Australia slip up late in Mohali

India Vs Australia

First Test Match, Mohali

Australia won the toss elected to bat first

Australia 224/5 (90 overs)

Day 1 Stumps

STAR OF THE DAY

Brief lapses cost Australia dearly against India despite an unbeaten century to Shane Watson on the opening day of the first cricket Test at Mohali.

Dominant at 1-154, the tourists slid to a wobbly 5-224 by the close, losing traction from the moment Ricky Ponting (71) squandered his great start with a run out and was given a blunt send-off by Zaheer Khan, which caught the ire of the Australian captain.

Michael Clarke (14) fell to a loose attempt to cut Harbhajan Singh (1-69) in the shadows of tea, and their exits turned the last session into the most agonising of slogs for Watson (101no), twice grassed on his way to a second century in Tests and a third in as many innings on tour.

In addition to taunting Ponting, Zaheer (3-45) proved himself India's best and most resourceful bowler, moving both new ball and old as he had done in Mohali two years ago.

Fellow quick Ishant Sharma (0-49) had a day to forget, struggling badly with rhythm and no-balls before exiting the field midway through his eighth over with a knee complaint.

His fitness looms as the greatest cloud over Indian chances of winning the Test.

Fractionally late on an overpitched ball from Zaheer, Watson sliced to gully, where Virender Sehwag let the overhead catch burst through his fingers.

Despite having little or no bounce to help him, Zaheer made the best of it, and soon Simon Katich (six) inched too far across to be palpably lbw.

Ponting and Watson went neatly about their work, but the skipper was fortunate that Ishant was struggling badly, delivering seven no-balls in the session.

One over featured four illegal deliveries, including one that Ponting glanced into Dhoni's gloves, and 19 runs.

Watson again escaped dismissal when he edged Pragyan Ojha behind on 37 and Dhoni dropped it.

Lunching at 1-101, Watson and Ponting maintained their partnership for another 53 runs, before Ponting was caught out by the agile Suresh Raina, who threw the stumps down from midwicket.

No-one has been run out more often in Test matches than Ponting's 14 times, and the dismissal maintained a maddening run of ill-judged dismissals for a man who is trying to improve on two years of batting decline.

Ponting was so incensed by Zaheer's inflammatory reaction that he turned on his heels and remonstrated, making for an ugly scene reminiscent of so many matches between these two countries.

His mood would not have improved when vice-captain Clarke skewed Harbhajan to slip.

This left the door tantalisingly ajar for India despite blameless batting conditions, and Mike Hussey's lack of touch after his Twenty20 diversion in South Africa only enhanced the feeling that the home side were closing in.

Eventually Hussey (17, 76 balls) dropped his guard to be lbw to a sharp Zaheer inswinger, before Marcus North added to the trouble by shouldering arms and losing his off bail for a duck.

Wicketkeeper Tim Paine (one) appeared to touch Zaheer behind second ball, but any possible appeal was made moot when Dhoni let the chance slip.

Watson admitted Ponting's run out was the turning point of the day.

Score Card

Australia First Innings

Shane Watson - not out - 101(279)

Simon Katich - lbw b Z.Khan - 6(12)

Ricky Ponting - runout(S.Raina) - 71(124)

Michael Clarke - C R.Dravid - 14(39)

Michael Hussey - lbw Z.Khan - 17(76)

Marcus North - b Z.Khan - 0(6)

Tim Paine (wk) - notout - 1(14)

Bowling

Zaheer Khan - 45/3

Harbhajan Singh - 69/1

Match Gallery

Watson,Rahane crack tons as game ends in draw

Australians 505 for 8 dec. (Watson 115, Katich 104 retd*, North 124 retd*) and 187 for 6 dec. (Watson 104*, Chawla 3-64) drew with Board President's XI 177 (Chawla 82, Hilfenhaus 5-47) and 174 for 0 (Rahane 113*, Pujara 52*)

Scorecard

The Australians like to mentally disintegrate the visiting captains, while the Indians - lesser known domestic batsmen, that is - go after visiting spinners. For the third season in a row now, the Board President's XI batsmen have done the job of softening up the opposition's spinners ahead of a Test series.

Two years ago, when Australia visited India, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh took Jason Krejza's 31 wicketless overs for 199 runs. Last season South Africa's Paul Harris was unsuccessful as Manish Pandey and Abhishek Nayar hit him for 71 runs in 12 overs. Over the last three days, which have been almost ideal preparation for Australia for the upcoming two-Test series, Nathan Hauritz has emerged as a concern.

In the first innings, Piyush Chawla, known more for his legspin, repeatedly danced down the pitch and either pushed him for singles or lofted him over his head. In the second, Ajinkya Rahane, the Mumbai batsman, scored a stroke-filled century in two hours. Hauritz's figures over the two innings: 24 overs, 93 runs, and one wicket. Steven Smith's flat legbreaks at the other end extracted even less respect. Chawla hit him for a six in his first over in India, and he went for 55 in his 10 overs.

Before Rahane entertained the small crowd at the Sector 16 Stadium, though, the Australians had had another good day of practice. They took the remaining four BP XI wickets for 34 runs, and Shane Watson went onto score a second century in the match, hitting 18 boundaries in his unbeaten 104 off 121 deliveries.

Gautam Gambhir, Simon Katich and Marcus North chose to go easy on mild injury scares. Gambhir, who was hit in his right hand by a rising delivery from Bill Hilfenhaus on day 2, chose to stay away from action. Katich, who has a bruised thumb, opted out of batting but came on to field. North, who has a mild back strain, stayed away too.

The match was always going to be a draw when the Australians gave BP XI just a session to bat. Rahane's strokeplay, however, made sure it was an entertaining draw. His hook off Peter George, which went for six, and punches through the covers stood out.

While it could be argued that this session was just low-key practice, and not much should be read into it, Hauritz would have desperately wanted to improve on his first-innings effort.

Watson, Katich power Australians

Australians 319 for 1 (Watson 115, Katich 104 retd*) v Indian Board President's XI

Scorecard

The Australians had a satisfactory first day of cricket on their tour of India. Two of their batsmen scored centuries without much fuss, and two others seemed on the way. On a pitch that was expectedly slow, thanks to unseasonal rains until earlier this week, Shane Watson and Simon Katich hardly looked like getting out, and Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke followed suit with an unbroken 87-run partnership. It is unlikely now that Australia will consider splitting Watson and Katich at the top during this tour.

The first day of the game didn't bring any good news for India. Not only did the tourists look in form, India's two Test bowlers - Sreesanth and Pragyan Ojha - bowled 34 overs without a wicket. Apart from bowling 13 unimpressive overs and sliding down the leg side often, Sreesanth let slip four boundaries in the field. The first of those could have been a catch at backward point. The last left him grimacing with a cramp in the calf, and he hobbled off the field, with the new ball just around the corner. However, he is likely to bowl on the second day.

Ojha, too, seemed to have picked a stomach ache in the afternoon session. That Ojha, who was strictly steady, was the pick of the bowlers says how good the day was for the Australians. The only time their balcony looked concerned - and that too mildly - was when a bus tyre went flat outside the stadium with a loud explosion. Even that ended with some in their support staff taking pictures. By then, without any explosiveness, their openers were entrenched in the middle.

Katich, who was quicker than Watson, didn't make the smoothest of starts, though. He had trouble adjusting to the slowness of the pitch, and his bat face closed early on a few occasions when facing the left-arm seamer Jaidev Unadkat. Apart from that, none of three fast bowlers posed any threat. Neither of the openers was made to play straight, and neither was looking to take any risks.

Katich looked more comfortable against spin than Watson. He was quick to late-cut, and flick into the leg side with both spinners turning the ball into his pads. Watson was beaten on a few occasions by Piyush Chawla's legbreaks. Ojha bowled tightly - his 21 overs went for just 23 - and had a couple of close lbw shouts against Watson, but the batsman was well forward on both occasions.

The battle between Ojha and Katich was more interesting. Katich preferred staying back and cutting, Ojha fancied hitting that in-between length and sneaking in through the gap or making Katich play on. Katich did chop a few off the underside edge, but none of them was close to his stumps.

Both the batsmen had reached similar scores at similar strike-rates by lunch, but Katich took the lead after the interval. Just after reaching his fifty, he edged Unadkat twice, first wide of second slip and then just short of him. That, along with a tough run-out chance against Watson, which Wriddhiman Saha missed, was the closest the BP XI came to a wicket.

Tim Nielsen, the coach, realised these two were not going to get out, and took turns to give Clarke, Marcus North, Phil Hughes and Steven Smith throw-downs in the adjoining nets. By the time he returned from the nets, Katich had reached his century and Watson was nearing it. During that middle session, Gautam Gambhir, the home captain, got Ravindra Jadeja to keep signalling towards the dressing room for Ojha to return on the field. "Pet mein dard [Stomach ache]," came the reply. Not that Ojha would have been lining up to bowl.

Watson went to tea five short of his century, and came back with a new partner as the Australians decided that Katich had had enough of a look-in. Perhaps Watson knew the same would happen to him once he reached the hundred, or it was his usual nerves in the 90s, he took 17 more balls to raise three-figures. As he got there with a sweep, he seemed to have done a hamstring. He got back up, though, and opened fire at Chawla, hitting him for 14 runs in the next over. At the end of it, though, he was bowled while going for another boundary.

The others too batted without much trouble. Ponting made a slightly iffy start, not reading the spinners' lengths early, but Chawla let him get away by feeding him two long-hops early on. The first ball Clarke faced on the tour, he jumped out of the crease, got to the pitch of the ball, and then pushed it wide of mid-off for one. There was to be more exemplary footwork later in the innings, when he charged at Chawla and lofted him for a straight boundary. The next ball, he seemed to be charging down again, but transferred his weight back in a flash to cut a slightly flat delivery for four.

The new ball, take for the last four overs of the day, didn't have much impact either, and "retired not out" is likely to be the most favoured way of changing batsmen on the second day.