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India v Australia, 1st Test match, Chennai, Day two
After Australia were bowled out for 380, Indian openers failed to put up an impressive display. Sachin Tendulkar batted till the end of day’s play. He was ably supported by Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored a brilliant 44 before losing his concentration, missing the line of the ball and getting bowled. Virat Kohli then batted naturally and averted any further damage.
For Australia, James Pattinson was the pick of the bowlers, picking up all the three Indian wickets.
Here are the five key moments of day two:
Moment one: Australian tail bats till lunch
Michael Clarke was the key wicket for India. But the Australian captain defied Indians with some purposeful batting. Peter Siddle looked comfortable defending at the other end as the duo denied India a breakthrough for 24 overs on Day 2, adding 45 runs to the overnight total.
Clarke was eventually out when he tried to loft Ravindra Jadeja and was caught by debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar inside the rope. His fighting innings helped Australia post a score in excess of 350.
India did not steamroll the tail after Clarke’s dismissal as James Pattinson delayed the inevitable, adding 16 more runs with Lyon over 12 overs for his team.
Kumar Dharmasena was in the thick of things again when he turned down a vociferous leg-before appeal off Ashwin. Peter Siddle was beneficiary of Dharmasena’s benevolence this time. The replays confirmed Dharmasena’s incredulous decision making, yet again. Indians soon wrapped up the tail before lunch but not before Siddle, Pattinson and Nathan Lyon played out 94, 47 and 28 deliveries respectively, adding 37 valuable runs between them.
For India, the spinners took all ten Australian wickets.
Moment two: The opening combination failed to click
There was a lot of talk about the opening combination of India. After Gautam Gambhir’s exclusion from the Test team, Murali Vijay got a game but he failed to capitalize on his chance. He received a thunderbolt from Pattinson that shattered his stumps. Full and pacy (150kph), the ball took Vijay’s inside edge onto the leg stump. Vijay was not balanced when he tried to execute the ‘on-the-up drive’ and it resulted in his dismissal.
Bespectacled Virender Sehwag failed to click as well. He was out bowled for two when the ball ricocheted off his inside edge, bounced off the track and hit the stumps. A visit to the Optometrist before the Test match did not change Sehwag’s fortune with the bat.
Moment three: Pattinson – The pick of the bowlers
He bowled just three overs with the new ball but Pattinson snapped up Vijay and Sehwag in two overs and put the Indian batting in a bit of disarray.
The tall fast bowler was bowling with a lot of pace and was swinging the ball too. The delivery that got Vijay was an inswinging full delivery, bowled at 150 kmph. Sehwag was also beaten for pace, bringin about his downfall.
In his second spell, Pattinson castled a well-set Cheteshwar Pujara with a cross seam delivery that hit the surface, kept a bit lower than usual and swung in as Pujara played completely outside the line of the ball.
Moment four: Tendulkar’s takes the attack to Australians
At 12 for two, India was in a spot of bother. Enter Sachin Tendulkar. On the first delivery he faced, Tendulkar stretched his front foot to the pitch of the ball and caressed through the covers. The next ball went behind point for a boundary and the fourth ball was glanced towards fine leg. 12 runs off first four balls and things looked ominous for Australia.
Decisive footwork was the feature of Tendulkar’s batting. Pujara’s confidence at the other end helped Tendulkar to be positive.
Batting on 37, Tendulkar survived a close leg-before shout against Nathan Lyon. He padded up a spinning delivery and did not offer a shot. A huge appeal was turned down by Marais Erasmus, the big stride forward probably saving Tendulkar on that occasion.
Tendulkar also misjudged a single while batting on 39. He pushed a Mitchell Starc delivery wide of covers and set off for a sharp single. Halfway down the pitch, Tendulkar realized that he had misjudged the single as Warner failed to make a direct hit which would have caught the batsman short of the crease quite comfortably.
Those were the minor glitches in Tendulkar’s rather assured knock today. He’s batting on 71 and looks set for a big score.
Moment five: Kohli’s positive intent
After Pujara’s dismissal, Kohli offered good support to Tendulkar. Kohli was cautious at the start of the innings. He was nearly bowled by Siddle while he was batting on three.
Kohli then played the waiting game to perfection, dispatching the loose deliveries to the boundary. Kohli used his feet well against spinners – Lyon and Clarke. In the last over of the day, he brought his sixth half-century in Test matches.
Kohli surely will be eyeing his fourth century tomorrow.
