India vs Australia - 1st Test, 4th Day - The Quick Flicks

Mahendra Singh Dhoni began the day reverse-sweeping the second ball of the day off Nathan Lyon for a boundary. The Indian captain then surpassed Taslim Arif’s highest score by a wicket-keeper against Australia when he guided the fifth ball of the day behind short leg. Dhoni then danced down the track to Lyon and equalled Sachin Tendulkar‘s score of 217- the highest by an Indian captain. Off the very next ball, Dhoni broke that record too.

Dhoni continued with the onslaught by launching James Pattinson for a four over mid-off. Dhoni then played late to a short pitch delivery and gloved the ball to wicket-keeper Matthew Wade. Dhoni missed the all-time record of the highest score by a wicket-keeper by eight runs. His innings of 224 was a masterpiece and a possible game changer.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar then took over the role of the batsman and hit some delightful shots. A cover drive off Lyon was the highlight of his innings. Kumar became India’s highest scorer at No.10 on debut. The Australian attack could not dislodge the final pair for seven overs.

Kumar was eventually dismissed for 38 and India had a sizeable lead of 192 runs.

Australia had to battle the spinning ball. Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja were surely going to present a stern test to the visitors. Dhoni began with Ashwin and Harbhajan. The ball was bouncing abruptly, keeping low and doing all sorts of things. Off the last ball before lunch, opener Shane Watson got a ball from Ashwin that bounced sharply. It took a nick off his glove and Sehwag took an easy catch.

Post-lunch, Ed Cowan and David Warner employed the sweep shot as a bailout option. Ashwin then snapped up Cowan with a ball that came back in sharply, catching the opener right in front. Phil Hughes then got a spitting cobra from Ravindra Jadeja and he was dismissed for a duck. That brought Australia’s best player of spin bowling, Michael Clarke, to the crease. Clarke was dropped on zero by Kohli off Ashwin. Umpire Erasmus then gave Clarke the benefit of doubt when Jadeja appealed vociferously for a leg-before.

At the other end, Harbhajan got Warner leg before and then had Wade’s wicket as well. Harbhajan looked relaxed and bowled decently.

In the first over after tea, a naughty trick from the pitch brought about the downfall of Clarke who missed a cut shot and failed to gauge the unpredictable movement of the ball. When Peter Siddle was bowled by Jadeja for two, the Indians looked good to finish off the game on Day four.

Moises Henriques batted with patience. His technique of presenting the bat before the pad negated the possibility of leg-before and the soft hands made sure that the ball did not carry to the close-in fielders.

He attacked the spinners and brought about his second fifty of the game. Sadly, it was a solo act. After the fall of the ninth wicket, Henriques looked positive and shepherded the tail-ender Nathon Lyon.

Australia has a slender lead of 40 going into the fifth day. If Australia has any chance of making a comeback in this game, Henriques has to take the responsibility for that. But that is a herculean task.

Australia’s batting collapse did not help their cause. Wade was dismissed after playing an almighty heave. Mitchell Starc too threw away his wicket but then it was tough for the lower order batsmen to just hang in there and hope to survive. The pitch brought about the downfall of good batsman as well.

Australia attacked the spinners and reaped rewards. The bowlers too bowled a lot of loose balls when the batsmen were using their feet. But those were sporadic occurrences.

Australia’s batting looks ill-equipped to play the spinning ball and their show with the bat at Chepauk has been poor.

India will look to pick up the last wicket as quickly as possible and chase down the runs. India’s spin bowling has looked like picking up 20 wickets.

So will Dhoni demand more rank-turners? One thing is for sure, if Australia continue to bat like they have, then they are surely going to have a torrid time in the remaining matches.