Mohali, Oct. 2: In half an hour, Virender Sehwag did what the Australians couldn’t manage in five previous sessions: Not let the nature of pitch dictate the run-flow. The opener taught the visitors a lesson or two about batting on slow tracks, hammering a brutal 54-ball 59 with 10 boundaries, each hit mocking the visitors’ ‘safety-first’ strategy.
Still, Australia ended the Day Two of the first Test against the hosts here on Saturday well ahead with Tim Paine (92) and Mitchell Johnson (47) pushing the total to 428 in their first innings, and India crucially losing both their openers — Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir (25) just before the close of play.
At stumps, India were 110 for 2 with Rahul Dravid unbeaten on 21 and nightwatchman Ishant Sharma on 0.
Australia ate up 151.4 overs in their batting stint spread over one-and-a-half days and had it not been for tail-ender Johnson’s slogging (5x4, 3x6) and Zaheer Khan’s 10th five-wicket haul, they could have taken even longer.
In contrast, Sehwag and Gambhir were off the blocks quickly with an 81-run partnership in just 13.2 overs.
It was Sehwag’s 11th consecutive half-century, tying him with West Indian legend Viv Richards and Delhi mate Gambhir for the record. After seeing off the first two overs, Sehwag started the carnage with two similar backfoot punches through covers off two very different deliveries — a back-of-length ball and the other full on off-stump — from Doug Bollinger in the third over. Even after Gambhir fell, he and Dravid kept the scoring rate above five run an hour. It was almost double of what Aussies (2.82) had managed.
Earlier, the only time the tourists stepped up the pace was after lunch. In the morning, Paine and Watson continued to grind putting on a solid 53-run eighth-wicket partnership off 161 balls that dashed India’s hopes of running through the tail.
The hosts had only themselves to blame after dropping Paine and Watson when both were on zero. Dhoni gave Paine another life on the day, failing on a regulation chance with the wicketkeeper-batsman on 86. Together, the fielding lapses cost India a further 218 runs.
Harbhajan broke through Watson’s 459-minute vigil that yielded 126 (338 balls) half an hour before the break, and Johnson replied with a flurry of sixes — one against the offie over long-on and two against Pragyan Ojha, both over deep mid-wicket.
Paine after taking 61 balls to hit his first boundary too got into the act, taking consecutive fours off Ojha soon after lunch. He put on 82 with Johnson as Australia managed 95 runs in 26 overs bowled between lunch and tea.
Scoreboard
Australia 1st innings
(overnight 224/5)
S. Watson c Gambhir b Harbhajan 126, S. Katich lbw b Zaheer 6, R. Ponting run out 71, M. Clarke c Dravid b Harbhajan 14, M. Hussey lbw b Zaheer 17, M. North b Zaheer 0, T. Paine c Laxman b Zaheer 92, M. Johnson c Dhoni b Zaheer 47, N. Hauritz c Gambhir b Harbhajan 9, B. Hilfenhaus 20 n.o., D. Bollinger c Sharma b Ojha 0.
Extras (b4, lb9, nb13) 26 Total (in 151.4 overs) 428 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-154, 3-172, 4-218, 5-222, 6-275, 7-357, 8-373, 9-427, 10-428.
Bowling: Zaheer 30-7-94-5 (nb1), Sharma 11.4-1-71-0 (nb10), Ojha 51.4-16-113-1 (nb2), Harbhajan 49-12-114-3, Sehwag 9.2-1-23-0.
India 1st innings:
G. Gambhir lbw b Johnson 25, V. Sehwag c Clarke b Johnson 59, R. Dravid 21 n.o., I. Sharma 0 n.o.
Extras: (b1, lb4) 5
Total (in 21 overs) 110/2
Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-106.
Bowling: Hilfenhaus 9-0-39-0, Bollinger 4-0-22-0, Johnson 6-1-29-2, Hauritz 2-0-15-0.
Stat box
* Mitchell Johnson, during the course of his brilliant 47 off 66 balls, has become the 12th Australian all-rounder to accomplish the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets.
* Johnson and Tim Paine have shared a 82-run stand — a partnership record for Australia for the seventh wicket at Mohali.