The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : An uphill task ahead of India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 09, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

An uphill task ahead of India

By Sanjay Rajan

It has been an unpleasant outing for Australian Darren Lehmann in his first match as vice-captain. In the second innings he fell to Harbhajan Singh following his first innings capitulation to Anil Kumble. - Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE, OCT. 8. The Indian spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh got the odd delivery to turn and jump in the last hour on Friday. A clear indicator that the dry, brown pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here will be a difficult one to bat on in the fourth innings.

Australia's stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist chose, quite rightly, not to enforce the follow-on, after the Indian innings came to an end about half-an-hour before tea on the third day of the first Test for the TVS Cup Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Resuming at 150 for six, India was shot out for 246 - 228 runs behind Australia, which then proceeded to take the overall lead to 355 at stumps by finishing its second essay at 127 for four for a stranglehold on the contest.

The debacle at Kolkata 2001 was possibly on Gilchrist's mind when it came to crossing the bridge. However, Australia would be in a better position to force victory by batting a second time and setting India a tough target as the host would then have to look at first saving the match. Enforcing the follow-on is a move that does not necessarily lead to a similar conclusion.

Spirited display

The Indian lower-order put up a spirited display; their brief was quite obvious: occupy the crease, once set, the runs would come, try and avoid the follow-on if possible. Left-handers Parthiv Patel and Irfan Pathan took their overnight stand to 60 runs in what was a resolute display of grit and single-minded focus against Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

The ball was 44 overs old, the pitch unresponsive, but then McGrath is as deadly with the old ball as he is with a new one. Reverse-swing is one of the many variations that he possesses, even as he pegs away ball after ball, over after over, at a particular spot.

`The Pigeon' came around the wicket to Patel, but the 'keeper-bat, who made a half century as an opener in the last Test that India played, against Pakistan at Pindi, braved it. He stood up to McGrath's psychological ploy of frustrating a batsman with three-quarter length deliveries followed by a juicy half-volley, enticing the batsman to lunge into the drive.

Gillespie is not as crafty as McGrath, but he is capable of producing that extra-fast delivery, which takes the best of international batsmen by surprise. However, Patel and Pathan, who has it in him to develop into a wonderful all-rounder, handled Gillespie with ease.

McGrath conceded only seven runs in his first spell of five overs and Gillespie 13 from an equal number of overs. Michael Kasprowicz and Shane Warne replaced the duo in the attack.

A huge asset

Kasprowicz might lack the aura the surrounds the other two medium-pacers, but he, nevertheless, is a huge asset to the side. Especially so in the sub-continent, where he soldiers on like a true professional who knows he has a job to do, unmindful of the tough conditions.

Warne, who is bowling a lot flatter on this tour, went for a couple of boundaries at the hands of Pathan, but was on top otherwise. The blond leg-spinner provided the breakthrough, when he had Pathan caught behind while trying to play on the front foot.

A doubtful decision by umpire Billy Bowden, so the slow-motion replays proved later.

At lunch, India was 199 for seven. Australia took the second new ball in the 82nd over. Patel was dismissed by Gillespie in the very next over, bowled through a gap between bat and pad. Anil Kumble batted with some gumption, before being last man out, failing to get into the line of a Gillespie delivery. McGrath finished with four wickets.

Early wicket

Pathan had Langer leg-before in his very first over. But left-handers Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich put on 65 for the second wicket, before the former was run-out to a direct hit at the striker's end by Harbhajan. Pathan bowled impressively, but failed to get the ball to leave the left-hander. He could have tried coming around the wicket for a change.

Harbhajan was patchy to begin with, tended to bowl short, giving room to be cut and pulled, but gained in confidence thereafter. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble was spot-on.

Damien Martyn played the spinners, who now operated with three men around the bat, with a lot of confidence. Katich, who scored 81 in the first innings, was caught by lone-slip Dravid while driving Kumble away from the body while southpaw Darren Lehmann was snaffled at silly point by Aakash Chopra off Harbhajan. The classy Michael Clarke was at the wicket with Martyn when stumps were drawn.

Speaking later, McGrath said, "it feels good to come back after a lay-off. Getting Dravid for a duck gave me a lot of confidence. It feels good to be ahead by 355 runs. The decision to bat on was right, for it is better to bat on days three and four than on the last day. Our target is 500." India has a long day ahead on Saturday.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport