October 5, Mohali: Irrespective of the ICC Test rankings of India (Rank No. 1) and Australia (Rank No. 4), cricket often emerges the winner when the two sides meet. The first Test match of the 2010 Border-Gavaskar Trophy highlighted this fact once again.
Ricky Ponting won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat first, a decision he would experience firsthand after Simon Katich was dismissed by Zaheer Khan early in the Australian innings. With Shane Watson and him bringing up 150 runs for Australia for the loss of a solitary wicket, the decision to bat first looked particularly good. Ponting was then run-out against the run of play by a superb piece of fielding by Suresh Raina and the loss of that wicket slowed down the Australian innings. The middle-order batsmen failed to give the innings any momentum, while the Indian bowlers kept effecting breakthroughs at regular intervals. Nevertheless, with Watson bringing up a steady century, Tim Paine battling bravely for his 92 and Mitchell Johnson’s brisk knock of 47 runs, Australia laboured to a total of 428 scored under three runs-per-over. For India, Zaheer Khan was the standout bowler taking yet another 5-wicket haul.
The Indian reply began in typical Virender Sehwag fashion. The dashing opener was severe on the Australian bowling attack, which reflected in India’s score of 110 for 2 at the end of Day 2 in just 21 overs. The first two sessions of Day 3 belonged conclusively to India as Rahul Dravid (77), Sachin Tendulkar (98) and Suresh Raina (86) blunted the Australian attack. India looked in absolute control of the match at 354 for 4, when an innocuous delivery from Marcus North had Tendulkar trapped LBW. Once again, the momentum was back with Australia. Mitchell Johnson took three of the last five wickets, and was even on a hat-trick, as India collapsed to 405 all out.
With two days still left in the match, all three results looked entirely possible. The Australians looked a different batting unit in their second innings as Shane Watson blazed his way to a half-century and the openers put on 87 for the first wicket. But Ishant Sharma, who went wicket-less in the first innings, then struck thrice to leave Australia on the back foot at 96 for 3. Sharma’s burst gave new spark to the other Indian bowlers and Australia were dismissed halfway through the third session on Day 4 for a measly second innings score of 192. With a lead of 23 from the Australian first innings, India were set a modest target of 216.
But the Australians were not about to let the hosts reach the target without the semblance of a fight. Ben Hilfenhaus, in a sensational spell, got rid of Gautam Gambhir, Sehwag and Raina to leave India at 54 for 4 at the end of Day 4. The morning of Day 5 was no better as India lost wickets to a determined Australian bowling attack and at 124 for 8, the Australians were firm favourites to pull off a memorable win.
VVS Laxman, who had batted at No. 10 in India’s first innings owing to a back injury, had other plans. Coming in to bat at No. 7 in India’s second innings after the fall of night-watchman Zaheer Khan’s wicket, Laxman was all elegance. He played at nearly a-run-a-ball through the course of his innings and in Ishant Sharma found a willing partner who held up the other end. Ishant was adjudged LBW with India requiring 11 runs to win but with the Australian fielders giving away four overthrows off a missed run-out opportunity and Pragyan Ojha holding his nerve, India reached 216 with one wicket to spare. For Laxman, it was yet another great innings, coming straight after his similar match-winning knock of 103 not out in the fourth innings of India’s last Test against Sri Lanka in early August 2010.
Brief Scores –
Australia 1st innings 428(Shane Watson 126, Zaheer Khan 5-94)
India 1st innings 405(Sachin Tendulkar 98, Mitchell Johnson 5-64)
Australia 2nd Innings 192(Shane Watson 56, Ishant Sharma 3-34)
India 2nd Innings 216/9(VVS Laxman73*, Ben Hilfenhaus 4-57 )
Result –India beat Australia by 1 wicket
Man-of-the-match – Zaheer Khan (5-94 – 1st innings, 3-43 - 2nd innings)
