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Australia has been batted out of the Series by double centuries from both Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman. The visitors now only have the option of saving this Test and forcing a victory at Nagpur if they have to draw the Series. All this is because India had piled up a mammoth 613 for 7 in their first innings! The Aussies started well according to the scorecard at 50 for 0 but in reality they have already tasted what is in store for them with Anil Kumble and Amit Mishra extracting plenty of bite from the Kotla wicket. History was made during the second day’s play when for the first two Indians scored a double century in the same innings and it was the first instance that a team has had two double centurions against Australia.
Gautam Gambhir was already on 149 when play had started this morning. But getting to the 200 wasn’t going to be any cakewalk as it needed all the concentration. The first hour in the haze was the phase to watch out for and although Gambhir showed a bit of laziness in the beginnings, he overcame that to continue his business. VVS Laxman at the other end was responsible in maintaining the temp with his sublime strokeplay, especially with his drives on the up. By lunch, the pair were still undefeated and Gambhir inched towards his maiden double while VVS Laxman had just got his 13th century, six of them are against the Aussies alone! India at lunch marched to 393 for 3 as they collected 97 runs in 26 overs.
In the afternoon session, Gautam Gambhir brought up his maiden double century. A little while after that a tired shot brought an end to his epic knock as he played onto his stumps off Watson. Gambhir made a total of 206 runs in 380 balls with the help of 26 fours and a six that got him his hundred yesterday. Gambhir’s wicket followed up with that of Ganguly, who drove one uppishly to covers off part timer Simon Katich. The remaining part of the Indian innings was more of getting past 500 and also help VVS Laxman get to a double hundred.
Dhoni in between played a breezy knock of 27 from 29 with 4 fours and a six and Skipper Kumble did well in scoring 7 fours in his innings of 45 from 73 balls. Both Dhoni and Kumble added up to the woes of the Aussies with their good partnerships with VVS Laxman. Kumble infact had gone onto put on as many as 98 runs with VVS. India’s declaration came after Tea once Laxman got to his second double century. The wristy right hander’s other double hundred was also against the Aussies in the famous Kolkata Test where he had scored 281. Laxman got his 200 runs in 310 balls with the help of 21 fours. Zaheer Khan remained unbeaten with a 5-four 28 (from just 21 balls) as India declared scoring 613 for 7 in 161 overs.
The Aussie openers had no trouble at all against the new ball and once spin was introduced early by Kumble, that the danger of losing a wicket came into picture. Kumble got a lot of bite while Mishra got it to turn sharply but somehow Katich and Hayden managed to survive the difficult phase. Australia went to stumps at 50 for 0 in 15 overs. Katich scored 29 and Hayden 16 out of those runs.