India vs Australia – Test Series, 2011-12
Well Indian team is certainly down currently. The much hyped tour
of Indian cricket team to Australia seems to have bombed on the face of all the
marketers who named it Agnipath series. After the last tour of Indian team to
Australia and the monkeygate episode, India v/s Australia rivalry was pitted to
be next big thing cricketing domain. It was supposed to have pipped age old
famous rivalries in cricket such as India v/s Pakistan and England v/s
Australia.
However such rivalry is great in cricket when every match played
is an exciting contest to watch. Two well balanced teams try to get better of
each other. To say the least it should be a match where the opponents feel
the heat, irrespective of who wins it in the end. Sadly the current series
doesn't seem to be of that calibre.
The Indians began the series on a very sorry note. 1st Test, played
at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne ended on Day 4 itself.
Australia won the match by 122 runs. It was a hard fought game and Indian
bowling was quiet appreciated. Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav got 7 wickets each
in the game and India was able to get Aussies all out in both the innings. It
was batting which let India down. India managed to score just 169 runs in their
2nd Innings and where all out in just 47.5 over’s. James Pattinson was
awarded man of the match for his all round performance in the game.
India vs Australia – 2nd TEST
Indians where expected to bounce back into the series during the 2nd
Test at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Sydney which began on 3rd Jan
2012. Things only went from bad to worse for Indians as Indian team which won
the toss and elected to bat was bowled out for 191 runs in their first innings.
MS Dhoni along with R Ashwin tried to steady the ship but it looked as if it
was too little too late. In the end Dhoni remained not out having scored the
only half century in the Indian innings. He made 57 runs of 77 balls.
Good show by Indian bowlers in the previous match had raised the
expectations. The raw pace of Yadav and experience of Zaheer and Ishant were
expected to deliver the goods at this critical juncture in the match. Zaheer
succeeded in delivering what was anticipated, he got 3 quick wickets in the beginning
of the innings. Australia where struggling at 37/3 by the end of 9th
over.
But what happened from there on completely changed the paradigm of
the game. Australian batsmen completely dominated the game and slaughtered the Indian
bowling attack. Ricky Ponting scored his 40th Test hundred when he succeeded
in taking a cheeky single of Ishant’s ball and Zaheer’s throw missed the stumps.
Ponting finally got out after scoring 134. Australia by then was in a
comfortable position and the scoreboard read 325/4. This was the last wicket to
fall in the Australian innings. Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey made sure
they make the most of the poor bowling by India. Both batsmen stayed not out on
Day 3 when Australia declared the innings having amassed 659 runs having lost
just 4 wickets. Michael Clarke made 329 and Hussey 150 runs.
The game has just ended for the day at 12:30 PM IST. Indian team has
managed to score 114/2 in 41 over(s). India trails by 354 run(s) at
stumps. Gautam Gambhir who got out for duck in the 1st innings is
currently not out at 68* along with Sachin Tendulkar not out at 8*. With 2 more
days to go and India still needing 354 runs to make Aussies bat again the
scales are tipped in favour of Australia. It would be only a miracle that can
now save India from losing this game.
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