By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
Mohali (Punjab) : An all-round performance helped India beat Australia by a massive margin of 320 runs in the second Test match at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium Tuesday and take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Chasing 516 to win, Australia were bowled out for 195 in the second innings in just 90 minutes on the final day as India registered its biggest victory in Test cricket (not counting innings victory). India made 468 in the first innings and declared their second essay at 314 for three. Australia had to pay heavily for their batting debacle in the first innings when they were bowled out for 268.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was adjudged the Man of the Match for scoring 92 and 68 in both the innings and also for his aggressive captaincy.
But more than the aggressive captaincy, the match will be remembered for Sachin Tendulkar becoming the highest scorer in Test cricket, Sourav Ganguly getting to 7,000 runs, Harbhajan Singh crossing the 300-wicket mark and leg-spinner Amit Mishra picking up five wickets on debut.
Resuming at the overnight score of 141 for five, Australia had a big task at hand as they needed 375 runs more to win the match with five wickets in hand.
But Indian bowlers started tightening the noose around the visitors right from the morning with fast bowler Zaheer Khan spitting fire. Zaheer picked up three wickets in four balls to put the final nails in Australia’s coffin.
The 30-year-old seasoned left-armer provided India the first breakthrough when he removed overnight batsmen Brad Haddin (37) in the first over with a beauty that came in to rattle the stumps. In his very next over, Zaheer picked up Cameron White (1) and Brett Lee in successive deliveries to take India to sniffing distance of the win.
Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke (69) fought a lone battle at the other end and with Mitchell Johnson (26) put up the last fight. They added 50 runs for the ninth wicket but their efforts were not enough to stave off the defeat.
It was left to debutant leg-spinner Amit Mishra to wrap up the tail. Mishra first took an easy catch off his own bowling to remove Johnson and then removed Clarke to cap off a sensational debut with a match haul of seven wickets.