Published: Jan 06, 2015, 12:04 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 06, 2015, 10:08 PM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
Jan 6, 2015
It was a day to remember for Australia as they dominated the Indian attack at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Having ended Day One of the fourth Test at 348 for two, Australia left no stone unturned in piling the misery on the visitors. This is the first Test at the SCG since the death of Phil Hughes and it was quite an emotional setting. David Warner rose to the occasion again and scored his 12th Test ton.
On a good batting wicket, Australia won the toss and chose to wield their willow. They had only one change in the side with Mitchell Starc playing in place of the injured Mitchell Johnson. India, on the other hand, had four changes. MS Dhoni’s retirement brought in Wriddhiman Saha to keep wickets. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were in for Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma.
From the outset, Warner dominated the bowling with Chris Rogers. They had raced to their fifty in only eight overs. Rogers had an early reprieve as KL Rahul dropped a simple chance at second slip when Rogers was on 19. It would go on to cost India 76 runs. But, Warner was a treat to watch. He pulled anything short and drove on the rise or anything full. It was the typical Warner show at the SCG.
However, one also could not ignore the enormity of the occasion. Warner was quite emotional when he got to 63 and kissed the adjacent pitch, where Hughes was hit on that fateful day. It took him some time to recover as Rogers safely took Australia to tea. In the midst of the show, Rogers was pushed into oblivion, but he too played some good authoritative strokes and held one end.
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin was one Indian bowler who managed to cause a few problems to the batsmen. He was keeping it tight and run-scoring was not easy off him. Warner tried everything to dominate, even reverse-sweeping. That was one good contest between bat and ball.
Post lunch, Australia continued to dominate with Warner getting to his 12th Test ton. This is his third in the series, having scored two in Adelaide. He was out soon after as Ashwin won the battle of wits by having him caught at second slip. Rogers moved to 95 with a good cover drive, but dragged one back onto his stumps off Mohammed Shami.
Steven Smith walked out and continued to milk runs. He got off the mark with a lofted stroke over mid-on, which signified his confidence. The under pressure Shane Watson was slow to start with even as Smith moved along at a good rate. The duo extended the woes on India after tea as run-scoring seemed easy. Smith moved to his fifty followed by Watson, who had gritted it out in the middle. India seem to have the uphill task of stopping Smith in this series and so far there is nothing they can do.
India’s bowlers continued to struggle with the exception of Ashwin. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not look up to the contest. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami continued to spray it around and were punished by the batsmen. Skipper Virat Kohli certainly did not enjoy the first day of his official captaincy. There may be better days ahead, but Day Two presents an enormous challenge for India with Smith looking ominous and Watson having worked his way into form. Late in the day, Watson also got a life as Yadav induced an edge, but it went through Ashwin at first slip.
Brief scores:
Australia 348 for 2 (Chris Rogers 95, David Warner 101, Steven Smith 82*, Shane Watson 62*; Mohammed Shami 1 for 56, Ravichandran Ashwin 1 for 88) vs India.
Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_45)
