Aussies in command, 384 for five at lunch on second day

Sun, Oct 10 10 01:07 PM

Bangalore, Oct 10 (PTI) Australia were firmly in driver''s seat as they went into lunch 384 for five on day two of the second Test against India at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here. Marcus North who had an indifferent first Test is showing glimpses of returning to form with a solid unbeaten 81 off 155 deliveries with 10 boundaries and a six. Along with wicketkeeper Tim Paine, he added 128 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand as the visitors are threatening to pile up a huge total. Young Paine, who proved to be a ''Royal Pain'' during the first Test when he scored 92, got his second Test half-century with a cheeky paddle sweep off Pragyan Ojha. Paine was unbeaten on 52 (113 balls, 8x4) at lunch. Resuming on their overnight score of 285 for five, the duo added another 99 runs without any further damage. The only time when India looked like making a breakthrough was when Paine batting on 40 chased a wide delivery from S Sreesanth to edge it to ''keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. As Paine was on his way back towards pavilion, umpire Ian Gould, who had a suspicion regarding Sreesanth foot landing, decided to call back Paine and refer the decision to the third umpire. The television replays showed that Sreesanth overstepped by a couple of inches. That was the 105th over of the innings. The Indian bowlers however were off-colour in the first session as they let the Australian batsmen off the hook with some poor bowling. The biggest letdown has obviously been the two spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ojha who gave away 196 runs amongst themselves having bowled 61 overs. Harbhajan (2/109) and Ojha (1/87) who took three of the five wickets yesterday, could not make much of an impact. Left arm spinner Ojha in particular repeatedly bowled short giving both Paine and North chance to go for the big heave over mid-wicket. North hit some delightful strokes including a bowler''s back drive off Zaheer Khan. It was done with minimum backlift and went to the boundary in a flash. North was also severe punishing the deliveries which had minimum width. With Paine growing in confidence after his good show in Mohali, the task of dismissing them became Herculean for the Indian bowlers. Although the conditions remained overcast, the Indian seamers Zaheer and Sreesanth could not do much. Neither had the ball reversed much. Both Zaheer and Sreesanth received an official warning from Gould and Billy Bowden respectively for stepping into the danger area.

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