"They were the bullies.": Making sense of what took place on a dark day for Australian cricket

These are the sort of days you’d expect in Delhi.

Or Mumbai. Or anywhere else in India.

The sun baking. The pitch largely lifeless. Constant noise. Fans draped in blue shirts and orange, white and green flags.

Virat Kohli driving, punching and flicking his way to another ton.

If it was in India, you could almost accept it. Touring teams - New Zealand aside - regularly travel to the land of Virat, Sachin and Ravi and leave humbled.

But in Perth? Surely not.

And especially not after bundling India out for 150 on day one.

And particularly not with all-time greats such Cummins, Smith, and Lyon.

But here we are, in conditions which traditionally suit Australian teams better than any tourists, with the hosts getting taught a lesson.

India batted the Aussies into oblivion on day three. They were the bullies. There was a sense of humiliation given how helpless Cummins and co were.

Poor Alex Carey let through 22 byes, by far the most of his 32-match career. Usman Khawaja looked his age in the field. Marnus Labuschagne bowled seam and spin, both with almost no impact.

When Kohli marched to the crease at 2-275, Cummins erred in keeping Mitch Marsh on from the Justin Langer stand end. For 15 minutes, the master had time to get himself in against the all-rounder.

Australia also missed three genuine run-out chances. But in reality, conditions were so far in India’s favour, it would have taken a complete catastrophe for the day to play out any other way.

The Indians didn’t need to declare, but they did anyway in pursuit of late afternoon wickets. They got three of them.

The common phrase when a batter walks out with a handful of overs to bat is something along the lines of ‘well, that’s the life of an opener.’

The only problem? Nathan McSweeney ain’t an opener. It’s a tough position at the best of times, let alone late in the day against Jasprit Bumrah with the ball rolling along the turf from back of a length.

Captain Pat Cummins had batted 65 times in Tests before today, but never higher than number eight. Yet he walked out as the night watchman.

Symbolically, he was like the captain of The Titanic. The ship is sinking, so he may as well lead from the front.

When he hung his New Balance bat out to dry and edged Siraj to Kohli, he punched his bat in frustration. The ship will sink regardless.

This saw Marnus Labuschagne to the crease. A man who batted for 95 minutes in the first innings as if there were five minutes remaining in the day, for just two painstaking runs.

Not only was he set packing on the cusp of stumps, but he burned a review for the second time in the match.

His position in the team is now untenable. Australia cannot carry him any longer. This is stating the obvious. He averages 30 across his last 40 Test innings. It's a remarkable fall from grace for a player widely viewed as a long-term first drop.

Australia will lose this Test, probably on Monday, maybe even before lunch. It’s better to be 1-0 down in a five-match series than a shorter contest. That’s the only positive thing.

India did to Australia what Australia expected to do to India. It was abject and frankly humiliating.

If this keeps up, Australian cricket could be heading for an Argus-review-type reckoning.

It’s one thing to witness India dominate Australia. But to do it on these shores? That’s another story.

Let’s call it as it is, this was the Aussies’ worst day of cricket at home since Hobart eight years ago.

After that Test, six changes were made to the squad of 12.

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