By IANS,
Nagpur : Australia suffered an early set-back, losing opener Matthew Hayden, and were at 43 for one in reply to India’s first innings score of 441, at tea on the second day of the fourth and the final Test here at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium Friday.
Simon Katich was batting 18 and skipper Ricky Ponting seven at the break after Hayden (16) was run out.
India were bowled out in the post-lunch session as Jason Krejza returned with figures of eight for 215 runs from 43.5 overs. The off-spinner became the eighth spinner in Test history to pick up eight wickets on debut, but he and also conceded the most number of runs in an innings. The only other bowler to conceded more than 200 runs in an innings was West Indian Omari Banks who gave away 204 in 40 overs for three wickets against Australia in 2003.
Krejza suffered this morning at the hands of Sourav Ganguly and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni during their 119-run sixth-wicket stand and they were unseparated in the morning session.
Ganguly, playing his last Test match, scored a brilliant 85 while Dhoni made a flamboyant 56.
Even though he was highly expensive, Krejza’s bag included the important wickets of Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman, Dhoni and Ganguly.
Resuming at the overnight score of 311/5, Ganguly and Dhoni batted cautiously in the first hour before opening out to play some fine shots.
The boundaries were hard to come on the big ground, but brilliant running between the wickets made up for the big shots. There were six triples and 11 doubles in the century-run stand, mostly urged on by Dhoni.
Former India captain Ganguly played well with excellent footwork against the spinners and got to his 35th Test half-century when he stepped down the track and lifted off-spinner Jason Krejza for a four over the mid-off.
Ganguly was at his best after he completed his 35th fifty as he drove fluently and flicked off the pads. The flashes of vintage Ganguly were there as he jumped out to hoist Krejza for a six, his 57th in Tests.
Dhoni was aggressive, and pushed Ganguly to take quick runs to rotate strike and put pressure on the tired Australians.