Ishant sparks fightback after Watson's fifty

Ishant Sharma picked up three wickets in his liveliest spell of the match as India halted Australia's growing lead on the fourth day in Mohali. Shane Watson's brisk half-century took Australia's advantage into triple figures before he and Ricky Ponting fell in the first over of Ishant's second spell, shortly before lunch.

When Michael Clarke chipped a catch to midwicket first ball, it looked like Ishant had claimed three breakthroughs in one over. However, confusion reigned as the umpire Billy Bowden stopped Clarke from walking off, radioed the third official Sanjay Hazare to check on a suspected no-ball, and found that Ishant had overstepped.

Clarke's reprieve was short-lived, though, and in Ishant's next over he could not evade a sharp and well-directed bouncer that lobbed off his gloves to the wicketkeeper MS Dhoni. Australia had rapidly fallen from 87 for 1 to 96 for 3, and the momentum was suddenly with India after Watson's excellent start.

The Australians began the morning with a lead of 23 and they could not have asked for a better opening than the 67 runs Watson and Simon Katich put on in the first hour. Watson was the aggressor, cutting and driving with precision, and he also launched Pragyan Ojha over the midwicket boundary with a powerful slog-sweep.

He moved to his half-century from 51 deliveries, but Dhoni's decision to reintroduce Ishant for a second spell in the final half hour of the session proved a triumph. Watson (56) tried to pull Ishant's first delivery from wide of off stump through midwicket, but a bottom edge dislodged his bail to give Ishant his first wicket of the Test.

Ponting eased his first ball to the cover boundary but fell facing his fourth delivery when he pulled Ishant straight to Suresh Raina at square leg. The loss of Clarke shortly afterwards left Australia in the hands of Simon Katich, who was on 24 at the lunch break, along with Michael Hussey yet to score.

Katich had enjoyed a couple of lucky breaks - he should have been lbw to Harbhajan Singh for 7 and on 9 he edged Harbhajan between Dhoni and Rahul Dravid at first slip. With the exception of Watson, the Australian batsmen did not find runs easy to come by on the fourth morning and, with a lead of only 123 and seven wickets in hand, they need a big partnership to ensure they bat out the day.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at Cricinfo

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