Australia v India: Day 2
Sunday, December 28 2003
"Australian domination" were the perfect words that summed up the entire day's play on day two of the traditional Boxing Day test match from the lovely MCG.
In what has already been an extremely entertaining and absorbing test series, things promised to get a little more steamier and a little more heavier, as cricket's heavyweight's battled for second day honours.
Resuming from the first day's play when it was all India and the explosive Virender Sehwag, India gave their supporters a typical Indian performance, as they lost the initiative from a commanding position.
With the score at 4/329, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman toyed around with the Australian bowling for a few minutes. Ganguly was looking comfortable at the other end, and with VVS Laxman in the form of his life playing with him, a score over 400 was a certainty.
However, cricket is never certain. A collapse of monstrous proportions occured, and as it has so often occured in the past, Australia fought right back into the match and even in the drivers seat.
With the score at 350, Sourav Ganguly edged one into the gully regions and his reaction told the entire tale. A gasp of air, the clench of the fists and one of the most angriest gestures told the story of a man who had blown his teams chance and exposed the fragility of the Indian lower order.
This very Indian lower order did prove once again, just how fragile and inconsistent it really is. Patel was caught behind for 0, Agarkar made an idiotic decision for a single which wasn't there which resulted in another duck and a rather unspectacular run out for the Mumbai cricketer.
With some persistent bowling, aggressive fielding and an overall positive attitude, the Australian fielding side fought back hard and restricted India to a comparably 'cheap' score of just 366, when 400 plus was comfortably on the cards.
With that small smell of success, the Australian batting began in a typically aggressive fashion. However, a small setback occured when Justin Langer cut ferociously to the waiting Sachin Tendulkar at point off Ajit Agarkar's wayward bowling for just 14 runs.
With that minor setback, the two greatest batsman in the Australian lineup got going and did not stop. Matthew Lawrence Hayden and Ricky Ponting dominated every Indian bowler and exposed the fragility in this Indian fast bowling lineup.
After initially seeing off a good solid spell from Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra, the two settled down with singles and well run two's and three's. But when the floodgates opened, they opened very wide. Good balls and bad were dispatched to the boundary, as the pair went passed 200 runs in their partnership.
Matthew Hayden was the first to reach his century, and raced into the 130's. Ricky Ponting joined his solid Queensland teammate in celebrating another century in 2003. The pair have been the most prolific run machines in this calender year, and the Indian bowlers had their hands full.
However there was still some joy for India left in the day, as a hardworking Anil Kumble picked up Matthew Hayden lbw for a wonderful 136. Hawkeye suggested the ball was clipping Hayden's off stump. India fought back again, with promoted batsman Adam Gilchrist being dismissed by Kumble once again.
Gilchrist came and swatted a few deliveries to the fence, before Nehra caught him off Anil Kumble's persistent bowling for a cheap 14.
At the close of play however, Ricky Ponting stood tall as Australia were in a commanding position with still 7 big wickets back in the pavillion waiting for a chance to bat.
Please join us tomorrow for the Day 3 bulletin on http://www.cricketweb.net
Brief Score Summary:
India (1st Innings): 366 All Out (Sehwag 195, Dravid 49, MacGill 3/70, Lee 2/103)
Australia (1st Innings): 3/317 (Hayden 136, Ponting 120*, Kumble 2/102, Agarkar 1/72)
Posted by Sangrah
Email Us
Forum
Mail Article
Print Article