By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
Mohali (Punjab) : India inflicted a record 320-run victory over Australia in the second Test match at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium Tuesday to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Resuming at 141 for five on the fifth and final day, Chasing an improbable 516 runs to win, Australian lasted barely 90 minutes this morning before they lost the remaining five wicekts to be bowled out for 195 in the second innings.
This is the biggest victory margin for India and one of the heaviest for Australia in Test cricket. The hosts bettered their 280-run win over South Africa at Kanpur in 1996-97.
India made 468 in the first innings and declared their second at 314 for three. Australia, who were dismissed for 268 in the first innings, had paid with the match for their batting debacle.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was adjudged the Man of the Match for scoring 92 and unbeaten 62, besides for his aggressive captaincy.
Dhoni said it was a perfect Test match for them.
“We got a chance here. Everyone in the team contributed in the win. It was like a perfect game for us. Winning the toss was important as well. We had an opportunity and we made it count. All four bowlers did very well. Zaheer and Ishant were hitting the right areas and the spinners bowled the right line and length.”
“Australia is a strong side. Its supremacy as the No. 1 team is still there. They have had one bad game, but I don’t think that they have lost it yet. They will come back strongly.”
The Test will also be remembered for Sachin Tendulkar becoming the highest scorer in Test cricket, Sourav Ganguly getting to 7,000 runs with his 16th Test century and leg-spinner Amit Mishra’s seven wickets on debut, five of these in the first innings.
Australia needed 375 runs more to win the match on the fifth day, but Zaheer Khan made sure the it did not even go into the second session, claiming three wickets in four balls in his first two overs.
The 30-year-old left-arm medium-pacer first removed Brad Haddin (37) in the first over with a beauty that came in to rattle the stumps. In his next over, he dismissed Cameron White (1) and Brett Lee off successive deliveries.
Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke (69) fought a lone battle and last man Mitchell Johnson (26) put up a last-ditch effort. The two added 50 runs for the ninth wicket, but the effort was not enough.
It was left to Mishra to wrap up the innings. He first took an easy catch off his own bowling to get Johnson out and then tempted Clarke to pull one to sachin Tendulkar at midwicket.
It was an allround performance by the Indian team, whose aggression from the first day did the Australians in.
Ganguly (104), Dhoni, Tendulkar (88), Gambhir (67) first engineered to build a solid base for the hosts in the first innings. Then young Mishra came up with his fiver to put the Australians on the mat.
In the second innings, Gambhir, Sehwag and Dhoni were simply explosive and their batting effectively took the Test away from the Australians. And finally, Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh ran through the visitors’ second innings, picking up three wickets each to pull off the historic victory.