Ind vs Aus: Australians falter against Indian spin
MS Dhoni set the usual snares and simply waited for the results to follow. (TOI Photo)
NEW DELHI: Australia went into the Ferozeshah Kotla without Michael
Clarke in the lead role but there was no change in the script on Day One
of the fourth Test.
Seeking a rare clean sweep, Indian skipper MS Dhoni set the usual snares and simply waited for the results to follow.
On offer was a drier-than-usual, abrasive, cracked pitch aiding turn and shades of variable bounce, and two spinners in Ashwin (4/40 off 30 overs) and Jadeja (2/34 off 22) who could thrive in the conditions. Almost like clockwork, a procession of batsmen left Australia reeling.
With Shane Watson leading after Clarke's bad back expectedly failed to improve, the Aussies decided to make first use of the pitch after winning the toss, like they have throughout the series.
Offering only pockets of resistance in the first and third sessions, the Aussies sank from 94/2 at lunch to 153/7 at tea before the tail lifted the total up by the bootstraps to a more cringe-proof 231/8 by stumps, with an impressive 98 overs bowled in the day's play.
It wasn't the spinners and their disciplined lengths - apart from an off-colour Pragyan Ojha - or any demon in the pitch which undid Australia's top batsmen. Their feeble attempts to counter-attack simply fell flat on a pitch not conducive for strokeplay.
Only one dismissal, that of a fluently-scoring Philip Hughes (45 off 59 balls; 10x4), could be said to have been indirectly influenced by the pitch. Immediately after one delivery had kept low, a short-of-a-length Ishant Sharma delivery in the 21st over rose alarmingly and thudded into Hughes' helmet, breaking the grill and unnerving the batsman.
Hughes fell two balls later to the same bowler. Some of the other 'specialist' batsmen - a term that can only be loosely used in an Aussie line-up chock full of all-rounders - had only themselves to blame.
Warner slashed at a wide and loose one from Ishant. Watson hung around for 56 balls for his 17 and survived a complicated stumping appeal before charging down to a beauty from Jadeja and paying the price. Even here, the pattern had eerie familiarity - Jadeja has now dismissed an Aussie skipper six out of seven times in this series.
Maxwell managed an ill-thought half-slog off Jadeja that landed in Ishant's arms at mid-on. Wade, meanwhile, was unlucky to be given out caught at silly point.
The middle session belonged to India. Soon after the break, an astute Dhoni instructed Ashwin to switch to an over-the-stumps line to Cowan, who immediately missed a sweep and was castled. The industrious Cowan (38 off 99b; 7x4) and later Steve Smith (46 off 145; 3x4, 2x6) were the only ones apart from the tail to apply themselves.
Smith fashioned a gritty late-afternoon resistance, putting on 53 for the eighth-wicket with Peter Siddle, who has so far played out 125 balls and is batting on 47, a Test-best.
Siddle and Pattinson then got together and have added 42 so far, with the commendable fightback putting paid to India's hopes of closing out the Aussie innings on Day One.
The crowds, which largely stayed away on Friday, are expected to swell when India bat, with all eyes on Tendulkar and debutant Rahane.
The Aussies, who made as many as five changes, will bank on their pacers to ask tough questions on a difficult pitch. Watson must be praying for a twist in this unfolding tale of spin.
NUMBERS GAME
2: Number of series in which Dhoni has lost all the tosses. Apart from this series against Australia, he had lost all tosses in the three-Test series against Sri Lanka in 2010. Overall, he has lost 29 tosses surpassing Sourav Ganguly, who lost 28.
16: Number of players utilised by Australia in the present series. Only twice before have they fielded 16 or more players overseas. They had used 17 players against the West Indies, in the Caribbean, in 1983-84 and 16 against England, in England, in 1985.
26: Number of wickets taken by R Ashwin in the series thus far. It's the eighth time that an Indian bowler has claimed more than 25 victims in a series vs Australia. Only Harbhajan Singh (32), Bedi (31), Chandrasekar, Kapil Dev (28 each), Doshi, Kumble (27 each) have taken more wickets.
80: Number of wickets captured by R Ashwin at an average of 24.85 in India - the most by any bowler after 13 Tests at home. His tally includes eight instances of five wickets or more in an innings and two instances of ten wickets in a Test.
Seeking a rare clean sweep, Indian skipper MS Dhoni set the usual snares and simply waited for the results to follow.
On offer was a drier-than-usual, abrasive, cracked pitch aiding turn and shades of variable bounce, and two spinners in Ashwin (4/40 off 30 overs) and Jadeja (2/34 off 22) who could thrive in the conditions. Almost like clockwork, a procession of batsmen left Australia reeling.
With Shane Watson leading after Clarke's bad back expectedly failed to improve, the Aussies decided to make first use of the pitch after winning the toss, like they have throughout the series.
Offering only pockets of resistance in the first and third sessions, the Aussies sank from 94/2 at lunch to 153/7 at tea before the tail lifted the total up by the bootstraps to a more cringe-proof 231/8 by stumps, with an impressive 98 overs bowled in the day's play.
It wasn't the spinners and their disciplined lengths - apart from an off-colour Pragyan Ojha - or any demon in the pitch which undid Australia's top batsmen. Their feeble attempts to counter-attack simply fell flat on a pitch not conducive for strokeplay.
Only one dismissal, that of a fluently-scoring Philip Hughes (45 off 59 balls; 10x4), could be said to have been indirectly influenced by the pitch. Immediately after one delivery had kept low, a short-of-a-length Ishant Sharma delivery in the 21st over rose alarmingly and thudded into Hughes' helmet, breaking the grill and unnerving the batsman.
Hughes fell two balls later to the same bowler. Some of the other 'specialist' batsmen - a term that can only be loosely used in an Aussie line-up chock full of all-rounders - had only themselves to blame.
Warner slashed at a wide and loose one from Ishant. Watson hung around for 56 balls for his 17 and survived a complicated stumping appeal before charging down to a beauty from Jadeja and paying the price. Even here, the pattern had eerie familiarity - Jadeja has now dismissed an Aussie skipper six out of seven times in this series.
Maxwell managed an ill-thought half-slog off Jadeja that landed in Ishant's arms at mid-on. Wade, meanwhile, was unlucky to be given out caught at silly point.
The middle session belonged to India. Soon after the break, an astute Dhoni instructed Ashwin to switch to an over-the-stumps line to Cowan, who immediately missed a sweep and was castled. The industrious Cowan (38 off 99b; 7x4) and later Steve Smith (46 off 145; 3x4, 2x6) were the only ones apart from the tail to apply themselves.
Smith fashioned a gritty late-afternoon resistance, putting on 53 for the eighth-wicket with Peter Siddle, who has so far played out 125 balls and is batting on 47, a Test-best.
Siddle and Pattinson then got together and have added 42 so far, with the commendable fightback putting paid to India's hopes of closing out the Aussie innings on Day One.
The crowds, which largely stayed away on Friday, are expected to swell when India bat, with all eyes on Tendulkar and debutant Rahane.
The Aussies, who made as many as five changes, will bank on their pacers to ask tough questions on a difficult pitch. Watson must be praying for a twist in this unfolding tale of spin.
NUMBERS GAME
2: Number of series in which Dhoni has lost all the tosses. Apart from this series against Australia, he had lost all tosses in the three-Test series against Sri Lanka in 2010. Overall, he has lost 29 tosses surpassing Sourav Ganguly, who lost 28.
16: Number of players utilised by Australia in the present series. Only twice before have they fielded 16 or more players overseas. They had used 17 players against the West Indies, in the Caribbean, in 1983-84 and 16 against England, in England, in 1985.
26: Number of wickets taken by R Ashwin in the series thus far. It's the eighth time that an Indian bowler has claimed more than 25 victims in a series vs Australia. Only Harbhajan Singh (32), Bedi (31), Chandrasekar, Kapil Dev (28 each), Doshi, Kumble (27 each) have taken more wickets.
80: Number of wickets captured by R Ashwin at an average of 24.85 in India - the most by any bowler after 13 Tests at home. His tally includes eight instances of five wickets or more in an innings and two instances of ten wickets in a Test.
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