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Australia v India: Day 4

Monday, January 5 2004

It was all thrills, chills and spills once again from the beautiful Sydney Cricket Ground. The stakes could not be higher for both teams, as both teams look to finish with a win.

From Indian dominance on all three days of this test match, it was time for that trademark 'true blue' Aussie defiance. Left handed batsman Simon Katich and that dogged tailender Jason Gillespie got the wood early over India, as Australia had defiance on their minds.

Indian leg spinner and bowler of the match Anil Kumble picked up Brett Lee for 0 earlier in the morning, which brought out Jason Gillespie and the ever fluent Simon Katich together.

Gillespie with his solid defence and doggedness, and Katich with his free flowing strokes all around the wicket proved to be a thorn in the Indian side, as they added a further 117 valuable runs to the Australian total, as Simon Katich registered his maiden test century and cemented a place at number six for himself in this strong Australian outfit.

With the score at 467, Katich skyed Kumble to a waiting long on fielder, as Virender Sehwag swallowed the catch to dismiss Katich for a superb innings of 125. Kumble then picked up the defiant Gillespie soon after, as Gillespie was stumped by the ever impressive Parthiv Patel.

With seven wickets in his basket, Kumble dislodged tailender Nathan Bracken as well to finish up with marvellous figures of 8/141, and finishing up with the second best figures of an Indian bowler in Australia.

Despite many thinking India would enforce the follow on, Sourav Ganguly defied many and decided to let India and Sachin Tendulkar bat once more. With India needing to score relatively quickly, Chopra (2) fell first spooning a catch to point off Jason Gillespie's bowling.

Brett Lee's nightmare game continued from the other end, as he had Sehwag caught off a no ball, and then dropped in the same over. However Sehwag and Dravid were not fussed, and they both launched into Brett Lee and the Australian bowling and stroked boundaries and found gaps at will.

Dravid looked as classical as ever with free flowing cover drives and elegant dabs, while Sehwag was at his ruthless and destructive as both propelled India past 50. With the score at 73 however, Virender Sehwag tried to hoist Stuart MacGill over mid wicket, only to be caught by the waiting Jason Gillespie for 47.

The little master, Sachin Tendulkar strode out to the middle with a confident and relaxed look on his face. The double centurion in the first innings began positively. Rahul Dravid continued to time the ball immacuately and even went after Nathan Bracken as he pounded the ball for a straight six.

Dravid registered another landmark in this series, as he registered another well deserved half century. The Indian man of the series continued with Sachin Tendulkar to dominate a clueless Australian attack.

Sachin Tendulkar was in a happy mood as well, as he reverse swept, swept, dabbed and drove his way to another half century and over 290 runs in the game. With Dravid on 91* and Sachin Tendulkar on 60*, Sourav Ganguly decided that a declaration was a must, and with the score at 2/211 with a lead of 443 India are seemingly placed in a good position.

Langer and Hayden came out for the last few overs of the day, and both survived without any trouble. Australia are 0/10 at the end of day four.

In what has been a superb series, and a superb game any possiblity is possible at this stage. One can never discount the never say die spirit of Australia, and for Steve Waugh's sake they will be looking to finish this test on a high.

The Indian's are buoyant and energetic in the field, they have clearly been the better side all series and throughout this entire test, one would not expect India to give up an opportunity on an away series win so easily.

India have a viciously turning fifth day Sydney pitch and the services of a fighter in Anil Kumble, and a few wiry spinners in Sachin Tendulkar and Murali Kartik. Australia have the brick wall that is Matthew Hayden, and the ever deadly Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist.

It promises to be a tremendously exciting day five tomorrow, join us on http://www.cricketweb.net for the Final Match Bulletin.


Brief Score Summary:

India (1st Innings): 7/705 dec. (Tendulkar 241*, Laxman 178, Sehwag 72, Patel 62, Lee 4/201, Gillespie 3/135)

Australia (1st Innings): 474 All Out (Katich 125, Langer 117, Hayden 67, Kumble 8/141, Pathan 2/80)

India (2nd Innings): 2/211 dec. (Dravid 91*, Tendulkar 60*, Gillespie 1/32, MacGill 1/65)

Australia Chasing 443 Runs

Australia (2nd Innings): 0/10 (Langer 4*, Hayden 1*)

Posted by Sangrah