Indian tail finds its sting

A sensational late charge saw India clambering up from a hopeless 64 for six to a respectable 129 for seven, to a probably winning 143 for eight and, finally, to a miraculous 195 for eight. They reached the Aussie victory target of 193 by hanging on to thin threads of hope with their bruised palms with many in the crowd nursing jagged finger nails.

With India’s last three batsmen Kartik (21 not out), Zaheer Khan (31 not out) and Harbhajan Singh (19) not willing to give up, India came up with an unbeaten ninth wicket partnership of 52 runs from 62 balls — and victory.

And when you take into account the fact that the last three Indian partnerships put on 131 runs, Robin Uthappa’s pioneering 47 from 59 balls suddenly looms large. Although, when Uthappa was out, the score was 129, still a lot of work left to be done. But quelling all fears, the tailenders didn’t let the team down.

So when the ball flicked Kartik’s pads to fine leg for the winning runs and Zaheer gave him a big hug, the left-arm spinner would have remembered that November evening in 2004 when he was declared the Man of the Match. He finished that Test with seven wickets spread over two innings — today he took six from just 10 overs and also played a vital role with the bat.

But till the last hour, it seemed Kartik’s efforts would go in vain. The day that had started like a dream for him was turning into a nightmare. One by one India’s top batsmen fell to the pace of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson: Sourav Ganguly (0), Sachin Tendulkar (21), Dinesh Kaarthick (0), Yuvraj Singh (15).

It was almost over for India — or so everyone thought, till the hands began to go up, down the order. First, 65 runs for the seventh wicket between Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh, then 14 runs between Zaheer and Harbhajan, and finally Kartik and Zaheer.

For the Aussies, it started going wrong with Matthew Hayden failing a fitness test. Then, off the first ball of the match, Zaheer Khan got Michael Clarke lbw. And as Andrew Symonds too went for a first-ball duck, the top three Aussie run-getters in the series were shut out in the final game.

Indian bowling woes finally seemed over as Zaheer came up with a deadly spell of 9-1-22-1. And Kartik’s was deadlier. His 10-3-27-6 was magical and almost surreal as he missed a hat-trick twice.

On the other side, the Aussie performers seemed to be having a collective off day — except for Ricky Ponting’s 57 — as the highest wicket-taker of the series Brad Hogg went wicketless. That just proved that even the Aussies are humans, they too bank on their stars to deliver.

SCOREBOARD

Australia: M Clarke lbw Zaheer 0, A Gilchrist c Harbhajan b Pathan 19,

R Ponting c Dhoni b RP Singh 57, B Hodge c Dinesh Karthik b Kartik 16, A Symonds c Tendulkar b Kartik 0, B Haddin lbw Kartik19, J Hopes b Kartik 22, B Hogg c Uthappa b Kartik 0, B Lee c RP Singh b Kartik 0, M Johnson not out 24, N Bracken c Harbhajan b RP Singh 3

Extras (b4, lb3, w26): 33; Total (all out, 41.3 overs): 193

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-60, 3-117, 4-117, 5-129, 6-162, 7-162, 8-162, 9-177

Bowling: Zaheer 9-1-22-1, RP Singh 8.3-1-59-2, Pathan 5-0-23-1, Ganguly 2-0-24-0, Harbhajan 7-0-31-0, Kartik 10-3-27-6

India: S Ganguly c Gilchrist b Johnson 0, S Tendulkar b Lee 21, Dinesh Kaarthick c Gilchrist b Johnson 0, Y Singh c Gilchrist b Bracken 15, R Uthappa lbw Clarke 47, MS Dhoni c Gilchrist b Bracken 5, I Pathan c Clarke b Hopes 0, H Singh c Ponting b Johnson 19, Z Khan not out 31, M Kartik not out 21

Extras (b4, lb12, w20): 36; Total (for 8 wkts, 46 overs): 195

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-8, 3-38, 4-49, 5-63, 6-64, 7-129, 8-143

Bowling: Lee 10-1-37-1, Johnson 10-0-46-3, Bracken 10-3-30-2, Hopes 5-0-13-1, Hogg 8-0-40-0, Clarke 3-0-13-1