Zeenews Bureau
Nagpur, Nov 09: India overcame a nightmarish second session on the penultimate day of the fourth and final Test match in Nagpur to have a steady post-tea game in which, skipper MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh cruised India past the 250 runs mark. Later India folded for 295, giving Australia a target of 382 runs to win the game and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Already enjoying a lead of 86 runs from the first innings, Virender Sehwag and debutant Murali Vijay gave India the perfect second innings opening, taking the score to 116 for no loss.
Soon after lunch, Shane Watson struck twice for Australia in quick time. First he sent impressive Vijay back to the pavilion for a well made 41 and later rubbed salt to Dravid’s wounds of poor form by inducing him into an edge behind the wickets, and sending him back for a duck.
Virender Sehwag fell in the nervous nineties for the second time in the series when he edged a bodyline delivery by Brett Lee into the hands of wicketkeeper Brad Haddin for 92. He had proved to be Australia’s nemesis as he put the Oz bowlers to the cleaners for his clinical show. The double blow by Shane Watson seemed to have nil effect on the swashbuckling batsman as he had continued his onslaught on the visitors before falling to Brett Lee.
Meanwhile, Jason Krejza continued to add wickets to his kitty after he struck twice to pick VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly back-to-back, leaving India struggling to put up a decent target for the Kangaroos.
Laxman returned back to the pavilion after he was clean bowled off an unplayable delivery by Jason Krejza that turned miles.
The Prince of Kolkata, Ganguly, too had a short life on the crease as he fell prey to the ‘K’ factor. He ended his glorious cricket career on a dismal note after he was sent back for a first ball duck by Australia’s Test debutant.
On the last ball before tea, Sachin Tendulkar and skipper MS Dhoni got mixed up in a call for a run that resulted in a massive blow to India in the form of Tendulkar’s dismissal. Sachin’s loss meant India were six down for 166 in their second innings, only 252 runs ahead. India lost 6 wickets for 50 runs before the bell for the tea break went off.
In the post tea session, the home team managed to gain some composure as Harbhajan and Dhoni build a 108 run partnership to give India a comfortable lead. The duo was quick and determined enough to pick those crucial runs by swiftly running between the wickets, and occasionally sending the cherry past the boundary rope.
The captain courageous later got caught by Michael Hussey at the silly point on a Krej-zy delivery after he celebrated his 13th Test half-century. He departed for 55 runs.
Bhajji too scored a half century, his 6th in Test cricket before being bowled out by Watson. Bhajji contributed a crucial 52 runs to India’s score.
Krejza struck again to claim his fourth victim of the innings in the form of Zaheer Khan as he got out caught by wicket-keeper Brad Haddin. Haddin struggled and juggled the ball twice to grab the cherry and dismiss Zaheer for 6 runs, which comprised of one boundary.
Finally, Watson did the last honours for the Australian Team as he picked the wicket of Amit Mishra, to wrap India’s second innings for 295. He clean bowled Mishra for 7 runs.
Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich opened the Australian campaign. Zaheer Khan, spearheading India’s bowling attack, gave away 13 runs to the duo from the first and the only over played by Aussie batsmen; 12 of the runs gained were achieved in the form of boundaries. At stumps on Day 4, Australia stood at 13 runs for the loss of no wickets.
The stage is now set for a pulsating fifth day`s play with the balance slightly tilted in India`s favour as chasing such a stiff target on the last day could be a daunting task for the visitors.
Only three teams have chased a target of more than 382 in the fourth innings in the history of Test cricket. West Indies has the record of successfully chasing down 418 against Australia at St Johns in 2002-03. Australia had scored 404 against England at Leeds in 1948 and India had successfully chased 403 against West Indies in Port of Spain in 1975-76.
