Bengaluru, Oct. 9: The gloomy day at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium was lit up by India and Australia who engaged in some intriguing contests. The hosts restricted the visitors to 285 for 5 before play was suspended due to bad light on the first day of the second and final Test on Saturday.

As was the case in the Mohali, both teams fought tooth and nail, setting up a fascinating day of battle in the middle. Every time it looked like the visitors had the grip on the proceedings, the Indians managed to peg them back with timely breakthroughs. The crucial juncture in the day’s play came when Ricky Ponting (77) was foxed by Suresh Raina, an hour before stumps. Ponting was understandably furious after being dismissed by a part-timer, and this allowed the Indians to get back into the game.

Ponting, had till then managed to strike some crisp boundaries in his 147-ball essay. The only time he looked susceptible was when he top-edged a pull off Harbhajan Singh, but Zaheer Khan was slow to get off the blocks at deep square leg. Barring that one blemish, Ponting looked in control. He was confident with his footwork and was patient enough to wait for the loose balls to be dispatched. Towards the end, Marcus North (43 n.o.), who survived dangerously, and Tim Paine (8 n.o.) denied India any further inroads.

Earlier, India made a comeback after Shane Watson and Simon Katich saw through the first two hours safely. In Mohali, the Australians had lost the early initiative after becoming too defensive. On Saturday, they did not repeat the mistake and scored at a brisk pace to be comfortably placed at 95-0 at lunch. But the hosts came out firing on all cylinders after the break and grabbed three quick wickets — Harbhajan scalped Watson while Ojha accounted for Michael Clarke and Katich. The Indian fielding, which had let them down in Mohali, too complemented their bowlers, with Suresh Raina pulling out a brilliant diving effort to see the back of Clarke. Dhoni rotated his bowlers smartly to put brakes on scoring rate. The bowlers too came up with a disciplined performance and made the Australians work hard for their runs.

But Ponting held one end firm and shared useful partnerships with Michael Hussey (66 for the fourth wicket) and Marcus North (58 for the fifth). S. Sreesanth was unlucky to have gone without a wicket. After a not so impressive opening spell, the Kerala speedster generated enough pace to trouble the batsmen. He should have his name against Katich, who was lucky to survive a legitimate LBW appeal. Earlier, V.V.S. Laxman made way for Cheteshwar Pujara to make his Test debut, while Peter George came in place of Doug Bollinger.

Scoreboard
Australia 1st innings
Shane Watson c Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Pragyan Ojha 57, Simon Katich c Rahul Dravid b Harbhajan Singh 43, Ricky Ponting lbw b Suresh Raina 77, Michael Clarke c Suresh Raina b Harbhajan Singh 14, Michael Hussey c Virender Sehwag b Zaheer Khan 34, Marcus North n.o.43, Tim Paine n.o. 8.

Extras: (lb-5, nb-4) 9

Total (in 85.5 overs) 285/5

FoW: 1-99, 2-113, 3-132, 4-198, 5-256.

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 13.5-1-61-1, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth 12-1-37-0, Pragyan Ojha 25-5-63-1 (nb-2), Harbhajan Singh 26-0-100-2, Virender Sehwag 4-1-7-0, Suresh Raina 5-1-12-1.