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Australia v India: Day 3

Sunday, December 28 2003

Ricky Ponting has plundered a masterful 257 to leave India reeling after three days of the Third Test against Australia.

Resuming at 3/317, Ponting and Damien Martyn (31) quickly went past India's first innings total of 366 before Ajit Agarkar found the edge of Martyn's blade to bring Steve Waugh to bat for possibly the last time at the MCG.

Waugh's stay was cut short when he was struck heavily on the left elbow by a delivery from Agarkar, retiring hurt having faced just two balls.

While Ponting continued to plunder the Indian attack all over the ground, Simon Katich had begun working the ball around before he fell to a close in catch to Anil Kumble for 29.

Waugh then returned to his second of three standing ovations for the day, but never looked comfortable due to the obvious pain in his elbow. Unable to hit the ball off the square for much of his innings, he was almost thankfully adjudged lbw to Kumble without offering a shot.

That decision looked somewhat questionable, however Kumble did have an earlier appeal turned down when he trapped Waugh padding up to a ball that would have struggled to miss middle stump.

Kumble continued his wicket taking charge when he had Brett Lee caught by VVS Laxman for 8, while Tendulkar broke through by picking up Nathan Bracken to a soft return catch.

Ponting's marathom stay finally ended when he was well stumped attempting to hit Kumble into the crowd. Ponting had managed 25 boundariers amassing the highest score of his test career, becoming the third player in history to score double hundreds in consecutive tests.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the innings was that he failed to offer any real chance throughout. Coming on the back of his 242 in the Adelaide Test, Ponting has now scored the third highest number of runs ever in a calendar year after Vivian Richards and Michael Vaughan.

While Australia's captain-in-waiting was so dominant, there is some concern that the man currently at the helm may miss the opportunity for a Sydney farewell next week. While x-rays revealed there is no bone damage, the movement and feeling in Waugh's arm will need to improve greatly if he is to play the final Test.

Agarkar managed to pick up the final wicket of MacGill, but it was the hard work of the durable Kumble who was clearly the pick of the bowlers. With figures of 6/176 from a marathon 51 overs, it was his second 5-wicket haul of the tour.

The Australian innings was finally wrapped up for an enormous 558, leaving India with a deficit of 192 and 11 overs to face before stumps.

Akash Chopra stroked a square drive to the boundary to get the innings underway. He was then cruelly given out caught behind to a delivery that appeared to flick just his back pad on the way through to Adam Gilchrist off the bowling of Nathan Bracken.

Virender Sehwag was unable to repeat his first innings performance, producing a brisk 11 before he was well caught by Brad Williams after flicking the ball on the on side off Brett Lee.

Much to the disappointment of the 39,000 strong crowd, it was Sourav Ganguly and not Sachin Tendulkar who came out to bat with six overs remaining. Ganguly and Rahul Dravid saw out the day, but not before the Indian captain played two bewlidering wafts outside off stump that only managed to put him in danger of losing his wicket.

The hard work of Ricky Ponting made it another tough day in the field for India, who have a difficult challenge ahead tomorrow to even take the match into a fifth day. With the pitch beginning to deteriorate and even Tendulkar already getting reasonable turn, expect MacGill to be a big factor in the next two days.

Score Summary:

India 366

Australia 558 (Ponting 257, Hayden 136, Kumble 6/176, Agarkar 3/115)

India 2/27 (Dravid 6*, Ganguly 6*, Bracken 1/7, Lee 1/20)

Posted by JohnC