By IANS
Adelaide : Centuries from skipper Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke helped Australia reduce their first innings deficit to just 17 runs against India at tea on the fourth day of the final Test here Sunday.
Australia were 509 for six wickets, after Ponting made a brilliant 140 and was ably supported with Clarke’s 118 at the Adelaide Oval. Before the tea break, Andrew Symonds was batting on 19 and Brad Hogg on one, while chasing India’s first innings score of 526.
Resuming on their overnight score of 322 for three, Australia raced on to make 425 without losing any wickets by the lunch break.
Ponting and Clarke belted the depleted Indian bowling attack with some fine stroke-play.
The Australian skipper scored his 34th century and Clarke got his sixth. India have lost left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh for the rest of the match with a hamstring injury. Anil Kumble’s team trail 1-2 in the series and it now looks extremely difficult for India to eke out a win at the Adelaide Oval.
India’s best chance to end the partnership came 25 minutes before lunch, when Clarke moved away to cut Virender Sehwag but Rahul Dravid standing at the first slip failed to hold on to the edge. Clarke was on 84 at the time.
Both Ponting and Clarke added 210 runs for the fourth wicket and set a new record, breaking the earlier 178-run partnership set by Dean Jones and Allan Border in Madras (now Chennai) in 1986.
Ponting also had his share of luck in the morning, when he mistimed a hook off Ishant Sharma, which a diving Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to catch on the left side. Sharma was the most impressive bowler Saturday but failed to provide the same action Sunday and Australia stole the initiative.
Ponting’s nemesis Harbhajan Singh also had a poor game and the batsmen drove and swept the off-spinner with ease.
It was Sehwag who gave India the much needed breakthrough. Sehwag pitched his delivery outside the off-stump but it spun back and Ponting played onto his stumps.
Clarke was the next to depart after stitching a 39-run partnership with Adam Gilchrist (14). Clarke poked at Sharma’s away going delivery and V.V.S. Laxman took an easy catch at second slip.
Gilchrist, playing his last Test match, failed to get a big score and was caught at cover by Sehwag off Pathan. The batsman, who announced his retirement from Test cricket Saturday, got a standing ovation from the Adelaide Oval crowd and the Indian team on his way back to the pavilion.