By IANS
Perth : Rahul ‘the Wall’ Dravid stood rock-steady as India worked their way to reach 297 for six by the close of play on the opening day of the third Test against Australia at the WACA Ground here Wednesday.
Dravid, criticised for stonewalling in the last two Tests, showed great resilience in compiling a workmanlike 93 off 183 deliveries with 14 fours. He kept India afloat though they lost four wickets, including his and V.V.S. Laxman’s, in the final session to lose momentum.
Besides Dravid, the in-form Sachin Tendulkar batted fluently to score a fine 71 (128 balls, 9x4s) to prove that captain Anil Kumble’s decision to bat first was a correct one, even against a four-pronged pace attack.
Tendulkar too was looking good for his century till he missed the line of an express delivery from Brett Lee and was adjudged leg before the wicket. Television replays and the ‘Hawk Eye’ indicated that the ball, which hit the knee roll of his pad, would likely have sailed over the stumps.
At stumps, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (8) and Irfan Pathan were at the creasewith eight runs apiece.
The Indians would have been in a much better position but for some aggressive bowling by the Australians towards the end of play. The last session saw India lose Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (9), Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman (27) with Dravid and Laxman getting out within a span of four overs.
Lee was the most successful bowler with three wickets while Mitchell Johnson bagged two and part-timer Andrew Symonds one.
Australia conceded an unusually high 35 ‘extras’ which included nine no balls.
The pre-match speculation that the Australian pacers would rattle the Indians proved wrong as Dravid and Tendulkar batted with great assurance.
Virender Sehwag, coming into the Test side for the first time in more than a year, scored 29 before edging Johnson behind the wickets, but he had helped India get off to a decent start, putting on 57 with Jaffer made 16 before edging Lee to Adam Gilchrist.
Tendulkar and Dravid forged a solid partnership to help India overcome the first-session blues as India went in for the break at 74.
The pair batted through the second session without being separated, both getting their fifties. They added 103 runs in the second session to take the total to 177 by tea. The highlight of their 139-run partnership was that it was the first time in the series that India had negotiated an entire session without losing a wicket.
It was Dravid’s 51st half-century and Tendulkar’s 49th.
Dravid departed seven runs short of what would have been his first century in 17 innings and 25th overall. He uncharacteristically tried to hit spinner Andrew Symonds out of the ground and captain Ricky Ponting held an easy catch at mid off.
Although the third session produced most runs — 120 — India also lost all the gains with four wickets going down, thus nullifying all the good work done by Tendulkar and Dravid.
India went into the match with Irfan Pathan and Virender Sehwag replacing Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh.
Sehwag played a cameo, slashing at deliveries outside the off stump,failing to connect more often than not. He was the first to be dismissed after smashing six fours in his 58-ball knock.
Jaffer was next to go and that brought Dravid and Tendulkar together and the two gave the Indian innings some strength. However, by the end of the day, their good work had somewhat been undone.