Ind v/s Aus: 3rd Test

India relied on an inspired display by their bowlers who skittled out Australia cheaply to put the the team in the driver’s seat with a substantial 118-run first innings lead in the third cricket Test here on Thursday.

The visitors were dismissed for 330 in the first innings but hit back brilliantly by bundling out the hosts for a paltry 212 to gain the upper hand on a bouncy WACA track.

The Indians were 52 for one in the second innings and had extended their overall lead to 170 runs at close on an action-packed second day which was dominated by the visitors.

Paceman Rudra Pratap Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 4 for 68 while Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma and skipper Anil Kumble chipped in with two wickets apiece to plot a dramatic Australian collapse.

The hosts were gasping at 61 for five at one stage before Andrew Symonds (66) and Adam Gilchrist (55) salvaged the situation to some extent with a 102-run sixth wicket partnership.

The partnership, which was assuming dangerous proportions, was finally brought to an end by Kumble who in the process became the first Indian to scalp 600 Test wickets and the third in the world after Muttiah Muralitharan (723) and Shane Warne (708).

It was a remarkable exhibition by the Indian bowlers who managed to extract a lot of swing from the pacy WACA track to rip through the strong Australian batting line-up.

Brief scores: India 330 and 52 for 1 (Virender Sehwag batting 29, Irfan Pathan batting 2; Stuart Clark 1-7)

Australia: Ist innings: 212 all out.

India second innings:

Wasim Jaffer c Hussey b Clark 11 Virender Sehwag batting 29 Irfan Pathan batting 2 Extras (LB-2, NB-6, W-2) 10

Total (For one wicket in 11 overs) 52

Fall of wicket: 1-45.

Bowling: Lee 4-1-14-0, Johnson 2-0-14-0, Clark 3-1-7-1, Tait 2-0-15-0.

V. V. S. Laxman (R) raises his bat on completing his century as teammate Gautam Gambhir looks on during the second day of the third Test match between India and Australia at Feroj Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on October 30, 2008.

Gautam Gambhir plays a shot during the second day of the third Test match between India and Australia at Feroj Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on October 30, 2008.

Brett Lee(R) congratulates Gautam Gambhir(L) after his double century during the second day of the third Test match between India and Australia at Feroj Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.

V. V. S. Laxman plays a shot on the second day of their third test cricket match against Australia in New Delhi.

India Vs Australia :: Test 3 :: Delhi :: Day-2

Honours were even on the first day till that point when the battler, Gautam Gambhir and the magician, V. V. S. Laxman started their act. Up until then, serial-spitter Ricky Ponting, embattled Brett Lee, talent-limited-and-yet-overly-talkative Shane Watson, offensively-aggressive Simon Katich, tour-passenger Cameron White and weed-killer Matthew Hayden seemed to have the measure of the Indians.

Two early wickets of the batting wizard Sehwag and the Zen-like Dravid meant that the burly and unruly Australian hunting-pack saw a door open. After the mauling that this pack had received to their collective backsides at Mohali, it was fascinating to see this hunting-pack once again circling, like vultures eyeing a dead animal. However, that door was shut initially by the mercurial and saintly Tendulkar. Once the battler Gambhir and the magician Laxman got together though, the key to that door had been lost by the confused, haggard and paralysed, yet defiant and aggressive Australian pack who continued to hunt for their prey as only hunting dogs can.

Phew! I can’t keep up this act any longer! It is hard working being a Conn, I tell you! The above paragraphs are in reference to an earlier article on this blog.

I’ll return to normal programming now!

The 2nd days’ play of the Delhi Test match is a few hours away yet. It should be a fascinating days’ play. Unlike some reports that have India way out in front, I believe that this match has many a twist left in it yet. The only disadvantage Australia has, at this stage, is that it does not have a quality spinner in its midst. Leaving out Jason Krejza and then bowling Cameron White, the preferred first-choice spinner just 4 overs was a folly, in my view.

If Australia can take a few quick wickets early on day-2 and get stuck into the Indian tail, it could be all over in a hurry. The ask would be for Australia to then bat long and hard and only once in this match! It is a hard ask. But it is certainly possible. If not, Australia would have to face quite a few overs of spin from Anil Kumble, Amit Mishra and Virender Sehwag and, on a pitch that is already offering some slow turn and variable bounce, the going will be tough for the Australians.

Its time to whip out that cliche again: The first session of day-2 is going to be crucial for both teams! The new ball is only 3 overs old and so the early morning seam could do the trick for the visitors. India, meanwhile, will be looking at a score of 400-420. Any 1st innings score in that range will be a good one on this pitch, I feel. This Kotla pitch looks very similar to the one Pakistan played in last year and in that match, 276 was the highest score in the match by either team!

Session-1:

Last night, I was thinking about the last time Australia played India at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground in Delhi. That was in 1996 in what was to be the first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The inaugural edition of the BGT was a one-match series! If I remember correctly, Australia was on its way back home after a tour of Pakistan? I could be wrong here. Anyway, I thought about that match because India had a D. Johnson playing for it, just as Australia have an M. Johnson playing in the ongoing Test match at the Kotla!

The one thing that stays in my mind from that match, above all else, was the wild slash that Michael Slater had in the second innings to a wide ball from the Indian Johnson to be caught brilliantly by Mohammed Azharuddin in the slips. Yesterday, we had Dravid slashing wildly to a ball from the Australian Johnson to be brilliantly caught by Matthew Hayden in the slips. Although Slater had made an impressive 44 in the 1st innings of that Test match, that irresponsible second innings slash by Slater — when facing a huge 1st Innings deficit — was widely reported to be the start of the end for the talented Michael Slater. One hopes that a similar fate does not befall Rahul Dravid!

I just don’t know how that India team won that inaugural BGT with players like opener Vikram Rathour (with wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia for company, who, incidentally had a fabulous game with bat and gloves to be named Man of the Match), left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, pace-man (debutant) David Johnson and off-spinner Ashish Kapoor against an Australian team that boasted several modern-day greats! Again, in that game, the weak Australian spinners let them down with Brad Hogg — on his debut, for Australia I think — and Peter McIntyre — perhaps on his 2nd or 3rd match. Both Ashish Kapoor (4 Tests) and David Johnson (2 Tests) would play only one more Test for India before being discarded. Yet, India won thanks to Anil Kumble!

Indeed, I remember reading at that time that an Australian player had one look at the pitch and said, “How come India is going in with only 3 spinners?“, to which an Indian journalist walking by said, “Actually one would do!“

Peter Roebuck writes eloquently about that game.

Anyway, back to the game now…

Australia started with two slips and a gully for Brett Lee, who started by rapping Laxman on the pads and went on to complete a good maiden over! There was just a slight hint of movement here for the Australian bowlers to exploit. At the other end Lee’s bowling partner was Stuart Clark, who had impressive figures of 21-8-29-0 at the start of the days’ play!

In the second over of the day, Gautam Gambhir got his 150; a splendid effort from this young Indian battler. And soon after, India’s 300 was brought up by a Laxman tickle to the 3rd man fence and soon after, the 150 of the Gambhir-Laxman was brought up.

What was happening on day-2 was a repeat of day-1 by Gautam Gambhir and Laxman. Balls that were short of a good length and wide of off-stump were left alone — and there were plenty of those — while the straighter balls were played competently. In that sense, the new ball was being somewhat wasted by the Australians. In the 6th over of the days’ play, the fielders were already spread to all parts of the field. This wasn’t the start that the Australian doctor had ordered!

From a strategy point of view, what was more confusing was that instead of bowling it full and allowing for seam movement, the Australians moved to what they do best when under pressure — even shorter stuff. They used to call this “Chin Music” under an earlier Australian dressing-room phraseologist. This was, in my view, the wrong way to bowl at the Kotla, especially early on in the morning when the ball can seam a bit. I would not be totally surprised if the Indian bowlers use the conditions better.

The first hour had again yielded only 13 overs in which India had scored 46 runs without the loss of any wickets. Laxman was on 85 off 136 balls and Gambhir was on 161 off 322 balls. The partnership was worth 185 runs off 50.1 overs at a rate of 3.68. This was good going from the Indians. They seemed keen to grind out the new ball and that was just what was required.

India beat SriLanka Match Photos

Suresh Raina raises his bat to the crowd after scoring a half-century (50 runs) during the third ODI match between Sri Lanka and India at the R. Peremadasa Stadium in Colombo on August 24, 2008.