Day Two, First test, Melbourne 2011

Day 2

Haddin hadn’t scored a single four on his unbeaten overnight partnership with Peter Siddle. On the second over of day 2 from Zaheer, he squeezed a lucky boundary through gully. Two balls later he was sitting in the dressing room watching the replays of the sharp catch.

Zaheer bowled exceptionally well to lure Haddin to front foot; he fumed fire without any hint of pace.Pace was not required if one is as skilled as Zaheer. He had Siddle baffled on more than one occasion, and eventually ended his early morning misery. Siddle is better with new ball as bowler than as batsman.

While Hilfenhaus thundered some coarse fours to take Australia over three hundred, Pattinson provided able support to further the lead in quick time. The pair threatened to swindle the fruits of swing and seam from Zaheer.

That is when Wasim Akram asked for a bowling change on air; Dhoni heeded as if they were wired. To make it interesting, Wasim informed us of his conversation with Ashwin earlier in the morning. “I should have bowled with slower and further outside off, ” said Ashwin to Wasim. He did that right away, inducing an edge straightaway. Three balls later, he lured Hilfaenhaus to hit over the top from a loopy wide of the stump line to take his second wicket of the innings.

Lyon played a good leg glance of Yadav, but against Ashwin, an attempted sweep to an innocuous ball proved to be too gait and straight to handle. Australia finished on triple nelson. They had already recovered from a precarious 214/6.

Zaheer bowled 31 overs, two overs more than Ashwin, the sole spinner on the visiting team. More than the four important scalps, the amount of burden shouldered should help us to cast all the lingering doubts over his fitness. He looked two years younger, and two yards slower. But nothing stopped him from becoming the star of the bowling unit.

INDIAN INNIGS

James Pattinson, true to his billing, started the Indian innings with a maiden, a vigorous one at that. Apart from a wild scoop by Sehwag, the rest of the three overs in the pre lunch session were uneventful. Lunch: 6/0.

Immediately after lunch, Hussey spilled a tough chance from Sehwag; Pattinson the bowler and the chief sufferer. Not so surprisingly, Gambhir gifted his wicket with a poke at a ball leaving him. They bowled him at the areas that he knew they would bowl all day, and yet he failed to capitalise. He is having a torrid time, and this might continue unless he can side step the strategy behind the line.

Sehwag played with gusto. Rooted to the crease, he smacked anything that was barely in the hit me zone. He completed his fifty with a blistering boundary of Lyon, and then followed it up with a half chance to Warner at deep mid on. At the end of that over, Ponting patted Lyon’s back; I played at Melbourne in 2003, he might have whispered.

Undoubtedly, Pattinson was the best among the Australian bowlers. He managed to beat Dravid on a numerous occasions, and the additional misery of missed catch by Haddin. He hit Sehwag on thigh pad, so hard that it required instant attention from physio.

Ganguly was quick to remark on Sehwag’s thick skin on his body owing to the voluminous milk he drank during childhood. Ganguly did not realise that it was M.S Dhoni’s story and not Sehwag’s. I wonder if that is how legends are made, through misplaced memory, and a touch of fabrication. Legend or not, Pattinson took things into his own hands, and was rewarded with Sehwag’s wicket. He earned it, and deserved a Bournville.

One more last time for Sachin, and he took guard with thousands of people still standing to salute what might be his last match at MCG. To begin with, Sachin looked rustic and showed some early signs of nervousness. He was unconvincing against the medium pace of Hussey in the last over before tea, the penultimate ball almost carrying to the fielder at silly mid-on. At Tea: 99/2.

The first ball after tea, Siddle was taken to cleaners by an audacious and authoritative upper cut by Sachin. He followed it up with a cover drive, a punchy straight drive, some delicate shots behind the wickets, and more upper cuts. Sachin looked good for a century, as he is, every time he steps out to bat.

All this while Dravid was grinding and accumulating runs as if the balls were never counted. He almost looked pedestrian in comparison with the sprinting Sachin. At one stage both Dravid and Sachin were on 65, while Sachin took 81 balls to reach there, Dravid had already consumed 162 balls. A cramp at an unfortunate hour didn’t help matters much

either for Dravid. He marched ahead as if it was the most normal thing to do, nothing could stop the creaking terminator from playing on. Not the bounce, not the cramps and not even the gem of a delivery that uprooted his stumps. Courtesy: a front foot no ball from Siddle.

As Hari remarked on his facebook page, Sachin was playing like a dream. A dream every one of us were part of. Siddle spoiled the dream, and woke us with a bucket of water on our face. No 'no-ball fiasco' this time, Sachin have to come back another time to complete his mission.

Ishant joined the creaky Wall as the night watchman. Can India hold fort and extend this good day into a sizeable lead ? Or will the Australian pace attack dismantle the Indian middle order just like India did to them on day one ? India ahead at this point, but not by a long way.