2nd Test: Aus 202/7 at stumps, lead by 185

PTI

Bangalore, 12 October 2010: Indian spinners raised hopes of an exciting finish to the second and final cricket Test against Australia by reducing the visitors to 202 for seven after Sachin Tendulkar slammed his sixth double hundred here on Tuesday. Riding on Tendulkar’s marathon 214, India took a slender 17-run first innings as they folded for 495 at stroke of lunch in reply to Australia’s 478.

 

Indian tweakers Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh then bowled superbly to reduce Australia to 202 for seven at stumps on day four at M Chinnaswamy stadium. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting batted with resolve for his 72 before being trapped by paceman Zaheer Khan at the fag end of the penultimate day of the match.

 

Ponting was the highest-scorer for the team and struck seven boundaries and a six in his 117-ball knock. Australia, who are seeking a series-levelling win, are leading by 185 runs with lower-order batsmen to contend a fired-up Indian bowling unit. Mitchell Johnson (7) and Nathan Hauritz (8) will resume the Australian innings on Wednesday.

 

 

Pragyan Ojha snared three batsmen while Harbhajan Singh took two wickets as Australia slumped from 94 for three to 202 for seven in the last session. Openers Shane Watson (34) and Simon Katich (24) made a good start by adding 58 runs for the first wicket but India clawed their way back by striking thrice swiftly.

 

Left-armer Ojha trapped Watson to draw first blood in the 17th over while Harbhajan Singh removed Katich three balls later to rattle the Australians. A tremendous piece of work by Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the wickets resulted in Michael Clarke’s dismissal.

 

A sharply turning ball from Ojha deceived Clarke to reach the gloves of Dhoni, who took the bails off with lightening speed leaving the batsman short of crease. Earlier, India suffered a dramatic lower-order collapse after Tendulkar was bowled by debutant Peter George as the hosts lost last four wickets for just nine runs.

 

Tendulkar, who resumed at 191, slammed his sixth double hundred as India took a 17-run lead before being dismissed for 495 in their first innings at lunch. Tendulkar’s 214-run knock helped India wipe out the Australian first innings total of 478 as India lost five wickets during the morning session with debutant Peter George dismissing Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh (4).

 

Spinner Nathan Hauritz claimed two wickets -- of Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30) and S Sreesanth (0) -- in his 48th over -- while Watson dismissed Zaheer Khan (1). Tendulkar was in his elements and duly reached the 200 mark before getting out at 214, which was his sixth double ton in all and second this season after a 200 against South Africa in an ODI in Gwalior.

 

This was also his second double hundred against Australia and third on the Indian soil. Incidentally, Virender Sehwag too has made six double hundreds so far. The 37-year-old’s free-flowing knock, however, came to an end when debutant pacer George rattled his stumps with a delivery that kept low.

 

Tendulkar bent fully and almost squatted on the ground to drive to square leg but he gave an inside edge to his shot which drifted on to the stumps. This was the 10th occasion that Tendulkar lost his wicket to a debutant. Three of these debutants have been Australians ?- Peter Siddle, Cameron White and George.

 

In his marathon 547 minutes stay at the crease, Tendulkar struck 22 hits to the fence and also smashed a couple of sixes, which took him from 93 to three-figure mark. His association with Dhoni yielded 75 runs for the sixth wicket off 128 balls.

 

Tendulkar and Dhoni were going in an unruffled manner and the team seemed headed for a good first innings total but script changed as they lost wickets in a hurry.