Battle of attrition on the third day as India take the lead
by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

Scorecard:India v Australia
Player:M Vijay, CL White, BJ Haddin, MJ Clarke, MEK Hussey, SM Katich, I Sharma, A Mishra, Z Khan, Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni, RS Dravid, V Sehwag
Event:Australia in India 2008/09
DateLine: 8th November 2008

 

It was one of the most traditional days of test cricket ever witnessed in recent times. Australia scoring 166 runs in a day was really surprising. Not once in the last 15 years has team Australia done that. Credit should be given where it is due . A combination of Dhoni's leadership which included in and out fields,bowling changes and backed up by excellent bowling led to India bowling out Australia for 355 and taking a lead of 86 runs.The openers had one over to negotiate which they did.

Slow going
The morning session set the tone for the whole day. Australia scored only 42 runs of 24 overs in that session. The Indian fast bowlers stuck to good lines and lengths and frustrated the overnight pair of Katich and Hussey to make sure that Australia did not run away with the game. The bowlers bowled on one side of the wicket and Aussie pair unwilling to take risks. Katich went on to complete his fifth test hundred. But got bogged down after that and was trapped in front by Zaheer.

Australia succumbed post lunch
With their defensive approach Australia got themselves into a hole after lunch. India got three quick wickets. Michael Clark was the first to go getting out to a beauty of Ishant. The ball pitched on off and held its line for him to nick it. Then came a moment of brilliance from M.Vijay, who standing at silly point threw the ball back to Dhoni, who whipped the stumps leaving Hussey stranded. That was the turning point as Hussey who was closing in on a hundred fell ten short. Watson then played on to Harbhajan.Australia lost three wickets in less than 20 runs and the match shifted balance.

Australia negative even after tea
Haddin and White were involved in a partnership of 50 runs in the post tea session but Australian tactics were still negative.With them needing to push for a win being one down, they were surprisingly subdued. There were singles on offer,Dhoni did not take the new ball and Sehwag and Mishra were operating but Australia were still going at a snails pace. Finally it got to Haddin and ball from the rough took his edge to be caught by Dravid off Mishra. The new ball was finally taken and India wrapped the tail taking a lead of 86, ending a day were both teams did not go for the knock out punch. India would want to do that tomorrow on a wicket which surprisingly is still flat.