There is no shortage of flair in the Australian ranks; what sets them apart from the rest is their ability to amalgamate natural flair with supreme professionalism. Having frittered away the initiative with great haste, India had the best seat in town as the Aussies handed out a wonderful lesson in the art of tightening the screws.
This Boxing Day Test would, barring a massive miracle, appear headed only one way — towards a 15th consecutive win for Ricky Ponting’s all-conquering band. India were set 499 to pull off the most unlikeliest of victories in the first Test after Australia declared their second innings closed at 351 for seven on the third evening. In the 34 minutes to Friday stumps, Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer came away unscathed at six without loss. The highest run chase in Test history is 418; no team has made more than 332 to win an MCG Test. No prizes for guessing who is on top!
There is a reason why Australia have been far and away the most dominant Test nation for so long. So accustomed are they to the winning habit that they seldom settle for anything less.
Serious threat
There were periods over the first day and half when India seriously threatened their hegemony. Allowed a foot in the door as India's famed batting line-up crumbled like a pack of cards, Australia moved in inexorably for the kill, their batsmen complementing inherent flamboyance with a sensible approach that shut out all escape routes for Anil Kumble’s men.
Only Phil Jaques and Michael Clarke of the Australian batsmen made half-centuries, but where the home side scored was in making sure that they didn’t lose wickets in a clutch. Through the innings, there were partnerships of substance — 83 for the first, 50 for the third and 82 for the fifth. Already armed with a first-innings advantage of 147, it was just the path they needed to embrace as they began the middle day on 32 without loss.
The school that believes too much is being made of body language these days scored a minor victory on Friday. India didn't look at their most bubbly and energetic under the harshest sun of their tour so far. Their fielding was characteristically slip-shod too, but there was no let-up in the intensity of the bowlers. Badly let down by their batsmen, the bowlers continued to peg away relentlessly, the captain again in the vanguard and receiving great support not just from his two left-arm quicks, but also spin twin Harbhajan Singh.
Kumble could ill-afford to overattack, most certainly not with Australia already 179 ahead at the start of play. The early breakthrough was denied by Jaques and an ultra-aggressive Matthew Hayden, who picked on Zaheer Khan even as Jaques focussed on getting Rudra Pratap Singh away. As the day went on, the two left-arm pacemen again bowled excellently without too much luck, senior pro Zaheer the more impressive as he bent his back, responded to the urgings of his captain with a 10-over second spell either side of tea, and never allowed the batsmen to feel 'in.'
Quick succession
Australia, however, guarded assiduously against complacency. The only time they lost two wickets in quick succession was when Harbhajan picked up Hayden, then Ponting with a lovely doosra for wicket number 250, in his second and third overs. After that, India had to really toil for wickets, though none of the four bowlers lost heart at any stage. Zaheer's figures did him no credit at all. He reverse swung the ball at some pace and found the edges quite often. When he did peg back Andrew Symonds’ middle and off-stumps back with inarguably the ball of the match that reversed in and skidded off the surface, he was hauled up — rightly — for overstepping, a problem that plagued him all innings. He will bowl worse, and have a bagful of wickets to show.
Symonds matched Hayden’s aggression in the middle stages, but the man who held the innings together was Clarke. Without looking at his peachy best, the right-hander dug in and worked the gaps; it wasn't past his fifty that he used his feet beautifully to drive both Harbhajan and Kumble sweetly down the ground, nicely setting himself up for the rest of the series.
India had eight overs to negotiate after the declaration. The beleaguered Dravid made a statement by taking first strike. Now, for the long haul!


SCORE BOARD


AUSTRALIA (I Innings): 343 all out
INDIA (I Innings): 196 all out
AUSTRALIA (II Innings, O/n: 32/0):
Jaques c & b Kumble 51
(162m, 103b, 5x4)
Hayden c Ganguly b Harbhajan 47
(84m, 54b, 6x4)
Ponting c Dravid b Harbhajan 3
(9m, 7b)
Hussey c Tendulkar b RP Singh 36
(95m, 84b)
Clarke st Dhoni b Kumble 73
(154m, 113b, 5x4)
Symonds lbw Zaheer 44
(75m, 52b, 4x4, 2x6)
Gilchrist c RP Singh b H’bhajan 35
(83m, 59b, 4x4)
Hogg (not out) 35
(59m, 49b, 1x4, 2x6)
Lee (not out) 11
(26m, 19b, 1x4)
Extras (LB-3, NB-13) 16
Total (for 7 wkts decl, 88 overs) 351
Fall of wickets: 1-83 (Hayden), 2-89 (Ponting), 3-139 (Jaques), 4-161 (Hussey), 5-243 (Symonds), 6-288 (Clarke), 7-316 (Gilchrist).
Bowling: Zaheer 20-2-93-1 (nb-13), RP Singh 16-1-50-1, Kumble 25-2-102-2, Harbhajan 26-0-101-3, Tendulkar 1-0-2-0.
INDIA (II Innings):
Dravid (batting) 3
(34m, 30b)
Jaffer (batting) 2
(34m, 19b)
Extras (NB-1) 1
Total (for no loss, 8 overs) 6
Bowling: Lee 3-1-4-0 (nb-1), Johnson 2-1-2-0, Clark 2-2-0-0, Hogg 1-1-0-0.