They call him 'Mule,' not because he can take exceptional workload, but for kicking his left foot before running in to bowl. Allan Wise put his left-arm to great effect at the Junction Oval on Thursday as he winkled out the first three Indian wickets in his first spell.

The 28-year-old from Melbourne, standing at exactly two metres, dismissed Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar in a first spell of 8-2-20-3. What made the effort even more special was that in four of six matches for the Bushrangers this season, Wise has been the 12th man!

“It was personally a good day for me, though I have bowled better before,” Wise conceded later, acknowledging that he had hit it lucky as well. “But overall, given the weather, it was a pretty miserable day.”

Wise was delighted at having got Tendulkar out. “It's something to tell the grandkids about!” he enthused, referring to having the little man playing on.

“He looked in pretty good nick, he was middling everything, and that huge pulled six he hit off me suggested that he was in ominous nick. He had more time to play his strokes than anyone else, he is a class apart,” added Wise, unable to keep the admiration out of his voice.

Hoping that the Indians would struggle against the bouncing ball, the left-arm paceman continued, “Hopefully, they will struggle against guys that bowl at 145kmph — Tait, Johnson and Lee. The bounce has been their downfall in the past, as it has been of other sub-continental teams. But having said that, they had a fantastic series here last time, so I guess we will have to wait and see.

“It is tough to say on the basis of what happened today if they will struggle, though. The wicket was slow, there was a bit of seam early on. It was a lot different from the tracks they will get at the MCG and the SCG.”