Gilchrist sweeps India into submission
Prem Panicker
If you had read the interviews we did with the Australian players as part of the build up to this series, you would have seen player after player making two points: One, that they intended to play aggressive cricket and two, that they thought the key was to play it session by session, to minimise the damage they sustain and to come back fighting.
Today, vice-captain Adam Gilchrist walked that talk, in company of opener Mathew Hayden. And in the process, produced an exhibition of counter-attacking cricket that ranks as the best in recent times.
India in fact started off brilliantly, with a superb first session. Harbajan Singh, who appears to have shrugged off the trauma of the chucking charge and gone back to his original action, suffered the mortification of seeing SS Das put down a catch, at backward square, in the first over of the morning when Justin Langer attempted a paddle sweep.
But Langer added a mere five more to his score before Harbajan got him with a beautiful delivery, floated up on off stump, drawing the batsman forward for the turn and bounce to find the edge to slip.
The very next ball produced more drama, as Mark Waugh got a perfect off break which he tried to steer to safety on the on, only to pick out Ganguly at leg slip, the Indian skipper holding well and low down.
Steve Waugh kept out the hat-trick ball, then opened out into strokeplay that indicated that the Aussies had counter-attack on their minds. The umpires, having had a less than perfect first day, decided to even the scales of natural justice, and sent him back to the hut on a bum rap -- Rahul Sanghvi landed one on off that bounced head high and turned away, the enormous deviation fooling the umpire into thinking there was a touch, and giving Waugh out caught behind.
The rout continued with Ricky Ponting falling to the first ball he faced from Harbajan. Again, the length was perfect, designed to draw the batsman forward. Ponting lunged into a push, got the thick top edge, and short square was in business. The Australians were 99/5, and reeling.
And then came the most exhilirating display of batting witnessed in this, or any other part, of the cricketing world in a long while. While Mathew Hayden played the solid anchor role, Gilchrist swept, cut and muscled his way to a dramatic run a ball century. Some of his shots were high-risk, the airborne ball landing in between outfielders. But Gilchrist kept his nerve, kept the assault going, and it was the Indians who, typically, wilted. The bowlers took to pitching short to counter the sweep, and Gilchrist promptly rocked back and pulled. They tried pitching up, and he waltzed down and muscled the ball over long on and midwicket.
The post-lunch session also saw a let off, as a Gilchrist sweep went airborne on the on side, Badani ran back from square leg, got his hands to the ball, and failed to cling to the chance. The first hour of post-lunch play produced 60 runs in 10 overs, and from there on the mayhem merely got worse.
So did the Indian fielding. With the score on 260/5, Tendulkar had Gilchrist hitting a drive in the air for Sanghvi, at cover, to get both hands to a straightforward overhead chance, which he let go. Gilchrist duly completed his century, and an over later, Mathew Hayden followed suit to put Australia firmly in front.
Javagal Srinath, nursing a bruised finger courtesy Gillespie, finally came back to the bowling crease to effect the breakthrough, after his new ball partner Agarkar had tried his hand with spectacular lack of success, mainly because of a penchant to pitch short too often. Srinath lifted one off a length, and Hayden edged the attempted on-the-rise drive to the keeper, and Australia were 296/6, ending an incredible partnership that not only pulled Australia back from the brink, but did so at a rate of run-making hugely inappropriate for Test cricket.
The Australian innings then went into its second slump. A Harbajan floater had Gilchrist rushing out and missing the line, for the ball to take Mongia on the chest and bounce back onto the stumps. Srinath then bounced Gillespie on off, taking the edge through to Mongia, Agarkar returned to get Fleming pulling awkwardly at a bouncer to put mid on in business, and Sanghvi took out the last man when Shane Warne, whose blistering hitting had continued the good work done earlier by Gilchrist, tried to clear the field once too often for Tendulkar to take a brilliant catch in the outfield.
Australia folded for 349, 173 ahead on the first innings. And India had its own loss of nerve, coupled with some atrocious catching, to blame for it.
When the Indians batted a second time, an unduly cautious Das -- caution produced by his dismissal in the first innings perhaps -- stayed strokeless for the best part of an hour, then perished to a beautifully directed Gillespie bouncer that he fended off to point.
At the other end, Ramesh was playing fluently, against both pace and spin, till he succumbed to one of those spells of carelessness he seems so prone to. There was nothing in the McGrath delivery going through straight outside off, but Ramesh with feet anchored in place lazily reached for it and touched it through to second slip.
Gillespie then returned to do more damage. Mongia, sent in as night watchman, got a nasty lifter than jammed his fingers against the bat handle -- and retired to nurse his wounds. At this point, the extent of his injury is not yet known. Tendulkar came out, kept the remaining five balls of the over at bay, and with Dravid batting steadily at the other end, took India in at 58/2.
India now have a job on their hands. Given the deficit, they have only one option left. The game still has 270 overs to go, and India needs to set its sights simultaneously on two things -- one, to wipe out the deficit and put at least 250 on the board for the Aussies to chase and two, to ensure that in the process, they don't give the visiting team too many overs to bat.
That will take some doing -- and the only consolation India has is that by day three, traditionally, the Wankhede wicket evens out, the bounce gets less pronounced and the turn becomes slower and therefore, easier to negotiate.
It is still a huge ask, demanding monumental application by an Indian team battered into submission by Gilchrist during the post-lunch session. Be interesting to see if they have the moral fibre to do the job -- a question that tomorrow should bring the answer to.
More on the first Test:
Images from day 2
Day 2 match report
Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist sums up Day 2 on Real Audio
Test records at the Wankhede
Scoreboard
India (1stt innings): 176 all out
Australia (1st innings):
M Slater b Agarkar 10
M Hayden c Mongia b Srinath 119
J Langer c Dravid b Harbhajan 19
M Waugh c Ganguly b Harbhajan 0
S Waugh c Dravid b Sanghvi 15
R Ponting c Das b Harbhajan 0
A Gilchrist st Mongia b Harbhajan 122
S Warne c Tendulkar b Sanghvi 39
J Gillespie c Mongia b Srinath 0
D Fleming c Srinath b Agarkar 6
G McGrath not out 0
Extras: (B13, LB3, NB3) 19
Total (all out, 73.2 overs) 349
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-71, 3-71, 4-98, 5-99, 6-296,
7-326, 8-327, 9-349.
Bowling: Srinath 16-3-60-2, Agarkar 12-1-50-2, Harbhajan
Singh 28-3-121-4, Sanghvi 10.2-2-67-2, Tendulkar 7-1-35-0.
India (2nd innings):
S S Das c S Waugh b Gillespie 7
S Ramesh c Ponting b McGrath 44
R Dravid batting 6
N Mongia retired hurt 0
S Tendulkar batting 0
Extras (B1) 1
Total (for 2 wkts, 30 overs) 58
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-57.
Bowling: McGrath 8-4-7-1, Fleming 8-0-23-0, Warne
7-3-16-0, Gillespie 7-4-11-1.
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