Australia come crashing down at Perth as India clinch glory
Perth, January 19, 2008
First Published: 08:54 IST(19/1/2008)
Last Updated: 17:47 IST(19/1/2008)
Very few teams come to the Western Australian capital and inflict heavy defeat on the Australians. The West Indies did that, 16 years ago, when Curtly Ambrose’ inspired spell of 7 wickets for 1 run destroyed the Aussies. But, that was a different era. India, came into this match with a big point to prove. Bruised and battered in the previous two Test matches in the series, they left the baggage of controversy behind and moved on to Freemantle territory to put up a spirited performance in the Third Test and clinch a historic victory by 72 runs.
The Indians had a single digit number in the minds as they took the field in the morning - 8 i.e. the number of wickets needed to claim victory. And eight, they got after some inspired captaincy decisions by Kumble, superb bowling by the quicks and luck. Their charge to victory came to a pause, when the ninth wicket partnership between Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson had other intentions for a while, but it only looked as though they were delaying the inevitable.
Of patience and perseverance
The Aussies were chasing something they tried six years ago and faltered against the same opposition. This time, there were larger stakes in the consecutive-Test wins record, and that looked to have got the better of the hosts. They got off to a confident start, thanks to Ricky Ponting’s early flurry of boundaries, but intertwined among those were moments where the Australian skipper looked all at sea against a young, lanky paceman from India - Ishant Sharma. His footwork was tested severely as the Sharma constantly resorted to big inswingers to unsettle Ponting. He kept pegging away, till he got his prey finally for 46. That, was a moment of inspiration as Sharma had toiled hard for six overs going wicketless. In the mid-over conference, Sehwag made his point clear to Kumble asking the young man to put one last effort. That worked instantly, as Sharma produced an edge to first slip which Dravid made no mistake to pouch safely.
Hussey kept going in his usual pace - rotating the strike and stroking the odd boundary. Michael Clarke joined him after Ponting’s fall and looked like a man with points to prove, after taking flak for his dip in form. He began on a positive note, displaying nimble footwork to Kumble as much as putting loose deliveries from the pacers. He and Hussey strung together a good partnership, before RP Singh produced another one to send the left-hander back. That perhaps set the ball rolling for the Indians as the Aussies lost their set batsman. Andrew Symonds walked into bat, in an untested territory - a pressure cooker scenario in the second innings, and set off on his usual bludgeoning style - a six and a four. But, that was all he could achieve as Billy Bowden took off his fingers in a flash. Life came a full circle for Symonds, as replays showed there was an inside edge as the ball thudded into his pads.
A moment of sheer inspiration
There was a short partnership mushrooming between Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist - but it took nothing short of an inspired chess-like move by Anil Kumble to set India going. He brought on Virender Sehwag for what turned out to be a massive period of play - with the man castling the dangerous Adam Gilchrist round his legs in his very first over. Then, the next over, one became two - as Sehwag snapped up Lee, Laxman holding on to a short-low catch at silly point. Australia jolted in the middle-order. Australia from 227/5 to 229/7.
Clarke then steered the lower-order with some handy shots, but couldn’t do much as he ran out of partners. He kept scoring from one end, scoring a defiant fifty. Mitchell Johnson showed why he is no mug with the bat as he used the good old slog to grand effect. Clarke departed the scene for a superb 81 though in vain, as he was stumped by Dhoni off one that turned away from the right-hander.
A sting in the tail
India were flirting with a growing reputation of not being able to finish off the tail and that came to haunt them back again. As much as them, the Aussie tail has had its own image of strong tail-wagging since Ashes 2005. And it was one of those days when they almost lived up to that image. Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson came into bat with only one thing in their minds - defeat. But, what we saw was the bowlers having fun - going for every delivery, with an intention of clearing the ropes. They added a superb 73-run partnership to just about shake-up India’s hopes. Johnson raced to a brilliant fifty filled with chancy-strokes and some stellar drives. Clark’s stay in the middle came to an end when he edged one from Pathan to Dhoni and it came to an end at 31.
The finishing act
Just as everyone around was asking, “Whatever happened to the good old yorker !”, RP Singh produced a nasty one to produce the moment for the visitors. It beats the bat totally and zoomed into middle and off-stump. What looked impossible and unlikely before four days, finally came true as India wrapped up the Test by 72 runs. Irfan Pathan, was quite righteously named the man of the match for his stellar all-round effort, that first ensured India removed the openers early twice - contributed some significant runs lower-down and as “nightwatchman” and just as the tail started wagging around, took that important wicket of Clark to seal the victory for the visitors.
All in all, a historic win for India - much in the mould of Johannesburg 2006. The Aussies, conscious of their image looked like playing as saints - and it wasn’t just that the bully image was missing, but also Ricky Ponting’s long lived ambitions to achieve the 17-consecutive Test wins. Now, the cricket bandwagon moves to Adelaide, where the Aussies will look to bounce back from this defeat, while India must be all keyed up to drag the momentum into the fourth Test and level the series 2-2.