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India tightens the grip on day three

S. Ram Mahesh

A much-improved performance by the home team bowlers

— Photo: S. Subramanium

KEY MOMENT: M. Vijay and M.S. Dhoni combined brilliantly to cut short Michael Hussey’s battling effort.

Nagpur: Saturday — still and dry and hot as befits an outpost, which is what Jamtha, 15km from the city, is — began with the fourth Test in the market for a suitor.

Australia, 189 for two having checked a burgeoning Indian total at 441, had the opportunity to press its claims, perhaps even show off the New Age Cricket Ricky Ponting promised. Trailing 0-1, with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at stake, it certainly behoved the touring side to force the pace here at the VCA Stadium on this most crucial of third days.

Instead Australia allowed itself to be garrotted by India, tendering not even the token protest of a sullen wriggle, as M.S. Dhoni’s men tightened the straps. For India’s bowlers, it was a stunning turnaround from Friday’s fecklessness.

Sustained pressure

Led by Zaheer Khan, stung into heroism, and shaped by Dhoni, aware of the possibilities of sustained pressure, India subjected Australia. There were moments on Saturday when India embraced defence, but largely the ends justified the means.

And let’s be clear, the means were rarely negative — the difference between attacking through control and back-pedalling in caution isn’t subtle although perception appears to blur on the subject. Moreover the ends were thoughts of victory, even if they might have been suspended on occasion in deference to the context of the series.

India ended Saturday without adding to its first-innings lead of 86, Virender Sehwag seeing off six balls from Mitchell Johnson in fading light. Two days remain, but India — notwithstanding the statutory warning that anything is possible in cricket — appears to have done enough to seal the series, a position of affairs that can be traced to the morning.

8-1 field

Both Zaheer and Ishant Sharma operated to an 8-1 field, two slips, an off-side diamond with its vertices at backward-point, short-cover, mid-off, and extra-cover, third-man, deep-point, and mid-on. The lines, understandably, were outside the off-stump, and if there’s a criticism of the first session, it was that having dragged both Simon Katich and Michael Hussey across their stumps, they didn’t spring the leg-before trap often enough.

When the trap was sprung — Zaheer unleashing a wicked, curling yorker that swung with the shine into Katich’s foot — India found success. Katich, dropped on 94 at first slip by Rahul Dravid off Ishant, completed a deserved century, but was constrained to 10 runs off 68 balls before Zaheer’s showstopper.

Impressive display

The left-armer, irresponsible on day two, turned immense on Saturday, his bowling returns of one for 68 evidence that toil’s rewards aren’t necessarily instant. In a stirring show of stamina and leadership, Zaheer bowled nine taut overs before switching ends and cranking out six more, split by the lunch break. His pace dropped, and towards the end his follow through was a hobble, but there’s no doubt his efforts leant to the gains of others.

Ishant produced a beauty to Michael Clarke after lunch, drawing the fleet-footed batsman forward, squaring him up with the combination of the in-slanting angle and the buffeting away movement (a course correction in the last third of the ball’s flight before cut that straightened it off the seam), to obtain a thin edge to Dhoni.

Hussey, during his 90, was the only Australian who attempted to break India’s grip though imagination. Harbhajan Singh, directing his off-breaks at the rough created by Zaheer’s switch of ends, was confronted with the reverse-sweep. Dhoni — on Harbhajan’s insistence? — moved a man for the stroke, freeing cover.

Thrilling sequence

Hussey, to no one’s surprise, adjusted his feet and cover-drove. But just as the left-hander seemed as if he might keep Australia in the contest, he was done in during a thrilling sequence compressed into 1.2 seconds. He pushed and set off instinctively, M. Vijay stretched from silly-point, caught the ball and released it side-arm, Dhoni conveyed the half-volley to the stumps, finding Hussey short.

Harbhajan, who hadn’t looked like taking a wicket till then, immediately began to bowl better, and found a wicket fortuitously. The angle of Shane Watson’s blade in defence accentuated both the over-spin and the side-spin of the off-break, as the ball slipped off bat-face onto the stumps.

A change of ball after tea — the old one, the stuffing spilling at the seams, looked indecent — allowed Cameron White (46) and Brad Haddin to lift the torpor somewhat.

Where 91 had trickled in 53 overs before tea, the pair briefly managed runs at over three an over, but control was swiftly regained (Amit Mishra turned one dramatically out of the footmarks to swindle Haddin), and the second new ball hastened the end.

SCOREBOARD

India - 1st innings: 441.

Australia - 1st innings: M. Hayden (run out) 16, S. Katich lbw b Zaheer 102, R. Ponting b Harbhajan 24, M. Hussey (run out) 90, M. Clarke c Dhoni b Ishant 8, S. Watson b Harbhajan 2, B. Haddin c Dravid b Mishra 28, C. White c Sehwag b Harbhajan 46, J. Krejza lbw b Ishant 5, M. Johnson c Zaheer b Mishra 5, B. Lee (not out) 1; Extras (b-12, lb-3, nb-6, w-2, Pen: 5) 28. Total (in 134.4 overs): 355.

Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Hayden), 2- 74 (Ponting), 3-229 (Katich), 4-255 (Clarke), 5-265 (Hussey), 6-266 (Watson), 7-318 (Haddin), 8-333 (Krejza), 9-352 (White).

India bowling: Zaheer 28-8-68-1, Harbhajan 37-7-94-3, Ishant 26-8- 64-2, Mishra 23.4-5-58-2, Sehwag 18- 2-38-0, Tendulkar 2-0-13-0.

India - 2nd innings: V. Sehwag (batting) 0, M. Vijay (batting) 0; Total (for no loss in one over) 0.

Australia bowling: Johnson 1-1-0-0.

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