JOIN USIndia on verge of huge win
Legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne had compared the Chepauk pitch to a clay court in his tweet a couple of days back. The 22-yard strip here in fact was far bumpier to hold a tennis match, but it suited the Indian spinners to the hilt as they placed the home side near a victory on Monday.
Once India stretched their overnight total of 515 for eight to 572 all out for an overall lead of 192 runs, it was clear that Australia would have a massive task at hand on a wearing fourth day surface, and they were never equal to it.
A terrific fightback by Moises Henriques (75 batting) and his resolute 57-run partnership with Nathan Lyon for the 10th wicket ensured that India would have to wait till the fifth day for celebrations. Australia ended the day at 232 for nine, ahead by just 40 runs.
Despite that minor frustration it was India’s day all the way, and the Indian spinners should be given full credit for utilising the favourable conditions, simply because they had failed to exploit tracks of similar nature in Mumbai and Kolkata against England a couple of months back, leading to criticism from all corners.
They didn’t let go the chance on this day. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had little hesitation in opening the attack with spinners from both ends. Soon, a picture that was so desired in recent times came into view.
Fielders formed an umbrella around the batsmen, three spinners – R Ashwin, Harbhajan
Singh and Ravindra Jadeja – landed the ball in the rough to confound the judgment of the Australians, who in turn hopped around with as much ease as men walking on a minefield.
A better second innings effort – like England had managed to construct in Ahmedabad – would have given them some amount of confidence going into the second Test starting at Hyderabad in five days’ time. But as it panned out, there was only one assured passage of play in their second innings and that came very late in the day to make any real impact on the game. It’s not a very comforting thought from an Australian perspective.
Even if they had a plan to counter the Indian spinners, it wasn’t on view on the day. None of the batsmen – barring Henriques and Michael Clarke – was precise in his footwork, and there could be no better example than Phil Hughes. The little left-hander found himself in no-man’s land while trying to avoid a delivery that reared on him from the rough near the good length spot, and the ball deflected off his gloves before settling in Virender Sehwag’s hands.
But the Indian spinners deserve full marks for firing out the Australian top-order, a major portion of it not having any experience in these conditions. For a brief while, Shane Watson, who came to open in the place of gastro-struck David Warner, and Ed Cowan resisted the Indian tweakers. But Ashwin, who grabbed five wickets for his match tally of 12 thus far, ended their alliance with the last ball before lunch, jettisoning Watson and the second session saw Harbhajan and Jadeja too joining the action.
Harbhajan had a poor outing in the first innings, failing to trouble any of the Aussie batsmen, straying often on the leg or pitching it short. But he atoned for it to an extent when the offie effected his trademark dismissal of a left-hander to remove Warner.
Coming from around the wicket, Harbhajan sneaked one past Warner’s bat to hit his pads, and the ball was in line with the stumps so that umpire Kumar Dharmasena didn’t have to think hard to uphold the appeal. After that point, Indian spinners were all over the Australian batsmen and only the nerves of Henriques and Lyon helped them to avoid a fourth-day defeat.
Earlier, Dhoni and Bhuvenshwar Kumar added another 31 runs to their overnight 109-run partnership for the ninth wicket before the skipper fell to hard-working James Pattinson, who deservedly completed a five-wicket haul, edging to ‘keeper Matthew Wade while trying to hook a short-pitched delivery.
But there were not many takers for the grit showed by Pattinson and Henriques in the Australian line-up.
score board
AUSTRALIA (I Innings): 380
INDIA (I Innings, O/n: 515/8)
Vijay b Pattinson 10
(17m, 15b, 2x4)
Sehwag b Pattinson 2
(28m, 11b)
Pujara b Pattinson 44
(116m, 74b, 6x4)
Tendulkar b Lyon 81
(257m, 159b, 7x4)
Kohli c Starc b Lyon 107
(266m, 206b, 13x4, 1x6)
Dhoni c Wade b Pattinson 224
(365m, 265b, 24x4, 6x6)
Jadeja b Pattinson 16
(63m, 45b, 3x4)
Ashwin b Lyon 3
(13m, 6b)
Harbhajan b Henriques 11
(37m, 31b, 1x6)
Bhuvneshwar c Clarke b Siddle 38
(167m, 97b, 4x4)
Ishant (not out) 4
(32m, 18b)
Extras (B-14, LB-14, W-4) 32
Total (all out, 154.3 overs) 572
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Vijay), 2-12 (Sehwag), 3-105 (Pujara), 4-196 (Tendulkar), 5-324 (Kohli), 6-365 (Jadeja), 7-372 (Ashwin), 8-406 (Harbhajan), 9-546 (Dhoni).
Bowling: Starc 25-3-75-0 (w-2), Pattinson 30-6-96-5 (w-2), Siddle 24.3-5-66-1, Lyon 47-1-215-3, Henriques 17-4-48-1, Clarke 8-2-25-0, Warner 3-0-19-0.
AUSTRALIA (II Innings)
Cowan lbw Ashwin 32
(98m, 97b, 3x4)
Watson c Sehwag b Ashwin 17
(53m, 46b, 1x4, 1x6)
Warner lbw Harbhajan 23
(82m, 61b, 2x4)
Hughes c Sehwag b Jadeja 0
(4m, 3b)
Clarke lbw Ashwin 31
(70b, 51b, 4x4, 1x6)
Wade b Harbhajan 8
(33m, 22b, 1x4)
Henriques (batting) 75
(136m, 124b, 6x4, 2x6)
Siddle b Jadeja 2
(20m, 20b)
Pattinson c Sehwag b Ashwin 11
(27m, 26b, 1x4)
Starc c Tendulkar b Ashwin 8
(9m, 7b, 2x4)
Lyon (batting) 8
(62m, 47b, 1x4)
Extras (B-15, LB-2) 17
Total (for 9 wkts, 84 overs) 232
Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Watson), 2-64 (Cowan), 3-65 (Hughes), 4-101 (Warner), 5-121 (Wade), 6-131 (Clarke), 7-137 (Siddle), 8-161 (Pattinson), 9-175 (Starc).
Bowling: Ashwin 28-4-90-5, Harbhajan 27-6-55-2, Jadeja 26-5-68-2, Ishant 3-1-2-0.