Related Links : Australia in India 2008/09 | 1st Test Scorecard
India’s best batsmen found batting a difficult art on the third day of the first Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to put their team in a deep hole. The Aussies were all set to bundle out the Indians cheaply and it looked as if Mark Waugh’s predictions of the match ending on the fourth day would come true. However, Harbhajan Singh had other idea. The Turbanator produced a superb half century, infact his third consecutive one against the Aussies and his innings inspired Zaheer Khan as well. Along with Zaheer, Bhajji put on a record 80 runs to help India reach 313 for 8 at the end of the third day. India are now left with a well settled Zaheer (35*) and two stubborn lower order batsmen in Anil Kumble and Ishant Sharma.
The last session in yesterday’s play was a cracker with Sehwag and Gambhir getting the better of the Australian attack. But right in the morning, Brett Lee got his act right, he got the reverse going early and got one to trap Gambhir lbw. Lee angled a pitched up delivery towards the middle stump and then got it to straighten, Gambhir (21 from 61 with 3 fours) closed the face of the blade too soon to miss the ball. Brett Lee was celebrating almost immediately as he absolutely sure of getting the lbw decision in his favour. That first wicket fell in the second over of the day’s play and three overs later came the turning point of the match when Virender Sehwag (45 from 64 with 7 fours) dabbed at a full delivery wide outside the off stump to give catching practice to Hayden, the lone slip fielder. The edge from Sehwag flew quickly but Hayden took it comfortably with his big and soft hands. The bowler was Mitchell Johnson, who found a way out to succeed in Indian conditions as the session progressed.
India got reduced to 76 for 2 and it was a tricky situation with Dravid and Tendulkar in the middle as both batsmen have a tendency of getting bogged down at times. Tendulkar didn’t make the mistake of being over cautious and he unleashed some positive shots while Dravid was doing what he was best at which was defending solidly. Ponting was not a Captain who will just sit back and watch and he had his alternative plans for almost everything. The Aussie Skipper knew that having just the one slip and a gully was more than enough on a slow pitch where the edges do not carry at all. He instead had the short extra covers and the catchers on the onside. And the field placements paved way to the downfall of Tendulkar which was triggered by change of pace from Johnson. Sachin Tendulkar was a fraction of a second early in his drive and with the cutters gripping the surface, the result was a simple catch at short extra covers. Tendulkar fell for 13 (from 18 balls with 3 fours) and he has been trying to break Lara’s record of most Test runs since the start of the last series! To be frank, Sachin would have been out very early itself had Michael Clarke hit the stumps directly during the little master’s mix up with Dravid in a single. After Tendulkar, VVS Laxman came ahead of Ganguly and once again it was the two right handers combination that helped the bowlers.
Johnson by now was in his peak as he was getting his angles right and VVS Laxman gave it away too soon. A weak poke outside the off stump with his feet stuck in the crease saw wicket no.4 go down as well. Laxman didn’t trouble the scorers having faced 12 deliveries and his side slipped to 106 for 4. In came Ganguly and the left hander had a lot to prove after all those disturbing comments he had made against his team mates in a Bengali Newspaper. The southpaw looked absolutely determined and at the other end, Dravid was building a Wall and negotiating many difficult reverse swinging deliveries. The pair battled through to take India at 133 for 4 at lunch.
After lunch, Dravid and Ganguly only got better and the partnership was certainly putting India back. But then came an excellent delivery out of the blue from Shane Watson which defeated Dravid’s flick shot to strike him infront of the pad. Umpire Asad Rauf raised his finger as it just looked plumb in live. However, the slow motion replays raised may doubts about the lbw, height was an issue with Dravid getting struck above his knee roll, but then the wicket was staying low. Dravid’s fight ended after 104 balls of survival in which he made 51 with the help of 7 fours. India once again found themselves at 155 for 5 and now they were certainly headed towards the follow on. Ganguly though was keen on giving a fight and he even got peppered by a sudden rising delivery that hit him on his visor. His new partner Dhoni provided the support through some good application and very soon the two batsmen were taking singles quite often. Everything started to go India’s way and Ponting in order to give his quicks a break brought on spin at both ends. This was when MS Dhoni got a bit too carried away and just forgot his basics in an attempt to improvise. Dhoni played a terrible shot in the 66th over, trying to open the face to a delivery that was around the off stump and exposing the stumps as he was trying to create room. That risky shot was defeated by the golden arm of Michael Clarke which got the ball to skid through and turn away just a fraction to hit the timber. MS Dhoni (9 from 51 balls) was in for an embarrassment and his 40-run stand with Ganguly could have been atleast 100 had he not played that reckless shot.
Ganguly’s gritty knock seems to have rubbed off on Harbhajan Singh as well and the the left hander started to put on another fighting stand. India went to Tea at 210 for 6. At the start of the final session, Ganguly had to stop play in between because of a problem with his contact lenses and the very next ball, he offered a tentative forward stride to be lbw to Mitchell Johnson. Ganguly just couldn’t make full use of a superb start to his innings which has been the disappointing story of his test career so far. His hard work counted for just 47 (with 3 fours) after being there for 115 balls. India now at 232 for 7 were definitely staring at defeat as the deficit was just too huge. Ponting was dead certain that it was just matter of time before the innings folded. Captain Anil Kumble didn’t come at his customary no.8 and he didn’t even at no.9, instead sending Zaheer Khan. Harbhajan Singh batted with caution and aggression and Zaheer started off wisely in trying to preserve his wicket. Both lower order batsmen showed a lot of professionalism in their batting something which Anil Kumble is known to show over the years. The Aussies were made to work hard to try and dislodge the pair. And a bit of rain came as a welcome break for the Indians, who were now hoping for a draw.
The rain break didn’t last long but the partnership between Harbhajan and Zaheer did quite unexpectedly. Ponting had to resort to the second new ball which was taken to the cleaners by Bhajji and Zaheer. At the same time, there was plenty of sound defense coming from both the batsmen which killed plenty of time. The partnership blossomed into 80 runs with Harbhajan knocking off a half century in great style. It came to a stage when only the batsmen could lose their wicket doing something silly. The wicket looked absolutely placid and the first innings deficit was impressively coming down. The problem for India came when Harbhajan was getting bothered by his shoulder after trying to play a shot and at that time it was clear that his wicket was going to fall anytime. And it did when Harbhajan with a tired shoulder tried to upper cut a rising delivery from Watson over the keeper which he failed to do so. Watson gave his second big breakthrough of the innings. Harbhajan was disappointed to leave the ground after making a sensational 54 (from 110 balls with 5 fours) while taking India to 312 for 9. The Turbanator could have even got a hundred if he wanted to so badly. When Anil Kumble finally came at no. 10, it was a matter of surviving a few deliveries along with Zaheer to take the fight to the next day. Kumble did that surviving 8 deliveries without any problem and so did Zaheer, who has got himself to 35 with 5 fours from 68 balls as India find themselves still hanging on at 313 for 8. The best thing was that they batted for 101 overs and can kill some more time in their first innings. Mitchell Johnson made fine use of his learning curve by ending up with 20-4-62-4.
The pitch was at its worst during the morning session and perhaps got better for some reason as the day progressed. It is important that the batsmen getting starts need to just carry on and on. If the Indian batsmen can learn from their first innings mistakes, then there is every possibility of a draw. But then because of the 80-run partnership between Bhajji and Zak, there is a ray of hope for even a victory as the hosts trail behind by 117 runs. This will mean that the Australians will be looking to score around 300 runs in their second innings to feel secured and for that a lot of time should be taken as it is not easy at all scoring quickly on this slow and low wicket.