Honours even on a pulsating opening day at Bangalore
The Australians were pegged back after an aggressive start on Day 1 of the second and final test against India at the Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore on Monday.
After winning the toss, the visitors got off to a flyer through Shane Watson and Simon Katich as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 harbouring hopes of reaching the 450 run mark in their first innings. Yet, the Indian spinners brought the hosts right back in the match to even the
day out for the two contestants.
Australia was placed at 285/5 at close of play with skipper Ricky Ponting failing to get to three figures despite another impressive 77 run knock.
The Australians who narrowly lost the opening match at Mohali made one change to their team, fast bowler Doug Bollinger who sustained an injury during the one wicket defeat was replaced by pacer Peter George who is making his test debut.
On the other hand, the hosts had to ring in the changes to their team in the starting eleven. Opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623, VVS Laxman and Ishant Sharma.
Pujara is making his test debut for the hosts. The talented batsman has a huge responsibility in the match as he fills in for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 who fashioned one of the greatest wins in recent test history with a gritty unbeaten knock on the final day of the first
test.
Laxman was down with severe cramps in his back yet had the resilience to back up his heroics in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in the last test match of the series at Colombo.
However, he won’t be appearing in the Bangalore test to make it three times on the trot.
Besides missing Laxman, the hosts would not have the services of pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 who played a pivotal role with bat and ball in Mohali, sharing a crucial stand with Laxman that was worth more than 70 runs that took the Indians to the brink of victory,
before Laxman and Ojha finished off the job.
Meanwhile, the Aussies who have to win here to avoid a series defeat started on the front foot with Watson and Katich rattling the Indian bowling before the lunch interval.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 posted his third successive score of 50 or more before falling to left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.
He was caught at the wicket region by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028. However, he was not the first Aussie wicket to fall as Katich had already failed to reach his half century, falling for 43 to Harbhajan Singh.
Following his demise, vice-captain Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 tried to resurrect the tourists with his captain Ricky Ponting. However, Clarke’s poor run in the series continued as Indian destroyer in chief Harbhajan Singh had him caught by Suresh Raina.
Clarke was dismissed for 14 runs; his knock included one hit to the fence. Mike Hussey and Ponting then repaired the quick damage inflicted on their team with a solid partnership for the fourth wicket.
Hussey was in an aggressive mood, adding 66 runs for the fourth wicket as he was dismissed for 34 runs in 45 balls with the help of 4 hits to the fence.
Australia was at this stage dealt another blow when Mr. Cricket Mike Hussey was dismissed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s leading bowler in the first test Zaheer Khan.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 took the catch and the tourists were in a spot of bother at 198/4.
Hussey’s departure brought to the crease Marcus North for whom this test is a make or break one after a string of poor scores in recent games.
The left hander had his best run for some time as he reached 43 without being dismissed by the close of play.
Ponting in the meantime was sent packing with 23 runs short of a hundred. He was wrapped on the pads by part timer Suresh Raina.
The Australians were 285/5 when bad light took the players off, four overs before the scheduled close of play.
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