Report of Day 2 of Test 1 India Vs. Australia

Reports of Test matches played between India and Australia played previously. The current series is just round the corner. It is a good time to revive memories.

Resuming at their overnight score of 337/9 with Johnson and Clark as the last pair, it was only a matter of one wicket-producing ball before the Australians innings was to fold. And it was round the corner. The Australians were all out for 343. The Indian batting was now going to be tested - the likes of Dravids, Gangulys, Tendulkars, Singhs, Dhonis - all of them, against the bowling of Lee and Clark, Johnson and Hogg. Facing these world class bowlers in their own backyard is no child’s play. The team members of both the teams proved it. The Aussies were taking wickets at will and the Indians giving without the will.
Anyways, easier said than done. The Australians can’t be pinned down for long and soon they overcame their pitiable condition and took control of the first Test right on day two. The whole Indian side was bowled out in less than a day, for less and 200 runs and in less than 72 overs. The famed Indian batting line up was blown into pieces. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly played some good cricket to give some respectability to the Indian total. But for the famous batting line up less than 200 is really embarrassing. It was Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, who were the wreckers-in-chief. Clark who was the last one to be dismissed yesterday, bowled extremely well to get the figures of 4 for 28 off only 15 overs.
As usual Lee was at his best. In fewer than 20 overs he got the wickets of Jaffer, Laxman, Kumble and Zaheer Khan. His figures were 4 for 46 off 19.5 overs. Bet he overstepped a whopping 6 times – that is too much given a Test. Johnson was unlucky not to get any wickets. He really bowled well along with Lee. Lee getting the wickets also had the contribution of Johnson. He did not give any easy runs and constantly put pressure on the Indian batsmen who wee gasping for runs.
Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni could not break the duck. The high profile left hander was caught behind by Gilchrist while the dashing finisher M S Dhoni was caught in front of his wickets. Both the batsmen were the victims of a very good bowling by Stuart Clark. Both departed at the same personal score of 0 and on the team total of 122. India was dismissed for a poor score of 196, giving the Aussies a lead of 147 runs. The Australians started their second innings and were 32 for no loss, an overall lead of 179 runs.