http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 limps towards a challenging total
The Australian batsmen continued their strange approach on day two of the first test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 at Mohali as they looked content in occupying the crease rather than scoring runs despite good batting conditions.
Overnight centurion Shane Watson failed to exert himself on the opposition despite a century under his belt as he crawled with a strike rate of under 40 runs.
The opener added only two more boundaries to the 8 that he hit on day one before his vigil ended via a sharp turning delivery from Harbhajan Singh.
The opener prodded forward and could only offer a catch to short leg where a tumbling http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 dived forward and held onto a sharp chance.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 scored 126 runs off 338 balls with 10 fours in his more than seven hour stay at the wicket.
His partnership with wicket-keeper Tim Paine yielded 53 runs in 26 overs as the viewers were pained by their negative approach.
The Indian bowling was probing at best in the morning session of play with the spin and pace attack succeeding in keeping a check at the scoring rate.
At the same time, the batsmen were not willing to take any risks at all and were content on occupying the crease and nullifying the spinners.
Harbhajan Singh and left armer Ojha looked threatening in patches but there was not much on offer from a slow track that was crying out for some attacking stroke play.
The Indians missed the services of lanky pace man http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 who hurt his knee during an unimpressive opening spell on day one where he conceded more than 6 runs per over in a seven over spell.
After Watson’s departure Mitchell Johnson tried to up the tempo the snail paced innings he hit a big six of Harbhajan Singh in the widish long-on region which the left hander favours the most.
Soon afterwards, Paine attempted his first real attacking short in a long time and succeeded in getting a boundary off Harbhajan Singh through the mid-wicket region.
The lunch was taken with the Australians placed at 295/6 still a 100 run short of a challenging score; Tim Paine on an unbeaten 36 while Johnson has 9 against his name.
The Aussie fans would be hoping for a more positive approach in the second session of the day especially as the last pair of recognised batsmen is at the crease with only the tail to follow.
Tags: