Day Three, First test, Melbourne 2011

Day 3

Ben is known for his wicket taking abilities with the new ball, but when Dravid struggled to put his bat in line to defend a 63 overs old ball, he had made away with his reputation. Ben seized the session with just the second ball of the day.

Both Ben and Siddle pitched the ball further up and showed glitches in the armour of the famed line up. They were able to use seam and extract movement at high speeds, and unlike the second day, they carried an angel called luck on their shoulder.

The wicket of Sachin on the last over of the second day was the epicentre of the collapse. Not only did Sachin’s wicket bring agony to millions of fans and fanatics alike, that brought a certain dogged Ishant to the defence. At hindsight, Ishant , who played exceedingly well under trying circumstances was partly responsible for the Australian dominance.

Agreed that the Indian batsmen were not in a mood to grind and bring down the lead to manageable proportions, but it was made more difficult by the presence of Ishant on the other side. The singles were far and few, and the expansive shots invariably found fielders with perfection. They could’ve promoted a much accomplished Ashwin as night-watchman, one who can break the shackles, and might as well gather quick runs in the first hour of the day. Hindsight is always a nice thing to have, but useless unless turned into foresight on the next opportunity.

Laxman can be excused for nicking a terrific delivery, but not Kohli. Kohli had as much share in his downfall as the bowler Hilfenhaus had. A desperate effort to break free from tight line led to Dhoni slapping one to the point fielder, a clear indication of his frequent trouble on bowler friendly surfaces. In fact, the number eleven Yadav looked far comfortable and relaxed than Dhoni. Yadav successfully defended Pattinson and Siddle with full face of the bat, got behind the wicket, and left with immaculate judgement. Most importantly Yadav remained not out. How one wished one of the top order batsmen to grind and play ugly?

Ashwin played a major role in abating the deficit with some clever shots, and he had fair amount of luck apart from a gritty Yadav to assist him. Disappointed to see the more experienced Zaheer, who as per some press release played out hours of throw-downs on the eve of the match. He did not do justice to neither the time spent nor his talent.

Australian bowling peaked at the right moment, taking wickets in bulk and never allowing India to stitch together a decent partnership. Ben and Siddle dominated the proceedings whereas Pattinson was subdued and looked slightly off colour in comparison to his second day exploits. There was marked difference in their strategy, and early wickets definitely helped them to settle down into a rhythm and reduce the Indian attack to a less than good enough score.

AUSTRALIAN INNIGS

Venom with new ball is an understatement to to describe Zaheer’s bowling in the second innings. It was not venom, but snakes coming out of his palms; slow, curvy, and slippery ones that knew the batsmen’s mind. There was a definite plan to dry up runs for Warner, and the plan was executed brilliantly by the opening bowlers.

With balls falling short of Dhoni, India could have brought up the slip a bit ahead and created more opportunities. Cowan’s catch fell short of a slip fielder; thankfully not much damage was done. For Cowan decided not to use his bat to avoid any edge to the slip cordon. While the trick was very clever, he had no idea that Umpires looked upon batsmen padding up with severity. The ball seemed to miss the top of the stumps by a whisker according to Hawk eye , but no UDRS in this series ensured Cowan's walk to pavilion.Second wicket for Yadav.

Ian Chappel suggested batsmen padding up should not be given an opportunity to review even if the UDRS was in place. He wanted to add few more exceptions to the list of when a player can ask for a review. But this complicates an already complicated system. Things need to be simplified; the simplest solution is to confer an overriding power to the third umpire thereby eliminating any howlers that can linger longer than hundreds. A simple solution such as this can reduce far more issues than any other idea using advanced technology.

Yadav bowled with fire in his belly, bouncing and hustling batsmen now and then. The ball was not coming on as quickly as expected on many occasions, especially when the bowler was Yadav. The multiple inside edges are testimony to this phenomenon. In the thick of action, Ganguly tickled my funny bones with a suggestion to Kohli on a sharp chance of a Yadav bouncer, “He should have dived earlier .”

For an Indian fan, Ishant touching 152 Kmph was one of the high point of the day. If the first innings proved Zaheer's fitness, the second innings was Ishant’s chance to exhibit his fitness; he did it with flair, a tight slap on the face of all the naysayers, including me. It is only a matter of breaking a barrier, once broken it is bound to broken again. Questions over his weak ankle were answered today; as long his angles work, the ankle is least of Ishant’s problems.

The experienced duo of Ponting and Hussey pulled up Australia from a precarious 24 /4 to a decent 142/5. While Ponting struggled early on against Zaheer, Hussey was determined not to mess up this time. Hussey did have his fair share of luck, a catch that dropped much in front of a deep slip, and a regulation catch let off by Dravid. The game is a great leveller; it is only paradox that Dravid who had pouched much more regulation catches at slip than anyone else ever to have played the game had to drop a sitter like that.

Ponting’s wicket asserted how vital Zaheer was to the bowling unit. How badly had India missed him on the tour of England. Once again Ponting was cut short on his mission to score a hundred. This match was not to be his, but he is gaining confidence and momentum and surely he is going to cross the hurdle by the end of the series.

Haddin had himself to blame for the poor shot, whereas an excellent catch from the skipper packed up Peter Siddle from the pitch. Though fifteen wickets fell on the day for 247 runs, the first duck of the day had to wait till the last wicket of the day fell in the name of Nathan Lyon.

Ashwin fluttering his tongue after bowling the last ball summed it up for the Indian players, they could have done better, both with bat and in the field. He must have been ruing the missed catch of Hussey. Will Hussey exploit the dropped chance?

Although India are not in a winning position, with the pitch not likely to deteriorate as in the subcontinent,they have a sound chance of opening up the series with a win. So does Australia. Fifty runs more on the board, and Australia would have their nose ahead in what has been a wonderful display of skills and flair from young and old men alike from both the sides.