Australia
consolidate position, set to seal series
ADELAIDE, Jan 27: Australia today
were set to clinch the Test series
against India at the close of the
penultimate day’s play in the fourth
and final Test during which they took a
small first innings lead and knocked off
one Indian wicket in the second innings,
leaving only two possible results —
a likely draw or a defeat for the
visitors.
Already
2-1 up in the hard-fought series, the
home side more than matched India’s
first innings big total of 526 by being
all out for 563, a lead of 37 runs. India
batted for just over an hour in the
second innings during which they lost
opener Irfan Pathan (0) before ending the
day at 45 for one, a slender lead of
eight runs.
The
visitors will have to bat well in the
final day’s play tomorrow to ensure
a draw which would still leave the
Aussies winners of the Gavaskar-Border
trophy. Should India be bowled out
cheaply, the home side could even win the
Test.
Australia’s
first innings response was built around
Ricky Ponting’s first century in the
series, a gritty 140, and a century by
Michael Clarke (118) on top of the
century by opener Matthew Hayden (103).
Wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, in his last
Test innings, made a low 14 but was
cheered lustily both by the Indian team
and the spectators as he walked up to the
wicket and back to the pavilion, marking
an end to a great career.
The Indian
bowlers toiled hard on a batsman-friendly
wicket with Ishant Sharma, bowling
consistently around 140 kmh, being the
best taking 3-115 and his new ball
partner Irfan Pathan also ended with
three for 112. Part-time spinner Virender
Sehwag bowled well for his two for 51 but
Harbhajan Singh (1-128) and Anil Kumble
(1-109) were disappointing.
Virender
Sehwag (31) and Rahul Dravid (11) had
managed to hang around and wipe out the
lead till close.
Dravid
batted cautiously but Sehwag
couldn’t help but strike a six and a
four off Andrew Symonds in the
penultimate over of the day.
Ponting
and Clarke alone didn’t hog the
day’s spotlight, the specks of ray
also felt in a little cameo by Adam
Gilchrist as well as the 100th wicket of
Pathan who managed the feat in his 28th
Test.
Ponting,
resuming on 79 in the team total of 322
for three, duly reached his century in
the first session though there was an
alarm when a miscued pull off Ishant
Sharma just eluded Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The
Australian skipper duly reached his 34th
Test century with a single off Harbhajan
Singh, fittingly since the latter was his
tormentor throughout the series.
While
Ponting took 114 balls for his first half
century, his second took only 69 balls,
before the back spasms necessitated a
runner for him in the second session.
Ponting
finally fell when he under-edged a ball
on to his stumps from Virender Sehwag. He
batted resolutely for 392 minutes and hit
10 fours from 266 balls.
His
partner Clarke showed better form than
his skipper and had a close call on 84
when he moved away to cut Virender Sehwag
and edged it Dravid at first slip who
could get his hands to it without quite
getting his fingers around it.
The
afternoon session, in many ways, belonged
to Ishant Sharma, who tormented
Australian batsmen with his pace, line
and the ability to reverse swing his
deliveries.
Sharma
finally managed to get reward for his
effort when Clarke edged a catch to
second slip where VVS Laxman, diving to
his right, picked up a brilliant catch.
The middle order batsman faced 244 balls
in 314 minutes and hit eight fours in his
knock of 118 runs.
India
claimed four wickets in the final
session, including the brilliant spell of
Ishant who troubled Andrew Symonds no
ends up before the batsman under-edged a
cut on to his stumps.
Gilchrist
came in for a standing ovation and two
sumptuous cuts, interspersed by a
glorious straight drive which had umpire
Billy Bowden rolling over in turf for
cover, showed the wicketkeeper-batsman
wanted to go out in a flourish.
However,
his dash wasn’t to last long and he
drove Pathan straight to Sehwag in
covers. Everyone in the stadium rose on
his feet to bid him good bye and the
Indians too, on their part, formed a
cluster to clap the great man till he
disappeared in the stands.
India 1st
innings: 526
Australia
1st innings:
P Jaques b
Kumble 60
M Hayden b
Sharma 103
R Ponting
b Sehwag 140
M Hussey b
Pathan 22
Clarke c
Laxman b Sharma 118
A Symonds
b Sharma 30
Gilchrist
c Sehwag b Pathan 14
B Hogg not
out 16
B Lee c
Dhoni b Pathan 1
Johnson c
Sharma b Harbhajan 13
S Clark b
Sehwag 3
Extras (b
10, lb 12, w 10, nb 11) 43
Total (all
out; 181 overs) 563
Fall:
1-159, 2-186, 3-241, 4-451, 5-490, 6-506,
7-527, 8-528, 9-557
Bowling:
RP Singh 4-0-14-0, I Pathan 36-2-112-3, I
Sharma 40-6-115-3, Harbhajan Singh
48-5-128-1, A Kumble 30-4-109-1, V Sehwag
19-2-51-2, S Tendulkar 1-0-6-0, S Ganguly
3-1-6-0.
India 2nd
innings:
V Sehwag
batting 31
I Pathan
lbw b Johnson 0
R Dravid
batting 11
Extras (lb
1, w 1, nb 1) 3
Total (1
wkt; 17 overs) 45
Fall: 1-2
Bowling: B
Lee 6-1-8-0, M Johnson 5-0-6-1, A Symonds
3-0-20-0, S Clark 3-1-10-0. (PTI)
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