By Shiamak Unwalla
Dec 20, 2014
Ishant Sharma ensured that Australia did not canter to an easy win, but received no support from the other bowlers as the hosts won the second Test at Brisbane by four wickets. Ishant was the only Indian bowler who looked threatening, as both Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron were guilty of spraying the ball full and wide, allowing Chris Rogers to score boundaries at will en route to an invaluable half-century. Ishant bowled unchanged for nine overs on either side of tea, but received no backing whatsoever from his fellow pace bowlers.
After taking the first two wickets to fall, Ishant snapped up Rogers for 55, but by that point Australia had done enough to ensure there would be no more surprises. Aaron did manage to induce an outside edge from Steven Smith, but Virat Kohli made a mess of it at slip. Unlike in England, India’s slip catching has not quite been atrocious this series with Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, and Ravichandran Ashwin taking some fine catches so far.
Smith and Shaun Marsh duly took Australia closer, knocking off the remaining runs in a flurry of boundaries off Umesh and Aaron, as India’s batting collapses continued to haunt the visitors. However, Marsh was out for 17, Smith was run out for 28, and Brad Haddin departed early as well to gift India a few bonus wickets right at the end. Perhaps if India had scored even 50 more runs, the match could have taken a different tune.
Earlier, Australia were reduced to 25 for two after Ishant took both wickets, accounting for David Warner and Shane Watson just before tea. Ishant bowled with fire and rekindled memories of Lord’s with his quick bouncers and full length deliveries. Earlier, India were bowled out for 224 after Shikhar Dhawan scored a battling 81, and in partnership with Umesh Yadav helped India take a lead of 127. Dhawan and Umesh’s partnership came at a time when India were in serious danger of folding up for well under 200.
Dhawan came out swinging after lunch, hitting the ball with abandon and inching India’s lead forward. When he was finally dismissed, LBW to Nathan Lyon, he had helped take India past 200, and the lead over 100. Varun Aaron didn’t stick around for very long, top-edging an attempted slog off Lyon to be dismissed for three. Umesh continued playing his shots at the other end, hitting Lyon for two sixes in an over.
Earlier, Mitchell Johnson tore the throat of the middle order as India collapsed to 87 for five at one stage from their overnight score of 71 for one. Dhawan was injured overnight having been struck on the wrist while batting in the nets. As a result, it was Virat Kohli who walked out to bat alongside Cheteshwar Pujara in his place. Kohli looked a far sight from the man who dominated the Australian bowlers in the first match. He scratched around for 11 balls and scored just a run before playing on to Johnson.
New man Ajinkya Rahane started positively, hitting a couple of boundaries before receiving a snorter from Johnson that reared up at his head from just short of a length. The resultant edge was taken easily by Lyon at backward point. In walked Rohit Sharma, the man whose sledge seemed to have fired up Johnson when the latter was batting, and he went on to smash 88 to turn the match on its head. Rohit could survive just two balls before nicking another sharp, short ball from Johnson to Brad Haddin. However, replays were inconclusive as it seemed like there was a gap between the ball and the bat.
In walked MS Dhoni, whose grit and determined batting stood him in excellent stead during India’s tour of England earlier in the year. Here though, he could only survive two balls before stepping out to Josh Hazlewood and missing the ball completely. Umpire Marais Erasmus was convinced that the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps, and raised the deadly finger.
In a space of just about half an hour, India had gone from 76 for one to 87 for five, with Pujara witnessing the massacre from the non-striker’s end. Ravichandran Ashwin came in to bat next, as Dhawan was still decreed unfit to bat. Ashwin and Pujara gave India the faintest of hopeful glimmers as they converted India’s deficit to a slender lead. But it did not last long; Mitchell Starc got Ashwin to edge one behind, although again replays suggested the ball might have missed the bat.
That finally brought Dhawan to the middle, and he showed impressive resilience battling through the pain. He added 26 more with Pujara before the latter received one that bounced steeply off a length and took the shoulder of the bat through to the Lyon at gully. Umesh Yadav walked in to bat ahead of Ishant Sharma once again, and slapped one past Hazlewood early on in his innings to raise a few smiles before lunch.
Earlier, India reached 71 for one at stumps on Day Three. Dhawan and Pujara remained India’s unbeaten batsmen as the in-form Murali Vijay was dismissed with the score on 41. Mitchell Starc took the wicket, though it was Mitchell Johnson who looked threatening early on after Australia amassed a monumental 505 on the back of a superb performance from their lower order, each of whom went past 25.
Brief scores:
India 408 (Murali Vijay 144, Ajinkya Rahane 81; Josh Hazlewood 5 for 68, Nathan Lyon 3 for 105) and 224 (Shikhar Dhawan 81; Mitchell Johnson 4 for 61) lose to Australia 505 (Chris Rogers 55, Steven Smith 133, Mitchell Johnson 88, Mitchell Starc 52; Ishant Sharma 3 for 117, Umesh Yadav 3 for 101) and 130 for 6 (Chris Rogers 55; Ishant Sharma 3 for 38, Umesh Yadav 2 for 46) by 4 wickets.
Man of the Match: Steven Smith
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and cricket fanatic. You can follow him on Twitter @ShiamakUnwalla)
Written by 
