INDIA OZ-SOME
Hosts thrash Australia by innings & 135 runs, take unassailable 2-0 lead in series
Two hours of play, 57 runs and eight wickets! Those sorry statistics sum up Australia’s abject surrender on the fourth day of the second Test mismatch to go 0-2 down in what is turning out to be a series bereft of competition. The innings and 135 runs defeat in three-and-a-half days is embarrassing given the pedigree of previous Australian teams. This is clearly one of the weakest cricket sides from Down Under.
The kangaroos currently resemble rabbits caught in headlights. The Indians, on the other hand, have reasserted themselves as tigers at home. On Tuesday they woke up smelling blood, hungry, and attacked ferociously to hunt down their rivals and literally have them for lunch.
With nine wickets down, play was extended by halfan-hour to facilitate a result in the session but the hosts needed just one over to wrap up the victory as off-spinner Ashwin trapped James Pattinson LBW as the Aussies were bundled
It was champagne time for M.S. Dhoni, who became the most successful Indian captain in Tests with victory No.22 in 45 games, surpassing Sourav Ganguly’s record (21 wins in 49 games)
out for 131 in their second innings.
In hindsight, Michael Clarke’s audacious first innings declaration (at 237 for 9) on the opening day makes for a good pub joke. The Australian captain has been left high and dry.
By contrast, it was cham- pagne time for M.S. Dhoni, who became the most successful Indian captain in Tests with victory No. 22 in 45 games. He surpassed Sourav Ganguly’s 21 wins in 49 matches. At 31, Dhoni still has a lot of cricket left in him and is definitely destined for more laurels.
On Tuesday, the Indian spinners possessed the cutting edge pitted against the blades of the visiting batsmen, who collapsed like pins in a bowling alley. Offie Ashwin’s 5 for 63 provided ample evidence that India’s traditional bowling strength is in good hands.
Clarke and Co. were clueless about tackling the tweakers. That a part-timer like Ravindra Jadeja could bamboozle the batsmen with regularity shows how ill-equipped this Australian team is when it comes to playing the turning ball. The left-arm spinner accounted for the wickets of big bats Clarke, Cowan and No.9 Siddle to lead the charge on Tuesday.
The Aussies began the fourth day badly, losing Shane Watson in the third over, caught by Dhoni off Ishant Sharma for his overnight score of 9.
Clarke was shaky and survived a couple of close calls — for caught behind and leg before wicket — before being bewildered by a Jadeja beauty that flirted with him in the air before turning viciously after pitching to beat his defensive bat and knock back his off-stump.
The superstitious Nelson proved inauspicious to the Aussies, who lost their highest scorer Cowan (44) and Moises Henriques (0) on the same score. Jadeja accounted for both the dismissals — he had the former caught by Sehwag at slip and ran the latter out with a direct hit as he attempted an impulsive single. Australia 111 for 6.
Glenn Maxwell, Peter Siddle, Wade and Pattinson did not offer a semblance of resistance as Ashwin got into the act to chop the Aussie tail for a heady win.