By IANS
Melbourne : Set to get an improbable 499 runs in the fourth innings to win the first Test after Australia declared their second innings at 351 for seven, India ended the third day at six without loss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here Friday.
India, who were shot out for 196 in the first innings in reply to Australia’s 343, will have to get the highest ever fourth-innings score to win.
With 493 more runs, 10 wickets in hand and 180 overs remaining, it will need a lot from the Indian batsmen to save the Test and then think of winning it. MCG history is against the visitors.
The best fourth-innings score here to win a Test is 332 by England in 1928-29. England are one of the three teams to have scored more than 400 runs in the last innings to win a match, India being one of them.
India scored 406 for four to beat West Indies at Port of Spain in 1975-76, but West Indies have surpassed that record by scoring the highest 418 for seven in the fourth innings to beat Australia at St. John’s in the 2002-03 series.
To win from here on a pitch which has cracks to aid the bowlers and surprise the batsmen with a uneven bounce, mostly keeping low to make stroke-play difficult, India will have to come up with something extraordinary. The evidence could be seen when the home batsmen struggled to score Friday.
Michael Clarke, using his feet against Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, top-scored with 73 and opener Phil Jaques (51) made his sixth consecutive fifty.
Jaques has another record waiting. He will equal great West Indies batsman Everton Weekes and Zimbabwean Andy Flower’s record of seven straight 50s if he gets a half-century in the first innings of the second Test match at Sydney.
Matthew Hayden (47) and Andrew Symonds (44) batted belligerently in the first session Friday, living dangerously. Hayden became only the fifth Australian to pass 8,000 Test runs, his career tally now standing at 8,003 at an average of 53.00, with 28 centuries.
There were steady contributions down the line as Mike Hussey (36), Adam Gilchrist (35), Brad Hogg (35 not out) also chipped in, but skipper Ricky Ponting failed with the bat for the second time in the match. He fell to his bugbear Harbhajan for three to follow his four in the first innings.
Harbhajan seemed to have regained his rhythm and control over his flight and variation to claim three wickets. Kumble added two to his five in the first innings.
Harbhajan first dismissed Hayden, caught in the straight field by Sourav Ganguly and then got Ponting to edge to Rahul Dravid at slip. His third wicket was that of Gilchrist whose slog sweep was well caught by Rudra Pratap Singh at square-leg. Kumble had Jacques caught and bowled and Clarke stumped.
Though India claimed wickets at regular intervals, they were thwarted by an 82-run fifth-wicket stand between Clarke and Symonds at a time when the team looked in some discomfort at 161 for four after being 135 for two at lunch.
Symonds was going great guns when he was trapped leg before by Zaheer Khan just before tea.
Zaheer was close to getting rid of Symonds on seven, when he bowled the burly right-handed batsman with a beauty, but to his chagrin found umpire Billy Bowden calling it a no-ball.
Before Zaheer got him leg before, Symonds looked like recording his second straight hundred in Boxing Day Tests, having got his maiden century in the Ashes Test last year.
Zaheer’s new ball partner Rudra Pratap dismissed Hussey caught by Tendulkar in the slips.
Potings declaration came at the right time to give India some taste of his fast bowlers Friday. But Indian openers Dravid batting on three and Wasim Jaffer on two negotiated new ball bowlers Brett Lee and Stuart Clark well and survived the third day to carry on the fight.