Australia collapse to Kumble

Australia v India: Second Test, Day 1
October 14, 2004 at Chepauk, Chennai

For once, India has seized the initiative of a Test match against Australia. The trend for the past few years between the two sides has been of the world champions dominating the first two or three days of a match, before either winning it comprehensively, or allow India to make a comeback purely out of miraculous means, which though has been on occasions few and far between.

It was Anil Kumble, who turns 34 in three days, who was the architect of that unknown to the Indians. While it was Harbhajan Singh, who had been predicted to be the prime weapon in order to silent the Aussies, especially after his performances in the two Tests he had played at Chennai before this one, the former showed, despite probably being past his best days, that he is still effective enough to be a match-winner.

There was a point during the day when Australia looked all set for another huge score, after the most successful opening partnership of all time, considering averages, Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden put on a century stand. However, Kumble's effort meant that the Australians lost eight wickets for 46 runs, thus being bundled out for a mere 235 runs, a score which they probably haven't seen on the board against their name since a long time, especially in the first innings of a match.

We're extremely sorry for the unavailabilty of a detailed report.

Australia 1st innings 235 all out
JL Langer 71, ML Hayden 58, A Kumble 48/7
India 1st innings 28/1
V Sehwag 20*, SK Warne 1/1

India trail by 207 runs with nine first innings wickets in hand.

Posted by Sudeep