A head-spinning victory for India

Ashwin scalps 5 as Dhonis men beat visitors by an innings and 135 runs to take 2-0 lead

After England dented their proud home record following an upset 2-1 Test series win late last year, India took a big stride forward in re-establishing their superiority with a crushing innings and 135-run win over Australia in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Trailing India by 192 runs, Australia, overnight 74/2 in their second innings to India’s first innings total of 503 all out, were expected to struggle but not embarrass themselves with another dismal batting show on the fourth day here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. In a harrowing display of batting against spin, Australia lost eight of their remaining batsmen in just 122 minutes for a measly 57 runs.

Off-spinner R Ashwin (5/63) scalped three on the fourth morning to go with his two wickets the previous evening for his third five-wicket haul in four innings while Ravindra Jadeja (3/33) chipped away at regular intervals to end Australia’s innings at 131. India have now taken an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.

So abject was Australia’s batting that their team’s combined total for the match (368) was two runs less than what Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara had put together. This is also India’s second biggest win over Australia who had suffered an innings and 219-run loss in 1998 in Kolkata. With this result, MS Dhoni became the most successful Indian skipper, surpassing Sourav Ganguly’s 21 wins in 49 Tests. Dhoni, though, has crossed the record in four Tests fewer. 

A lot depended on the big two – overnight batsman Shane Watson and skipper Michael Clarke -- in the Australian camp if the visitors had to stretch the Indians if not save the match. But both the batsmen did little of note as Australian innings crumbled in no time.

The meek surrender in the second innings didn’t present a pretty picture of Australian batting but they had conceded a huge ground by failing to make the most of ideal batting conditions in the first innings after electing to bat first. Both their temperament and technique appeared suspect against the turning ball while their poor shot selection only compounded their misery. 
   
With a definite strategy in place, Dhoni got Ishant Sharma to strangle the Aussie batsmen with a leg-side line. Watson fell prey while trying to work a delivery off his pad, nicking the ball for Dhoni to complete a smart diving catch. This was Ishant’s first wicket of the series.

Jadeja, operating from the other end, was causing a few problems without success. He was even lifted over long-off fence nonchalantly by Clarke but Jadeja had the last laugh when he knocked over the batsman with the delivery of the match. Easily the best player of spin in the Australian line-up, even Clarke could do little as the ball drifted in to the middle and leg before spinning away to peg the top of off, beating the batsman’s forward defence. This was the third time in four innings that Jadeja has dismissed Clarke whose departure led to a procession.  
 
Next over, Jadeja had a doughty but an unconvincing Ed Cowan (44) caught by Virender Sehwag at slip and moments later he ran Moises Henriques out with a direct hit despite fumbling while collecting the ball. In one fell swoop, the Saurashtra all-rounder, whose very place in the playing 11 was questioned, had changed the complexion of the game. Incidentally, it was another Saurashtra player, man of the match Pujara who had set the tone for India’s dominance with his second career double century.     

Once Jadeja’s strikes had left Australia reeling at 111/6, Ashwin got into the act to prise out Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell to push the opponents into a deeper abyss. There was a bit of resistance from the last pair after Jadeja had accounted for Peter Siddle but Ashwin pulled the curtain down trapping Pattinson during an extended session to trigger the celebrations.