurel took a sharp catch at bat-pad to dismiss Pat Cummins, just as in-form wicket-keeper Alex Carey was building towards taking the game deep into the final session.

That Washington Sundar wicket was the first off spin by India all match, but he took another just two balls after the tea break when he bowled Nathan Lyon.

Two changes have already been flagged for India, with skipper Rohit Sharma batting in the Perth Stadium nets and poised to return to the top of the order in the Adelaide Test from December 6.

Shubman Gill is also racing to return from a finger injury. Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar tipped a reshuffle which would see KL Rahul go from opening the batting down to No.6.

“My feeling is that the batting order will change. Where Rohit Sharma will replace Rahul, Shubman Gill will bat at three, Padikkal and Jurel will go out of the team, Rahul will bat at six,” he said.

India also have champion spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin at their disposal after they were left out of the side for the first match.

Momentum is also building around the potential return of paceman Mohammad Shami, who has been playing Ranji Trophy back home.