 Two former captains of India, Sachin Tendulkar (L) and Rahul Dravid. Dravid made 93 while Tendulkar was out for 71, in the third Test Vs Australia at the WACA, in Perth, January 16, 2008.
by Ihithisam Kamardeen
PERTH, Australia (AP) - Fast bowler Brett Lee took three wickets to help Australia claw back ground on the first day after India's Rahul Dravid scored an anchoring 93 at the WACA Ground on Wednesday.
Lee (3-64) dismissed V.V.S.Laxman with the second new ball in the third-last over of the day, leaving India at 297-6 at stumps. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan will resume the second day on eight runs apiece.
India wrested the early initiative from Australia, which employed a four-man pace attack to exploit the traditionally pacy WACA wicket.
Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar combined for a century stand, but Australia then claimed four wickets for 85 runs to revive its hopes of becoming the first team to ever win 17 straight tests.
"It was disappointing," Dravid said after being dismissed in the 90s for the 10th time, an unwanted record he shares with former Australian skipper Steve Waugh.
Dravid was out trying to hoist a shot over midwicket, but he miscued the Andrew Symonds delivery to Ricky Ponting at mid-off.
"The shot was on. I had played the same shot earlier. When you connect it looks ok but when you don't it looks pretty stupid. It was disappointing especially coming so late in the day with the new ball coming.
"It's a fine line between trying to be positive ... a lot of times you play shots and they come off.
"We've also discussed about trying to have a positive mindset. People were accusing us of being negative in the first game."
Dravid felt India's tail could yet wag to defy Australia's victory charge.
"We'd have taken 4-300, (and) that would have made us really happy, but we have to look at the positives," Dravid said.
"There were some good performances through the day, people showed a lot of character. We've still got some batting left so hopefully the lower order can contribute a little but and we get to 400 which is probably what we would have hoped for at the start of the game."
Dravid felt the opening day was played in good spirits after the ill-feeling and controversies of the second test in Sydney.
"They played it tough like they usually do," Dravid said of Australia's first day effort. "They ran in hard right through the day. They were competitive. It was played in very good spirit. It was played tough and played hard like it should be."
India won the toss and elected to bat, with Wasim Jaffer (16) and Virender Sehwag (29) giving India its best start of the series with a 57-run opening stand before both fell quickly.
After hitting six boundaries, Sehwag's entertaining innings was undone by the WACA pitch when he edged Mitchell Johnson to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist while trying to cut a delivery that bounced and surprised him.
Two runs later, Jaffer's painstaking 53-ball innings ended when he was caught behind off Lee.
Their dismissals brought Tendulkar and Dravid together, and they combined for a 139-run stand.
Dropped on 11 and then having survived a couple of confident leg before wicket appeals, Dravid provided the backbone of the innings with his 183-ball innings that included 15 boundaries.
Tendulkar (71) looked on course for another test century against Australia, but his innings was cut short by a contentious umpiring decision, adjudged lbw despite being on the front foot and the ball hitting him above the knee roll.
Tendulkar's near three-hour innings for his 50th test century included nine fours.
Soon after, India lost Saurav Ganguly (9) to a brilliant reflex catch by Mike Hussey at gully as India slipped from 198 for two to 214 for four soon after the tea break.
Australia's use of a predominantly pace attack slowed the over rate. Ponting called on the part-time spinners to up the rate and was rewarded with Dravid's dismissal.
The loss of Laxman exposed the India tail, and Australia will look to dismiss them quickly and add to its 2-0 series lead.
SCOREBOARD
India 1st innings
W Jaffer c Gilchrist b Lee 16
V Sehwag c Gilchrist b Johnson 29
R Dravid c Ponting b Symonds 93
SR Tendulkar lbw b Lee 71
SC Ganguly c Hussey b Johnson 9
VVS Laxman c Tait b Lee 28
MS Dhoni not out 8
IK Pathan not out 8
Extras (lb 18, w 8, nb 9) 35
Total (6 wickets; 84 overs) 297
To bat: A Kumble, RP Singh, I Sharma
Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Sehwag, 16.4 ov), 2-59 (Jaffer, 19.2 ov), 3-198 (Tendulkar, 57.4 ov), 4-214 (Ganguly, 60.5 ov), 5-278 (Dravid, 77.6 ov), 6-284 (Laxman, 81.4 ov)
Bowling: B Lee 19 3 64 3, MG Johnson 21 5 61 2. SR Clark 15 3 44 0, SW Tait 13 1 59 0, A Symonds 10 1 36 1, MJ Clarke 6 1 15 0
Courtesy - The Island |