By Ashis Ray, IANS
Melbourne : Led by skipper Anil Kumble’s ‘fiver’, it was a commendable fight back by India after a barren first session, as they held Australia down to 337 for nine.
But the Indians failed to finish it off, as umpire Mark Benson disallowed a bat-pad catch off Mitchell Johnson, which may well have provided Kumble with a sixth wicket. Indeed, the last wicket pair spiritedly prolonged the Australian venture.
A score of 337 for nine may be below Australia’s expectations, but is quite competitive. While the wicket is likely to get flatter on the second day – and therefore easier for batting – it could also get harder, thus providing some bounce to the trio of Australian quicks, two of whom – Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson – are considerably faster than their Indian counterparts and the other – Stuart Clarke – taller and, thus, able to hit the turf from a greater height.
India have to bat last on what could an uneven turner. This would assist both left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg and the pace bowlers. Thus, the Indians must register a lead of at least 100 runs in the first innings to stay alive in the contest. The world champions, though, are facing a rare challenge at the test level.
Either Ricky Ponting misread the “drop in” pitch or was deliberately misleading when he described it as “very, very damp” on the eve of the match. If the latter, Anil Kumble didn’t fall for the bluff. Instead, he slightly surprised pundits by including Harbhajan Singh in the side rather than Ishant Sharma.
Kumble clearly opted for a quartet that is his most experienced and likely to capture 20 wickets. Besides, Harbhajan has a psychological advantage of a phenomenal record against Australia, albeit at home. The only problem is, he’s become prone to bowling defensively, which was not his style when he sensationally scooped up 28 wickets in two tests against Steve Waugh’s side in 2001.
As proceedings proved, the wicket was sluggish and might well respond to spin on the fourth and fifth days.
India’s best chance of collecting wickets was in the first 45 minutes, when the Kookaburra ball (which has a less pronounced seam than the Dukes) was new and residual moisture in the wicket encouraged movement in the air as well as off the surface.
Both Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh started their out-swingers to the two left-handed batsmen from outside off-stump rather than from off and middle sticks, thereby not forcing them to play all the time.
Though Kumble picked up five wickets, he made the mistake of holding himself back in the morning session. He would probably have made the ball skid through while there was still a bit of life in it. But the skipper made amends with a magnificent spell after lunch, when Australia threatened a massive total.
He not only contained the opposition with his accuracy and variety, but deceived Phil Jacques with an angled top-spinner, which the batsman thought would be a leg-spinner. Soon after he had the indomitable Mike Hussey, who played for a top-spinner but then found out it was a googly.
In between Kumble’s successes, Zaheer produced the delivery of the day, when, going around the wicket, he slanted one in and cut it away to hit the top of Ponting’s off-stump.
The Mumbai medium-pacer followed this with the prized scalp of Mathew Hayden – when the batsman played too early to hole out at mid-on – but not before this Queenslander had recorded his 28th test hundred, 19th in Australia and fifth in six matches at the MCG. The reward was well deserved, for Kumble had dropped the same batsman at gully off Zaheer when he was 68.
Ground fielding was India’s biggest weakness in the day with Sourav Ganguly, Rudra Pratap and Harbhajan being the culprits. Besides, but for a wayward throw from a generally agile Yuvraj Singh, Michael Clarke might have been run out.
Indeed, Dhoni also got a glove to a glance from Andrew Symonds. Fortunately for the tourists, the recent rainfall had rendered the outfield sluggish. Otherwise, they may have struggled on a ground much bigger than any in India.