http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 over the moon
The collapse of the Australian cricketing empire is now complete as the once formidable team that recorded an amazing 16 match winning sequence, faced a clean sweep in a test series for the first time in 28 years.
Ricky Ponting’s team went down 2-0 in a two match series against a rampant Indian team that outplayed them at crucial junctures of the series to ruin Punter’s dream of winning a test series in India.
This was the first clean sweep that the Aussies had to endure since their 3-0 defeat at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in Pakistan in 1982.
That Australian team was in the rebuilding process, and the same can be said of the present squad. However, Ponting’s team has performed consistently in test cricket off late, especially in home conditions.
In the second test at Bangalore, they lost despite posting a formidable first innings total of 478, but like the first test, it was their collapse in the second innings that led to the defeat.
A disappointed Ponting pointed out that inept batting had caused the downfall in both matches and this was a problem that had to be fixed as his team lines-up for a five match Ashes series at home in a month’s time.
"We played very well for the majority of the first Test, and pretty well for the majority of this one. It just goes to show that unless you play five good days of Test cricket - and that's five, not four or four-and-a-half - you don't
win games.”
"The first Test was a great example of that. Even this Test here ... our inability to break the Murli Vijay-Sachin Tendulkar partnership on day three was crucial to the outcome of this game. There was also our inability to bat for
three sessions in the second innings of a Test match. We needed to bat for one hour longer to put India under some pressure. Then it would have been a really good game of cricket."
On the final day of the Bangalore test, the Australians caved in for 223 runs in their second innings, with the last three wickets, adding only 18 after they had resumed from 205/7.
Ricky Ponting fought alone, scoring an invaluable 72 before he was trapped in front of the stumps by Zaheer Khan, who was once again India’s best bowler, making both the new and the old ball swing prodigiously at high pace.
In the last year or two, Zaheer has been one of the reasons for India’s ascent to the top rankings in test cricket and even in this series he was in outstanding form, making the ball do the talking in conditions tailor made for the batsmen.
Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh also bowled impressively in both test matches. Ojha had to toil long and hard for his wickets yet the left armer proved that he has the will, determination and the skill to dislodge top ranked international batsmen.
Once again, Sachin Tendulkar proved that he was simply the greatest batsman of the modern era. The man from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 completed 14000 runs in test cricket on his way to a magical double century in the first innings of the second test match in Bangalore.
In the second innings, he guided the hosts’ to victory with a crucial unbeaten half century to prove that the 37-year-old still possesses boyish enthusiasm for the game.
No wonder there was a huge smile on MS Dhoni’s face as captaincy becomes child’s play in the presence of a maestro like Tendulkar.
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