Score line: - Australia 430-10 (Mike Hussey 146 (276 Balls), Zaheer Khan 5-91), India 68-0 (18.1 overs, Virender Sehwag 43* (55 Balls))
Report Sheet of the Day: - Australia 70 % - India 30 %
Match-Report:-
350 was the total that India would have set as maximum for themselves to chase, 400 was the minimum that Australia would have settled for. Indian seamers were bowling well on a strange surface; Australian batters determined to avoid a collapse…and in between there was some attritional cricket & a stylish hundred from Mike Hussey.
It was apparent that Indians were looking quite determined to take an early wicket. There seemed to be a sense of purpose with the way Ishant Sharma& Zaheer Khan started, although the fact that the new SG ball isn’t really known for swing or seam movement, seemed to have caught up with Zaheer. He wasn’t really swinging it back into the right-handers, and that set the tone for the day.
Indians would have hoped for an early bat in the day, when Ishant sent down a working over to a hopelessly rusty Shane Watson, lining him up with a lifter which crashed into the pads, and then bowling a fuller ball, which had Watson groping and playing too late-the ball hit the off-stump about ¾ the way up…so it wasn’t a low bounce…and the fact that Watson was on his front foot, proved he just was too late on the ball. (5-259)
Hussey then impacted his ire on Zaheer, who was visibly unable to swing the new cherry. Two boundaries in one over quelled the early nerves for Australia, and Haddin on the other end, was just happy pushing & prodding his way with occasionally playing a shat against the spinners. Session-1 to Australia.
After lunch, it seemed obvious that the Indians had started to feel the pressure. Sharma was given the older ball…hoping for a reverse, but Haddin was playing a surprisingly dogged hand. Perhaps against his nature, he was playing like a tail-ender, occasionally groping for balls. Sharma literally fooled him with a very cleverly disguised slower-ball…and gave India a much-needed break-through. White too...Didn’t last long, and exposed a few questions about the merit in playing an extra batter like White in place of a potentially handy bowler like Siddle or Bollinger.
Brett Lee then wheeled away with Hussey as the end looked near to the Indians. Again, it was surprising to see how much the Indians allowed Hussey to play his game. He was picking up singles at will…sometimes on the last ball of the over, with no effort to put a ring of the fielders inside the circle. When that was corrected, Lee had settled down, as the Indian shoulders dropped. Session-2 to Australia.
Zaheer Khan finally ended the misery by slicing through the tail with an exhibition of superb reverse-swing that happens with the older SG ball. Lee and Johnson were promptly cleaned up, looking clueless against incoming balls, Hussey ending his own innings in an ugly way by inside-edging the ball and uprooting the middle-stump.
Lee looked again clueless with his superb opening spell where he rarely allowed Gautam Gambhir to put bat to bowl….by bowling each ball his first over down the leg-side. On the other hand Clark was wheeling away. Moving the ball off-the seam with an occasional straighter one. Virender Sehwag to his credit played him with a reasonably straight bat. As always happens with a Sehwag innings, there was a flurry of boundaries mixed with some stupid singles. Gambhir was playing a some what sedate innings, looking surprisingly clueless against Clark.
As the day ended abruptly with a surprising combination of sunlight & rain, combined with a stoic defense from Sehwag. Session-3 to India, by a big way.
In the end…India would be very much disappointed with not being able to bowl Australia out for a much lower score, somewhere around 350. They allowed Mike Hussey to play his normal game, and although Sehwag has started confidently, one wonders how long he will last. Indians need to play the whole of day-3 and a good part of day-4, to put the pressure back on Australia.
Pitch: - Very very strange pitch. Looks deteriorating enough to make the bowlers smile. Yet no exaggerated seam or swing movement-unless the ball starts reversing. The ball is turning, but the turn is very slow. Bounce is getting lower with every session; no delivery has jumped alarmingly, so the batters are safe. It’s time for the Indians batsmen to capitalize on the thin Australian bowling line-up. Lee & Johnson can reverse-swing the ball at pace, watch out for them. An unpredictable day-3 awaits.
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