By IANS
Melbourne : India were struggling at 122 for five in reply to Australia’s first-innings score of 343 at tea on the second day of the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here Thursday.
Sourav Ganguly was batting on 21 and Yuvraj Singh departed without opening his account, when the umpires called tea at the MCG, after Sachin Tendulkar made 62.
Stuart Clark struck twice before the tea-break, by removing both Tendulkar and Yuvraj, and tightened the noose around the Indian batting.
India failed to get a good start as regular opener Wasim Jaffer fell caught behind off Brett Lee for four in the ninth over and in the last over before lunch makeshift opener Rahul Dravid’s painful existence ended when he was plumb in front to Stuart Clark for five off 66 balls.
Dravid survived a dropped catch in the gully by Phil Jaques and was then caught at first slip by Matthew Hayden off a Mitchell Johnson no ball before getting off the mark after 41 deliveries.
Dravid’s tortuous stay occupied 98 minutes from 66 balls. V.V.S. Laxman, meanwhile, tried to push the scoring but was out on 26 after he failed to judge a short-pitched delivery from Lee. Laxman tried to get out of the way but the ball crashed onto his gloves and ballooned up in the air. Ricky Ponting, standing at the slip cordon, took a diving catch.
With India struggling at 55 for three, Ganguly and Tendulkar started the resurrection act and added 65 runs for the fourth wicket. Both were in sublime form and spanked leg-spinner Brad Hogg for few big hits outside the ground.
But when the partnership was looking dangerous, Clark struck with his extra bounce and the ball crashed into the Tendulkar’s stumps via a thick bottom edge in the 46th over.
In his next over, Clark accounted for Yuvraj caught behind by Adam Gilchrist. The left-handed batsman was not at all happy with umpire Billy Bowden’s decision and stood his ground for some moments.
Earlier, Australia could add only six more runs to their overnight score of 337 for nine before Clark was caught at long leg, hooking Zaheer Khan, for 21 to end a productive 31-run stand with Johnson for the last wicket.
Zaheer finished with four wickets for 94 runs as an ideal foil to his skipper Anil Kumble whose five wickets for 84 runs on Boxing Day brought India back into the game after Australia looked set for a huge total after the first session.
India were looking down the barrel when openers Matthew Hayden and Phil Jaques put on 135 for the first wicket. But, Kumble and Zaheer bowled India to a position of relative strength as they claimed nine wickets for 202 runs in the last two sessions.
Australia has not lost a series at home since Richie Richardson’s West Indian team beat them in 1992-93, though India came very close to winning the series last time when they were here in 2003.