Australia v India, 1st Test, Melbourne, 4th day
Australia wrap up 15th straight win
Brydon Coverdale at the MCG
December 29, 2007
Australia 343 and 7 for 351 dec beat India 196 and 161 (Laxman 42, Johnson 3-21) by 337 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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India needed a record score to win but instead Australia edged closer to a milestone of their own, posting their 15th consecutive Test victory as they wrapped up the Boxing Day Test within four days. Australia will now head into the Sydney Test that starts on Wednesday aiming to equal their own record of 16 straight Test wins and they will no doubt fancy their chances after India folded for 161 and crashed to a 337-run defeat at the MCG.
An extra day's rest will also be much appreciated by Australia's fast bowlers, who toiled hard in searing heat against a stonewalling India. Not only did India forget how to fight, they were outplayed in subcontinent-like conditions as Melbourne's temperature nudged 40 degrees. Ricky Ponting rotated his attack and they showed few signs of exhaustion with Mitchell Johnson picking up 3 for 21 and Brett Lee and Brad Hogg each grabbing two.
India, on the other hand, struggled in the conditions. Sourav Ganguly, who was the second-last man out when he departed for 40, had been at the crease for just over an hour when he slumped on the ground after running a two. He needed attention from the team physio and batted on in the sweltering conditions, but his team-mates kept falling around him.
The end came quickly for India, who had five wickets in hand at tea but survived barely an hour after the break. MS Dhoni attempted a lavish cover-drive against Johnson and edged behind to Adam Gilchrist, who finished with eight dismissals for the match and not only passed Ian Healy's Australian Test wicketkeeping record of 395 victims but also earned $144,000 for Glenn McGrath's cancer charity - he wore pink gloves and his sponsors offered $18,000 per dismissal.
Once the established batsmen were gone and Australia could sniff a day off it all became rather a procession. Anil Kumble edged a Johnson leg-cutter behind to Gilchrist, Harbhajan Singh was run out without facing a ball and Ganguly prodded Hogg to silly mid-off. By that stage the result was no longer in doubt and perhaps India were not upset to also enjoy a free Sunday, as Johnson finished the carnage by bowling RP Singh for 2.
The finale was flatter than last season's new-year champagne after India promised so much fizz with their bowling efforts on the first day. Back then it looked like Australia might be seriously challenged for the first time in a home Test since India last visited, in 2003-04. But that spark was gradually extinguished over the next three days and India's batsmen must find some way to reverse their fortunes before the Sydney Test.
Theirs is a batting line-up full of stars but none of them shone as they chased a whopping 499 for victory. Ganguly was at least willing to attack, as was Sachin Tendulkar, but no batsman reached a half-century in their second innings. Yuvraj Singh's place might not be certain after India rejigged their batting order to retain him at No. 6. He departed for 5 shortly before tea, missing a straighter ball from Hogg that would have crashed into his stumps. Yuvraj was cleared of showing dissent at an umpire's decision in the first innings and again he waited a few moments before trudging off after Mark Benson's lbw decision.
He did not score in the first innings and should India ditch him for Sydney it might allow Virender Sehwag to open and Rahul Draid to drop down from the unfamiliar opening position. Dravid was painfully slow in the first innings and in the second he had 16 from 114 balls when he fell lbw just before lunch, playing back to Andrew Symonds, who had just reverted from medium pace to offspin.
That defensive mindset was also present in his partner Wasim Jaffer, who was on 15 when he edged behind off Lee to give Gilchrist his record-breaking 396th dismissal. The breakthrough was a relief for Lee, who three balls earlier had experienced the same sinking feeling that Johnson and Zaheer Khan had suffered earlier in the match when he thought he had a wicket only to see Billy Bowden's no-ball signal. Lee dug in a short one that Jaffer appeared to glove through to Gilchrist but Bowden's decision, which again was correct, stifled the appeal.
After Jaffer and Dravid departed India were ticking along nicely as VVS Laxman, Tendulkar and Ganguly played some impressive strokes but none could build a match-saving partnership. Tendulkar looked terrific when he went down on one knee to square-drive Lee through point for four but he was then out-thought by Lee, who followed a quick bouncer with a good ball outside off stump that was too full to cut, luring Tendulkar into the shot which he edged behind.
Laxman had calmly worked his way to 42 when he succumbed to the frustration of Stuart Clark's tight bowling. Clark was following the team plan of suffocating India's scoring and had 0 for 15 in his 12th over when Laxman drove on the up straight to Michael Clarke at cover and Laxman was clearly annoyed by his lapse in concentration. He had been watchful in his 112-ball innings but was quickly onto any bad balls from Hogg, who dropped short more often than he would like. Laxman pulled a pair of Hogg deliveries through midwicket for boundaries and was also impressive with his straight drives.
While there were moments of satisfaction for India their overall experience, after the first day, was disheartening. When Steve Waugh's Australians set their record 16-match winning streak it was India who ended the successful run. They have three days before the Sydney Test to work out how they can prevent Ponting's men from equalling that record.
Brydon Coverdale is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo
Cricinfo
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MELBOURNE: A cock-a-hoop Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on Saturday declared that if the Indian batsmen felt suffocated at a 'sub-continental' track like the MCG, they will not find it easy at any of the remaining three matches of the Test series.
Ponting said the Australian team's homework on the Indian batsmen was thorough and the hosts would not concede an inch in the upcoming matches as well.
"We have not one but five or six plans against each batsman for different conditions and in different scenarios. That's the beauty of technology. The way our plan came off at the MCG, I would say that we have really been well prepared," he said after the hosts thrashed India by 337 runs in the first Test on Saturday.
Ponting said it was extremely satisfying to achieve such a big win against a good Indian side on a wicket which was not a typical Australian strip.
"It was a kind of pitch which was more sub-continental type, more foreign to us. Here in Australia we are looking to blast sides out," he said.
"Here we needed to do things differently and I am glad we were able to do it so well. After the first day's play the match was 50-50 so to come out with a 337-run win over India in such conditions was extremely satisfying," he added.
Ponting was surprised by India's meek surrender on Saturday and said he was anticipating a tougher response from Anil Kumble's men.
"I was expecting it to be hard work. We knew today was a really hot day and it would have been hard for the boys to come back tomorrow."
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Choking to win
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at the MCG
December 29, 2007
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There was a time in the morning session, when Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were in the middle, when Stuart Clark bowled with a short mid-on and two short midwickets, a semi-circle of three waiting for a chip in the air. Mitchell Johnson, bowling at the other end, operated with a staggered slip cordon containing five catchers and Andrew Symonds, brought on soon, was operating with a short midwicket, a lone third slip, and two short extra covers.
It was gimmicky but must have also been suffocating. India weren't blasted out of this Test, as a 337-run margin would suggest, but squeezed out of it. Ironically, in an innings where they went at a shade above two an over, five of their batsmen succumbed to the drive. They were choked with accurate bowling, tight field-settings and were trapped when trying to break out of jail. Even when India were seven down, there was just one slip in place. Often there were two points in place, prompting one hack to joke, 'one backward point and one awkward point.' The plan wasn't to intimidate but to cage.
Rewind to the series opener in Bangalore three years ago and things weren't too different. Unlike in 2001 and 2003-04, when the approach was more upbeat, the 2004-05 series was more about slow-burn. Australia weren't going to come out with all guns firing; it was more about turning the screw gradually. Three years later and they walked into the same trap yet again.South Africa might claim the 'chokers' tag but Australia are mastering the art of choking India's batsmen.
The problem India have is their stay-and-the-runs-will-come approach.It has only worked well agains weak oppositions or more specifically weak bowling line-ups and not the mighty Australians.The Tendulkar-Laxman and Laxman-Ganguly stand saw runs being scored at more than three an over. Australia, though, seemed to know a means to get through. Just as Dravid and Laxman appeared to have settled into a groove, you had Symonds changing from medium-pace to offspin. Three balls later, Dravid was trapped in front. Sachin Tendulkar showed the right intent, trying to push the rate on, but Brett Lee had a trick up his sleeve: bounce, bounce, bounce and throw it short and wide. Trying to break the shackles, Tendulkar nicked.
Laxman was up against one that stopped on him, saw his handle turn in his wrists, and popped one straight to extra cover. He was caught at a conventional field position but you would think it was the mind-games that might have put him off track. It's tough to adjust to a freakish field in one over and an orthodox one in the next.
India need to free their minds; it's the only way they're going to get anywhere in this series.
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