Cricket Blog

If the first three days were anything to go by, this match was going to be won by one team only. But cricket and maths don’t go well together. There is always hope for the unexpected, a quick fire 50, a match-winning spell of bowling, a run-out against the run of play. There are so many things that could go wrong, or right depending on how things happen. The champions, however, do not let their opposition take control. And if Australia are champions, then they need some serious contemplation to do as India dominated their 4th consecutive day in this test match.

Resuming at 100/0 and already in front by 301, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir kept scoring at a belligerent pace regardless of what field placements Ricky Ponting could conjure up. Despite having 4 men at the boundary, he was unable to stem the flow of runs. Gambhir reached his 50 during the day, and the two now have become the most dangerous opening pair in the game. Both Gambhir and Sehwag score freely and have a wide array of shots. They can easily manufacture shots depending on the situation and it is their aggressive attitude to dominate the bowling that sets them apart from other opening pairs.

Sehwag, however, was the first to depart edging Peter Siddle to Brad Haddin. Siddle picked up his first wicket of the innings and so did Australia. Dhoni came in at one-down, a rather unusual position for him in tests, although he has played a few match-winning knocks at that position in the shorter format of the game. He was quickly into his stride as he saw Gambhir score just his second test century, which was also his first against Australia.

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What a day and what a match. Intriguing so far. Perfect to up the ante. Australia under pressure, yet come back strongly in the final session. Indian bowlers kept the pressure pretty much for the while day, however, it seemed that the energy was completely drained out of the Indian bodies in the final session as two Aussies, with not much test experience, fought the pressure and came out on top.

India looked aggressive and the fielders were attacking when they started their second innings. Perhaps they were buoyed by the performance of the tail enders. Perhaps it was Dhoni’s aggressive tactics (yes Kumble was did not come in for about an hour and a half due to a sore shoulder). Indian bowlers made the first move by picking up Hayden and Ponting early. Zak and Ishant have been a revelation in this series, as a pace combination.

Harbhajan finally got his sting back, more so because of the assistance he got from the pitch. But whenever he bowled, he looked like getting a wicket. Dhoni made all the moves initially to get wickets. I think that Anil Kumble has lost the plot. His tactics are not aggressive and he is way too by-the-book. Perhaps the reason why he has failed to grab a wicket in this test match. Definitely a cause for concern for him and the selectors. India, fortunately, have a couple of talented, yet inexperienced, leg spinners in Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla, the latter already made life miserable for the tourists in their tour game.

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Zaheer Khan justified his title of India’s pace spearhead as he overshadowed the much hyped Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, by picking up a 5 wicket haul against his favorite opponents. Australia started the day at 254/4 with Michael ‘Mr Cricket’ Hussey on 46 not out.

Ishant Sharma provided the first breakthrough of the day as he took Shane Watson’s off-stump out of the ground. Haddin joined Hussey and the two built a solid 91 run partnership. It was Ishant who broke through again as Haddin mistimed a drive to VVS Laxman on short cover. Cameron White, making his test debut, was the next to follow at only 6. Ishant now had 3 for the day and 4 for the match.

Brett Lee then proved to be a thorn for India as he got involved in an important 59 run wicket for the 8th wicket. Zak then struck and cleared the tail in no time. Australia were reduced from 421/7 to 430/10 in a matter of 2 overs.

Watch Day 1 and Day 2 highlights

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In an explosive Test series like this one, there are always going to be the favourites whom you would depend on getting a mountain of runs or getting bucket loads of wickets. However, I have decided to have a look at the wildcards from both the squads.

Peter Siddle - > Australia -> Fast Bowler

At just 23 years old, Peter Siddle is a future prospect for Australia. In the previous domestic season, he 33 wickets from 5 matches at a measly 15.75 runs a scalp. Siddle maintains that he wants to bowl like Donald whilst maintaining the accuracy of a McGrath. Combine these two qualities, and you have a lethal bowler capable of ripping through the best of attacks in the worst of conditions.

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Further to the growing list of players joining the two leagues, more Australians have confirmed signing up to the IPL. The ever-growing list now also includes the following:

1. Ricky Ponting
2. Andrew Symonds
3. Brett Lee
4. Nathan Bracken
5. Michael Hussey
6. Adam Gilchrist
7. Brad Haddin
8. Matthew Hayden
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Simon Katich
11. Jason Gillespie

This would seem like a reverse immigration to me to see so many Australians moving to India to play cricket. A few of them are on their final lap in their international career and the IPL offers an opportunity to move beyond Test and ODI cricket. Another outcome of this is going to be the different skills that they will eventually bring to Indian cricket. The above list of players have signed up for a total of $2,000,000 to be paid by the BCCI.

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