India dominate on the second day
CRICKET: MOHALI, India, Oct 18, 2008 (AFP) - Debutant leg-spinner
Amit Mishra picked up two key wickets as India pushed Australia into a
corner on the second day of the second Test here on Saturday.
Mishra, 24, sent back Simon Katich (33) before dismissing Michael
Clarke (23) off the penultimate ball of the day to reduce the visitors
to a shaky 102-4 on what still seemed a good batting wicket.
His efforts with the ball came after Sourav Ganguly hit a century and
Mahendra Dhoni an attacking 92 to take India to 469 all out in the first
innings.
At stumps, Michael Hussey was on 37 with five fours.
"We are in a very good position at the moment," Ganguly said at the
post-match press conference.
"The bowlers have done their job well. Mishra was impressive
considering the wicket has not started to turn as yet. We hope spinners
will get more purchase as the match progresses."
It was Zaheer Khan again who gave the home side the crucial
breakthrough when he cleaned the off-stump of opener Matthew Hayden for
a duck off just the third ball of the Australian innings.
It was the third time in the series that the left-arm paceman claimed
Hayden cheaply after dismissing him twice in the drawn Bangalore opener.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting fumbled around for nearly half an
hour for his five runs before being trapped leg before by a sharp
incutter from new-ball bowler Ishant Sharma.
Katich looked in good touch, reading both the seamers and the
spinners well until he misjudged Mishra and gifted him his maiden Test
wicket.
His 65-ball knock contained six fours, including three of them off
Sharma.
Australia would have been in deeper trouble had Dhoni taken a simple
catch of Hussey off Harbhajan Singh when the batsman was on 25.
Earlier, Ganguly hit eight fours in his patient 225-ball knock and
shared a 109-run partnership with Dhoni, who hammered eight fours and
four sixes in his entertaining 124-ball innings.
Ganguly, set to retire after the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar
trophy, reached his 16th Test century with a four to the square leg
fence off leg-spinner Cameron White.
The 36-year-old former captain was out soon after reaching his
century, holing out to Brett Lee at long off to give White his first
wicket of the match.
"It was a very satisfying knock though not my best," Ganguly said.
"But any century against Australia is special. I had to work hard for
my runs today because field settings were such. I tried to be patient
and score off loose deliveries."
Dhoni, leading the side in the absence of injured captain Anil Kumble,
was severe on debutant fast bowler Peter Siddle, pulling him over fine
leg for the first six of the innings.
Dhoni's fiery knock was brought to an end by Siddle, who trapped him
leg before with a searing inswinger, while Zaheer was run out by Lee.
White said bowling to the in-form Indian batsmen was not easy. "It
was pretty difficult to bowl to the Indian top-order in conditions
familiar to them," he said.
"The first half tomorrow is going to be crucial as it will dictate
which course the game takes."
Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson finished with 3-85 while Siddle
also picked up three wickets for 114 runs from 28 overs. The Mohali Test
will be followed by matches in New Delhi and Nagpur.
INDIA - 1ST INNINGS
G. Gambhir c Haddin b Johnson 67
V. Sehwag c Haddin b Johnson 35
R. Dravid b Lee 39
S. Tendulkar c Hayden b Siddle 88
V. Laxman c Haddin b Johnson 12
S. Ganguly c Lee b White 102
I. Sharma c Katich b Siddle 9
M. Dhoni lbw b Siddle 92
H. Singh b White 1
Z. Khan run out 2
A. Mishra not out 0
EXTRAS (b4, lb10, w5, nb3) 22
TOTAL (all out, 129 overs) 469
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-70 (Sehwag), 2-146 (Dravid), 3-146 (Gambhir),
4-163 (Laxman), 5-305 (Tendulkar), 6-326 (Sharma),
7-435 (Ganguly), 8-442 (Harbhajan), 9-469 (Zaheer),
10-469 (Dhoni).
BOWLING: Lee 24-5-86-1 (w5, nb2),
Siddle 28-6-114-3 (nb1),
Johnson 27-4-85-3,
Watson 24-3-71-0,
Clarke 7-0-28-0, White 19-0-71-2.
AUSTRALIA - 1ST INNINGS
M. Hayden b Zaheer 0
S. Katich b Mishra 33
R. Ponting lbw b Sharma 5
M. Hussey not out 37
M. Clarke lbw b Mishra 23
EXTRAS (lb1, nb3) 4
TOTAL (for four wkts, 40.5 overs) 102
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Hayden), 2-17 (Ponting), 3-62 (Katich), 4-102 (Clarke).
BOWLING: Zaheer 13-4-24-1 (nb1),
Ishant 9-3-28-1 (nb1),
Harbhajan 10-2-28-0 (nb1),
Mishra 8.5-1-21-2.
Overs: 40.5
afp |