Mon, Oct 04 10 06:27 PM
Kushan Sarkar Mohali, Oct 4 (PTI) Poor shot selection and an umpiring error today put India in dire straits as they were left tottering at 55 for four chasing a victory target of 216 against Australia on the penultimate day of the first cricket Test here. Indian top order batsmen squandered the advantage their bowlers gave them today by bundling out Australia to 192 in just 60.5 overs at the PCA stadium here. But an intriguing last day is on cards as Sachin Tendulkar stands between an Australian victory and India retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Sachin, who missed a century by just two runs in the first innings, looked composed during his 25-ball unbeaten 10 and will be the man who has to score the bulk of the remaining 161 runs if India to win the Test. Gautam Gambhir (0), who was given leg before to Ben Hilfenhaus, should consider himself distinctly unlucky. He was done in by a Billy Bowden howler as television replays showed that the ball got a thick inside edge before hitting the pads. Virender Sehwag (17) and Suresh Raina (0) were out to short pitched stuff. Rahul Dravid (13) got a good away-going delivery from Doug Bollinger which kissed the edge of his bat to Tim Paine''s gloves. Sehwag just poked at a rising delivery from Hilfenhaus which was gleefully accepted by Mike Hussey at gully. Raina, known for his susceptibility against deliveries rising from back of the length, took his eyes off and the leading edge flew to Marcus North standing at wide third slip. Inexplicably, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni chose to send Zaheer Khan as nightwatchman when Australian pacers were spitting fire instead of coming in himself. It was, however, a clinical performance by the bowling quartet of Ishant Sharma (3/34), Zaheer Khan (3/43), Harbhajan Singh (2/40) and Pragyan Ojha (2/59) that seemingly put India in the drivers'' seat before the Australian bowlers pegged back the Indians in the final hour of the day. If the Australian bowlers brought them back into the match, their batsmen earlier could not capitalise from a position of a strength. Openers Shane Watson (56 from 59 balls) and Simon Katich (37 from 118 balls) put on 87 runs in 18 overs as Australia threatened to set a formidable target. But suddenly, from 87 for no loss, Australia crumbled to 192 all out in 60.5 overs. Ishant Sharma rocked the Australian top-order in a two over spell, removing dangerous Watson, skipper Ricky Ponting (4) and his deputy Michael Clarke (4). After that the hosts controlled the proceedings. .
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