An absorbing day of test cricket

It's been a hard day for India. Had the catches been taken, India might have got a bigger lead. But they finally managed to get a 89-run lead.

Resuming at the overnight score of 189/2, Hussey reached his fifty in the third over of the day and Katich reached his hundred after he was dropped by Dravid at first slip when he was on 94. That catch did not cost India in terms of number of runs. But, he played for nearly 2 hrs from there on and scored just 8 runs from 63 balls. Had Dravid been taken that catch, India might have got 1 or 2 wickets in the pre-lunch session and put pressure on Australia. Katich has been consistent in this series.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni deployed 8-1 field against Katich and Hussey when Ishant and Zaheer were bowling. Both these bowlers bowled outside off and the bastmen never tried to play those balls. When it came to Harbhajan, Dhoni deployed in and out field, close-in fielders around the wickets and fielders at the bounderies. Zaheer dismissed Katich for lbw with a beatiful yorker. Katich played very well for his 102. Soon after Katich fell, Michael Clark was dismissed by Ishant.

Excellent fielding by Vijay sent Hussey back to pavilion when he drove a ball from Harbhajan to silly mid-on and went for a run. Great reflexes there from Vijay. Harbhajan struck in his next over by dismissing Watson. Haddin and White offered a bit of resistance for sometime and scored 52 for the 7th wickets before Mishra removed Haddin for 28. Ishant dismissed Krejza, Harbhajan dismissed White and finally Mishra got Johnson.

Australia were 355/10 in their first innings, giving a first innings lead of 89 to India.
India played 1 over before the day ended and is on 0 for no loss.

The contest is still alive. If India bats tomorrow and declare one hour before the end of the day by setting a target of around 350 for Australia, they have chances to win this game. But if Australia manages to get 2-3 quick wickets before lunch, I think India will surely play for a draw.
A lot depends on Sehwag. If he stays there till lunch, India can easily set a huge target for Australia.

Ganguly at No.3 ahead of Dravid ?

Field Setting:

Dhoni deployed a defensive field in the first session and an attacking field from the post-lunch session. Mahendra Singh Dhoni deployed 8-1 field against Katich and Hussey when Ishant and Zaheer were bowling. Ishant and Zaheer kept on bowling outside off and controlled the batsmen from scoring the runs.

I think Dhoni wanted to control the run rate and let Aussies try to score runs. In that process, they may loose the wickets which helps India to gain a big first innings total. Finally after Katich was out, he brought in the spinners and attacked the Aussies batsmen and put them in pressure.

I am sure Dhoni came up with a perfect plan and he executed it to perfection. The match was completely changed after the post-lunch session once India started attacking. They got wickets at regular intervals, but Australia managed to get closer to India's total.

Many people said that this is a negative tactic by Dhoni.

But what have Australia done throughout the series ? The way Mitchel Johnson bowled throughout the series is no different from what Indians did today.

Krejza on cloud 9

What a moment this for Jason Krejza. He has taken 8 wickets in India's first innings. I think he was given more than he deserved. Many of those wickets were the result of some poor shots from the Indians. But in the end what matters is the number of wickets. So, Jason did extremely well to claim 8 wickets in his debut match. One thing I like in him is that he was not depressed and was courageous even he gave away many runs. He kept bowling and got wickets, that too the wickets of great batsmen like dravid, laxman, sehwag, ganguly and dhoni. He goes into the second innings with much more confidence.

None of the other Australian bowlers looked like taking a wicket. Ricky Ponting might be wondering why he did not bring Jason Krejza on for the first three Tests.

Starting at the overnight score of 311/5, Sourav Ganguly(85) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni(56) batted wonderfully together and added 119 for the sixth wicket before Krejza dismissed both of them in a span of 3 balls. While Ganguly showed elegance in his drives through the off-side, Dhoni batted with his own style in his 56. Playing his last Test, Ganguly displayed a great determination to get to his fifty. Unfortunately he missed a well deserved century. He missed becoming one of the batsmen to score a century on his debut as well as in his last test match. He still has a chance to score a century in the second innings.

It was very easy for Krejza after Ganguly and Dhoni were dismissed. He ripped through India's tail and stopped India from scoring a big total. India were allout for 441.

Australian openers Hayden and Katich started their innings confidently. After a brisk start to their innings, M Vijay ran out opener Matthew Hayden with a direct hit. It was an unnecessary run and Hayden paid the price. Harbhajan got his 300th wicket by dismissing Ponting. His dismissal was similar to that of Sehwag and Laxman. Hussey joined Katich and both of them looked solid at the crease. They never looked facing any trouble from the Indian bowlers. Great batting display by Katich and Hussey.

Australia is on 189/2 at the end of day-2 with the two well set batsmen, Katich and Hussey, at the crease. Katich is on 92 and on his way to a century. Hussey is on 45.

In the end, it was a great day for Australia.

Australia responds well to India's big total

It was a good day of test cricket.
An excellent start from the openers Hayden and Katich, a well built innings from the captain Ponting and a patient half century by Hussey put Australia in a safe position in the 3rd test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008 at Ferozshah Kotla, Delhi.

Katich played well for his 64 and was bowled by Amit Mishra. Hayden(83), who has been struggling to score runs in this series, finally came up with a wonderful knock. He was dismissed by Sehwag. But Ricky Ponting played with patience and made sure they did not loose another wicket. He faced the spinners very well. He used his feet very wel against the spinners. He had some problems facing Ishant. He bowled beautifully to Ponting. Sehwag dismissed Ponting(87) with a beautiful ball. The ball turned much for Sehwag.

Michael Hussey(53) played a well composed innings. He did not play any loose shots. He was very cool and patient. Sehwag bowled him with another good ball just before the close of the day's play.

Sehwag used the conditions well and bowled pretty well today. He turned the ball, bounced it well. He was pick of the bowlers today. Amit Mishra too bowled excellently. One of his overs to Ponting was top class. Ponting had no answers to Mishra in that over. Mishra was simply superb with his turn. He ended the day with an excellent googly to Michael Clarke. Kumble was injured after lunch and he was out for the day's play. Ishant and Zaheer bowled well but they did not get any wickets.

None of the Australian batsmen looked uneasy against the Indian bowlers, except Ponting at sometimes against Ishant. They must be happy with the way they batted. The ball might turn much tomorrow and Australians have to be careful in facing the spinners in the next two days. This test is going to be an interesting one.

Australia is on 338/4 at the end of day-3. Michael Clarke and Shane Watson are at the crease.

Ishant and Harbhajan leaves Australia in tatters

Would you believe Australia lost 5 wickets in a span of 9 overs (9 runs) ? Thanks to the excellent bowling from Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma. While chasing 516, Australia is struggling with 141/5 at the end of day 4. Clarke and Haddin are at the crease resisting the Indian bowling. They added 83 runs for the sixth wicket. Australia were looking good when Hayden and Katich were playing. Harbhajan provided the early breakthrough in his first over by removing both the openers in one over. Sachin Tendulkar took an excellent catch to remove Katich. Harbhajan got Hussey just after tea. Harbhajan is just one wicket away from his 300th test wicket.

Ishant Sharma joined the party by removing his 'favourite batsman', Ricky Ponting, and Shane Watson. He produced two top class deliveries to remove them.

10.2	Sharma to Ponting, OUT, Ishant hits the timber, superb delivery, pitches around the off stump and comes back in off the pitch, Ponting commits early to the forward prod but somehow the ball sneaks through the daylight between bat and pad and knocks the off stump back, Ishant now gets Ponting for the fifth time in as many matches
	RT Ponting b Sharma 2 (11b 0x4 0x6) SR: 18.18

16.3	Sharma to Watson, OUT, Koertzen gives him the slow death, Ishant pitches it just a fraction short of a good length fairly wide outside off and gets it to nip back in very sharply, Watson is caught at the crease and fails to cover the sudden movement, the ball hits him in line with the off and middle stumps
	SR Watson lbw b Sharma 2 (22b 0x4 0x6) SR: 9.09

He gets Ponting for the fifth time in the tests. Ricky Ponting is still working out how to tackle Ishant Sharma. Ishant reminded us of his exceptional spell in the third test against Australia in Perth earlier this year. Sharma's high-arm action attacking on and around the batsman's off-stump gives him the ability to bring the ball back in to right-handed batsman and also swing it through the air quite considerably, while extracting a great deal of bounce. This ability makes this young man a dangerous bowler. Ponting himself admitted that Ishant is a dangerous bowler. Ishant has been bowling well and his bowling performance today is one of his best performances. Ishant Sharma is certainly a good prospect for india. Ishant you beauty...

What a day

for Bangladesh, especially Shakib Al Hasan and India, especially Ganguly.

Shakib Al Hasan ripped through New Zealand to boost Bangladesh on the second day of the first of 2 tests against New Zealand. A six-wicket haul from the left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan allowed Bangladesh to make an impressive start to their test match against New Zealand today. He took six for 32 from 24 overs at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium to make New Zealand struggling at 155/9 at stumps on day 2 after they bowled out Bangladesh for 245. New Zealand pinned their hopes on Oram , McCullum when they were 57/4 at tea. But both these players got out looking to play big shots. Vettori is batting on 48 and they still trail by 90 runs.

India had an excellent day at Mohali they could be proud of. Brilliant performances from the captain MS Dhoni(92) and Sourav Ganguly(102) took India to a good total of 469. Dhoni was a little unlucky to be given out. He deserved a century. Dhoni played his natural game after a long time. Dhoni played agressively and carried the momentum set by Sachin Tendulkar. It was nice to see him playing this way. Ganguly makes his last test series a sweet one with his hundred in the first innings of the second test and a good performance in the first test. He was cool and confident throughout his innings and did not play a too many unnecessary shots. He constructed his innings with ease.

Here is what Ganguly has got to say after the day's play "This will be my last series, I will not reconsider coming back (smiles). It's been a fantastic batting quartet. Our overseas performances have improved over the last few years. I knew I wasn't going to be selected any more"

Zaheer Khan got the early breakthrough by removing Hayden for 0. It's Zaheer Vs Hayden now after Harbhajan Vs Ponting. Zaheer gets Hayden three times in a row in this series. Debutant Amit Mishra took 2 wickets. Australia is 102/4 at the end of day2. The day completely belongs to India. Australia keeps its hopes on Hussey.