Ind vs Aus: Australia resume second innings on Day 5 in first Test
NEW DELHI: Leading by 40 runs with one wicket in hand, Moises Henriques and Nathan Lyon resumed Australia's second innings against India on the fifth day of the first Test at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.
Scorecard
It was a great effort from the Indian spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja on Day 4 as they dismissed nine Australian batsmen and dominated throughout.
The Indian spinners claimed all the nine scalps with Ashwin starring with 5 wickets. Jadeja and Harbhajan also bowled well and grabbed two each.
Showing some terrific fighting spirit, Henriques was the star for the Australians as he managed to drag their innings and take the match to Day 5.
The Indians would be looking to wrap up the Australian innings as soon as possible and make sure that the target is kept as low as possible. Anything above 100 could prove to be tricky.
The pitch looks like a minefield. There are rough patches developed and the track is crumbling, there is too much assistance for the spinners. But if the batsmen apply themselves, use the crease well and execute the shots sensibly, there are still runs in it.
Skipper MS Dhoni (224) looked to pile on the agony as the fourth day started and even after he got out, gloving pacer James Pattinson to the 'keeper, the declaration didn't come.
With the visitors lacking any depth in their spin attack, even the last pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (38) and Ishant Sharma added 26 and a 192-run lead looked like a mountain to climb.
It was crucial for the openers Shane Watson and Ed Cowan to give the Aussies a start against Ashwin and Harbhajan, who started the proceedings with the new ball.
The hard new ball was bursting off the pitch like a grenade and it required extreme skill to survive. Watson did it for a while, playing with soft hands, but it all started to go wrong just ahead of lunch.
Ashwin (5-90), hit the rough near the good-length spot and the ball jumped to take Watson's glove, Virender Sehwag completing an easy catch at first slip.
Cowan's struggle ended after lunch when he played for the turn and the ball straightened to hit him in front. But it was the dismissal of Phillip Hughes that showed surviving on this pitch was as much about luck as pluck.
A Ravindra Jadeja (2-68) delivery simply took off and went up to shoulder height and there wasn't anything Hughes could do except glove it to first slip.
This dismissal had a psychological impact on the Aussies and they seemed to lose the belief that they could make a match of it. They started believing that the world is conspiring against them and Michael Clarke's expression when David Warner was given out leg-before said it all.
The skipper, standing at the other end, just turned around and looked straight at the umpire in disbelief as the finger went up to send Warner back. Dhoni, to his credit, didn't allow the batsmen to settle in against any of the spinners.
He kept shuffling the three around, changing their ends, and keeping an in-and-out field. The spinners, too, understood that it's about hitting the right areas and the pitch would do the rest for them.
While Ashwin settled into a line just around the off-stump, Jadeja looked to get the ball in, using the away-going delivery as a surprise weapon.
The Indians could feel the end was near and they attacked. Wickets fell at regular intervals and when it was nine down with about an hour to go, the preparations for a four-day finish had started.
It was around this time Henriques and Lyon decided that they wouldn't give it up and took the match into Day 5.
Henriques' resolute batting has made sure that Australia avoided an innings defeat. (PTI Photo)
Scorecard
It was a great effort from the Indian spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja on Day 4 as they dismissed nine Australian batsmen and dominated throughout.
The Indian spinners claimed all the nine scalps with Ashwin starring with 5 wickets. Jadeja and Harbhajan also bowled well and grabbed two each.
Showing some terrific fighting spirit, Henriques was the star for the Australians as he managed to drag their innings and take the match to Day 5.
The Indians would be looking to wrap up the Australian innings as soon as possible and make sure that the target is kept as low as possible. Anything above 100 could prove to be tricky.
The pitch looks like a minefield. There are rough patches developed and the track is crumbling, there is too much assistance for the spinners. But if the batsmen apply themselves, use the crease well and execute the shots sensibly, there are still runs in it.
Skipper MS Dhoni (224) looked to pile on the agony as the fourth day started and even after he got out, gloving pacer James Pattinson to the 'keeper, the declaration didn't come.
With the visitors lacking any depth in their spin attack, even the last pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (38) and Ishant Sharma added 26 and a 192-run lead looked like a mountain to climb.
It was crucial for the openers Shane Watson and Ed Cowan to give the Aussies a start against Ashwin and Harbhajan, who started the proceedings with the new ball.
The hard new ball was bursting off the pitch like a grenade and it required extreme skill to survive. Watson did it for a while, playing with soft hands, but it all started to go wrong just ahead of lunch.
Ashwin (5-90), hit the rough near the good-length spot and the ball jumped to take Watson's glove, Virender Sehwag completing an easy catch at first slip.
Cowan's struggle ended after lunch when he played for the turn and the ball straightened to hit him in front. But it was the dismissal of Phillip Hughes that showed surviving on this pitch was as much about luck as pluck.
A Ravindra Jadeja (2-68) delivery simply took off and went up to shoulder height and there wasn't anything Hughes could do except glove it to first slip.
This dismissal had a psychological impact on the Aussies and they seemed to lose the belief that they could make a match of it. They started believing that the world is conspiring against them and Michael Clarke's expression when David Warner was given out leg-before said it all.
The skipper, standing at the other end, just turned around and looked straight at the umpire in disbelief as the finger went up to send Warner back. Dhoni, to his credit, didn't allow the batsmen to settle in against any of the spinners.
He kept shuffling the three around, changing their ends, and keeping an in-and-out field. The spinners, too, understood that it's about hitting the right areas and the pitch would do the rest for them.
While Ashwin settled into a line just around the off-stump, Jadeja looked to get the ball in, using the away-going delivery as a surprise weapon.
The Indians could feel the end was near and they attacked. Wickets fell at regular intervals and when it was nine down with about an hour to go, the preparations for a four-day finish had started.
It was around this time Henriques and Lyon decided that they wouldn't give it up and took the match into Day 5.
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