By IANS
Perth : A resurgent, pepped up India thrashed Australia by 72 runs on the fourth day of the third Test here Saturday to keep alive hopes of drawing the four-Test series. India now trail 1-2 in the four-match series, with the final Test to be played in Adelaide from Thursday.
Chasing 413 for a win, Australia were all out for 340 in 86.5 overs at the Western Australian Cricket Association ground. They had made 212 in their first innings while Anil Kumble’s India scored 330 and 294.
Irfan Pathan was adjudged the Man of the Match for scoring 74 crucial runs and taking five important wickets in the match. He was the most successful bowler in the second innings with three for 54 while Virender Sehwag, playing his first Test after more than a year, bowled well to take two wickets.
Michael Clarke (81, 134 balls, 10x4s) was top scorer and Mitchell Johnson made the only other half-century, an unbeaten 50 (80 balls, 5x4s, 2x6s) in Australia’s second innings. Johnson’s 73-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Stuart Clarke (32, 35 balls, 3x4s, 1×6) delayed India’s win.
Ricky Ponting’s side were attempting to win their 17th successive Test for a world record, and had not lost any one of the last 25 Tests at home. Interestingly, the last time Australia had lost a Test at home was also to India, in December 2003 in Adelaide when Sourav Ganguly was the captain.
After the Test series, India will play a one-off Twenty20 International against Australia Feb 1 and a One-Day International triangular series, beginning Feb 3, with Sri Lanka joining the two teams.
Surpassingly, no century was scored during the four days at Perth and Rahul Dravid’s first-innings’ 93 turned out to be the highest score of the match.
India had only one success in the morning session of the penultimate day when lanky Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma dismissed Ponting with a beautiful delivery that the captain pushed on the front foot. But the ball kissed the edge of his bat on way to Dravid at first slip.
The Australians scored 77 runs in the two-hour morning session.
Australia had resumed the day at 65 for two, with Ponting on 24 and Hussey on five and carried on confidently. They added 74 for the third wicket in 23.3 overs and scored at 3.14 runs per over. The skipper was the dominant partner as he scored 36. Hussey hit 26.
Ponting and Hussey had come together at the fall of Phil Jaques’s wicket, at 43 for two, late Friday. By the time their partnership was broken, the left-hand-right-hand combination had taken their team to a solid position of 117 for three.
Sehwag took two wickets in six balls after lunch to give India a much-needed boost. India captured three key wickets in this second session, though Australia scored 101. Sehwag dismissed Adam Gilchrist (15, 22 balls, 2x4s) and Brett Lee (0).
The session began with pacer Rudra Pratap Singh dismissing Mike Hussey, who was looking good at 46 (113 balls, 5x4s). The left-armer switched to over the wicket for the last ball of his 15th over and tasted success as Hussey played a forward defensive shot, missed the line and umpire Asad Rauf declared him lbw after a pause.
After a relatively sedate start, Andrew Symonds chanced his arms and hit Kumble for a six over mid-off, completing 1,000 runs in his 18th Test. One ball later, Kumble had his measure with a 102 kmph delivery (12, 14 balls, 1×4, 1×6).
Symonds went on the back foot to a googly, failed to connect as the ball hit his back foot and umpire Billy Bowden of New Zealand raised his finger instantly. Kumble went delirious, with an extended celebration.
Gilchrist joined Clarke and the two started building a partnership as the bowlers suddenly looked ineffective. They brought up 50 for the sixth wicket and the Indians might have started to worry.
But in the second instinctive move of the day, Kumble brought in Sehwag, whose innocuous off-spinners have broken many a partnership earlier. The Indian opening batsman cleaned up Gilchrist round his legs with a sharp turner as the left-hander tried to play an ambitious sweep.
In his next over, Sehwag had Brett Lee caught by V.V.S. Laxman at silly point off bat-pad while defending. Australia slumped to 229 for seven.
Soon after tea, Kumble had the solid-looking Clarke stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he charged down the pitch for a big shot. He and Johnson had defied the Indian attack for almost 13 overs while scoring 73 runs at an amazing 5.68 per over.
Johnson smashed Kumble for three boundaries in one over on way to his maiden Test half-century, which he eventually got in the company of last man Shaun Tait. He lofted Kumble once but Sehwag failed to hold the catch after running quite a distance from wide long on. Johnson was then on 28.
Stuart Clark provided able support to Johnson before Pathan finally consumed Clark, caught by Dhoni to reduce Australia to 326 for nine. Rudra Pratap Singh sealed the win as he castled Shaun Tait for four and triggered extended celebrations in the Indian camp.
Scoreboard
Third Test, Day 4, India vs. Australia, Western Australian Cricket Association Ground, Perth (stumps), Jan 19
India (1st innings): 330
Australia (1st innings): 212
India (2nd innings): 294
Australia (2nd innings, overnight 65/2)
Chris Rogers c Dhoni b Pathan 15
Phil Jaques c Jaffer b Pathan 16
Ricky Ponting c Dravid b Sharma 45
Mike Hussey lbw b Singh 46
Michael Clarke st Dhoni b Kumble 81
Andrew Symonds lbw b Kumble 12
Adam Gilchrist b Sehwag 15
Brett Lee c Laxman b Sehwag 0
Mitchell Johnson not out 50
Stuart Clark c Dhoni b Pathan 32
Shaun Tait b Singh 4
Extras (lb 6, w 8, nb 10) 24
Total (all out; 86.5 overs) 340 (3.91 runs per over)
Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Rogers, 5.1 ov), 2-43 (Jaques, 9.4), 3-117 (Ponting, 33.1), 4-159 (Hussey, 44.6), 5-177 (Symonds, 49.4), 6-227 (Gilchrist, 60.3), 7-229 (Lee, 62.2), 8-253 (Clarke, 71.1), 9-326 (Clark, 83.6), 10-340 (Tait, 86.5)
Bowling:
Rudra Pratap Singh 21.5-4-95-2 (3w)
Irfan Pathan 16-2-54-3
Ishant Sharma 17-0-63-1 (7nb, 1w)
Anil Kumble 24-2-98-2 (3nb)
Virender Sehwag 8-1-24-2
Result: India won by 72 runs
Series: Australia lead four-match series 2-1
Man of the Match: Irfan Pathan
Toss: India
Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and Asad Rauf (Pakistan)
Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa)