Day-two of the Mohali Test was a see-saw that eventually ended with Australia having an upper-hand, restricting India to 110 for 2 in reply to their first innings score of 428 all-out. Rahul Dravid (21), who got among runs with some fine cover-drives and on-drives is at the crease with watchman Ishant Sharma (0). Virender Sehwag (59) and Gautam Gambhir (25) went about their business as usual. Gambhir pushed and prodded to rotate the strike and Sehwag dominated the hapless bowlers. All Australian pacers found out, yet again, that there’s no place to hide after giving even a wee bit of width outside the off-stump to the nawab of Najafgarh.
Hilfenhaus did it and stood there motionless watching the ball whip past the cover. The pacer didn’t learn and Sehwag creamed him for three more boundaries in an over. Bollinger made the same mistake and was duly driven through mid-off and cut away to the fence through point. Off consecutive deliveries. Nathan Hauritz was introduced in the 13th over and Sehwag dealt his full-tosses with two smacking cover-drives. Result: Sehwag blasted his way for his half-century in 38 deliveries.
Together the Indian openers put on 81 runs before Gambhir was adjudged lbw to Mitchell Johnson. The wicket gave added confidence to the Aussies, who managed to keep Sehwag quiet for a long time before dismissing him in the dying moments of the day. Johnson was ecstatic when a mistimed uppish on-drive from Sehwag’s willow went straight to the hands of Michael Clarke at covers.
All this happened after Australia piled on a formidable 428, thanks to Shane Watson (126) and Tim Paine (92). For India, it was Zaheer Khan who delivered the goods with the old, reverse-swinging SG ball to pick up his 10th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. He added the scalps of Mitchell Johnson (47) and Paine to his overnight numbers to end with the figures of 5 for 95.
Watson and Paine showed tremendous resilience against the disciplined Indian bowling and batted unruffled even as runs came in a trifle on the day-two morning. Both, known for their attacking style of batting, put their heads down and played the waiting game.
But when an odd ball was pitched on the leg, both men were quick to flick it to the fence. They also broke the shackles by playing a couple of attacking drives through the covers. Watson overtook his highest Test score of 120 en route to a very crucial 53-run stand with Paine.
Despite the breakthrough not coming, Dhoni reposed his faith on the spinners and refused to take the new ball until the 147th over of the Australian innings. The faith finally paid off when Harbhajan got rid of Watson with a generously flighted delivery. Watson was deceived by the bounce and poked at it as Gautam Gambhir took a fantastic diving catch at forward short-leg.
Then Mitchell Johnson joined hands with Paine to stitch an 88-run stand, which frustrated the Indians to no end.
Johnson showed his prowess with the bat by clobbering Zaheer Khan for two back to back boundaries. Zaheer tried to unsettle him with a short-ball but Johnson turned the plot on its head by pulling him away to the fence and inducing him to bowl a half-volley up next, which was thrashed through covers.
The left-hander then turned his concentration to Ojha and smashed him over the long-on for a six with the turn. A couple of overs later he repeated the stroke, this time for four runs. Ojha decided to come over the wicket but that didn’t deter Johnson from smacking him for a four through point and heaving him over mid-wicket for maximum.
After Johnson, it was Paine who took on Ojha by lofting him for two consecutive boundaries over mid-on. The Aussie wicketkeeper got rewarded for his hard work and determination with his maiden Test half-century.
The 82-run stand between Paine and Johnson for the seventh wicket caused the Indian shoulders to droop in the sweltering heat of Chandigarh. But the drinks break seemed to do the trick for Zaheer, who came back and struck right away as Johnson nicked a shortish delivery outside the off-stump to Dhoni. Johnson’s 66-ball entertaining knock ended on 47. Harbhajan then returned to dismiss Nathan Hauritz as Gautam Gambhir held on to a superb low, reflex catch at the forward short-leg.
Johnson’s wicket once again put the brakes on Australia’s scoring rate and Harbhajan, in particular, strangled them for runs. The off-spinner impressed with his control and variation. He tossed it up nicely and kept it straight.
Ojha had an off day. He often strayed on the leg bowling to a heavy off-side field and paid the price for it. Even luck continued to elude the left-arm spinner, who managed to find the edge of Watson’s bat only to see the ball bounce in front of Raina at slip. He finally got a wicket when Bollinger was held out in the deep to end the Australian innings.
0 comments:
Post a Comment