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Test #1531 India vs Australia at Mumbai. Report by Harikumar S. The Aussies have come to the subcontinent with the determination to win at all costs. Steven Waugh had rightly called India - the final frontier - because however bad the Indians perform overseas they are a really strong team in front of the home crowd, where they have always been rock solid. The Indians too have a score to settle with the Aussies for the 3-0 whitewash few months back when they had toured Australia. Day 1 In a fairly good bating pitch, Steve Waugh won the toss and decided to field first and make use of slightly cloudly weather to rip through the indian top order. Openers Ramesh and Das started cautiosly and managed to play out the initial overs from the fiery duo of McGrath and Gillespie. They managed to survive for about 55 minutes. Fleming who was introduced into the attack in the 13th over replacing McGrath gave the Aussies the first break through, when Ramesh edged a regulation catch to Mark Waugh at the first slip. Dravid who replaced Ramesh, was in an aggressive mood,scoring a quick fire 21 off 25 balls before Ponting held a blinder at backward Point off Fleming.Das and the Little Master Tendulkar managed the affair from thereon cruising India safely to 100 at lunch. After Lunch Tendulkar and Das seemed to be in command when runs started to flow freely causing Steve Waugh to shuffle his bowlers around. Gillespie who had been bowling a good line and length at decent pace then gave Australia the double break through,when he struck twice getting rid of little Das for 52(119) and dangerous Ganguly (golden duck) on successive balls. To make things worse for India, Tendulkar (57) who was timing his shots perfectly was castled by a subtle variation of pace by Fleming, while the in form Laxman edged a simple catch to Gilchrist off Gillespie. In the second session,before tea, Australia managed to get 5 wickets for just 88 runs. The veteran keeper Nayan Mongia(33) managed to get some support from the tailenders Srinath (17) and Harbhajan (24), which helped India to attain a more respectable score of 253. Gillespie and Fleming took four wickets apiece while Warne who bowled 22 overs went wicketless. In reply,the visitors had a bad start when opener Slater was out without scoring off the 3rd ball. First down Langer played aggressively maintaing a run rate of 4 RPO. At stumps Hayden (12) and Langer(23) were at crease. Day 2 Langer was out to a turner from Harbhajan Singh for 38. Mark Waugh(20), Steve Waugh(17), Ponting(14) all got a start but could not capitalise. Aussies were losing wickets regularly, but at the other end Hayden was carrying on consistently, playing a beautiful inning. He found a very good partner in Gilchrist who was playing very aggrassively. Gilchrist reached 50 off just 40 balls with the aid of 8 boundaries. He got a life just after having completed his 50, when Agarkar dropped a difficult chance at long on. Things looked ominous for India when an inswinger from Srinath found the outside edge of Hayden, which was cleanly grasped by Laxman at the slip. Hayden had scored 118 runs with the ball rolling over the ropes 11 times. His partnership with Gilchrist was worth 79 runs. Gilchrist had still not stopped. It seems Lady Luck was in favour of Gilchrist, for a usually very safe pair of hands of Agarkar, dropped the left hander for a second time, when he was at 73. The 50 partnership between him and Warne came up in good time with the leggie contributing just 5 runs. At close of play on day 2, Gilchrist was batting on 99 and Warne on 5. The score was 334 for 6. Day 3 Adam Gilchrist (111), the graceful left hander from New South Wales was the first to be dismissed on day 3, but not before he completed another ton. Agarkar and Srinath finished the proceedings dislodging the tail and Australia were all out for 379 giving the visitors a lead of 126 runs. Javagal Srinath was the pick of the bowlers. He took 6 wickets giving just 91 runs in his spell of 34 overs. In the second essay, the Indians had a shaky start, with Das and Ramesh toiling hard to cope with the fiery pace of the Aussie trio. At tea India were 28 without loss. The collapse started after the tea. Gillespie trapped Das in front of the stumps for 14 when the score was 32. Loss of Dravid(1) and Tendulkar(2) within a gap of 6 runs had India struggling at 38 for 3. Ganguly (25) and Ramesh(36) held on a partnership of 35 runs, but both of them got out soon. Mongia(1) was out cheaply. Just as in the first inning,the Indian tail showed some resistance and gave ample support to Laxman(19). Agarkar looked solid till he was trapped in front of the stumps for 18 off Gillespie. At the draw of stumps on day 3 the scoreboard read 142 for 8 with Srinath on 11 and Harbhajan on 8. Day 4 Srinath(16) showed that great patience in his defence as the frustrated Aussie bowlers had to bowl for nearly 45 minutes to get one of the tailenders out. Harbhajan Singh(33) on the other hand continued from where he had stopped in the first inning and gave the bowlers most frustrating period of the game. Australia had to bowl for almost one and a half hours to get the wickets of the 2 tailenders. But the resistance of the tail was never enough, as India was bundled out for 180, an effective lead of just 55 runs. Gillespie once again looked a dangerous bowler with 4 for 58, and a match haul of 8 wickets. In reply, the Aussies did not have a smooth sail. The hero of the first inning, Hayden (1) was the first to go. Mongia took 2 very good catches to dismiss Hayden and Langer (9) which saw the visitors struggling at 31 for 2. Just before lunch Slater (27) top edged a slower ball from Agarkar to Harbhajan. But soon after Lunch, the Waugh twins who scored 10 runs each played their team to a 7 wicket victory over the home side. |
Revised:
Saturday, 16 March 2013. |
