Indians caught in MacGill’s spin

JAMSHEDPUR, March 13: Stuart MacGill believes that he is as fast as Anil Kumble. He is also pretty sure that he can spin the ball as much as...

JAMSHEDPUR, March 13: Stuart MacGill believes that he is as fast as Anil Kumble. He is also pretty sure that he can spin the ball as much as Shane Warne. But it was just that the 27-year-old leg-spinner from New South Wales never really got the chance to get the message across. But today, after Warne decided to take the first big break on this Indian tour, this `reserve’ tweaker finally got a chance to exhibit an interesting brand of leg-spin. He pushed the ball through the air, gave it a good tweak and, in the bargain, picked up three key India A scalps to leave the hosts gasping at 189 for five at the end of the first day of the three-day match here.

With over 80 minutes of the day’s play lost to bad light and overnight rain, it was unfortunate that some of the young India hopefuls seemed too eager to help the stocky Aussie prove his point. The recognised batsmen, with a couple of exceptions, played like there was no tomorrow. And after a comfortable 68 runs were rounded up for the opening wicket, skipperVikram Rathore set the trend with a swipe at MacGill that ballooned to Mark Taylor at point and sparked an alarming collapse. From 68 for no loss the procession finally halted at 92 for four.

The drama began just seven overs after Rathore’s exit, when left-hander Daniel Manohar (30) slashed a nippy Paul Wilson to Ponting at point. Going for a strikingly similar shot four balls later, the other left-hander Amay Khurasia had the Aussies thumping Ponting’s back once again in the same over. Then one-drop Devang Gandhi (20) decided to join the gang with his head in the air and his bat swinging down the wrong line for the MacGill-Healy combination to get on the scoreboard for the first time. They made it there again a while later, but not before young Delhi wicket-keeper Vijay Dahiya had done his future a world of good with a fighting 42.

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Hampered by a passive partner in Jacob Martin, the 23-year-old Dahiya displayed enough enterprise to get the scoreboard jogging along nicely in a fifth-wicket stand of 61 runsin just 12 overs. However, it must be mentioned that this was the period when Australia tried out the left-arm spin of part-time operator Darren Lehmman and the ordinary medium pace of Greg Blewett.

The brakes were back with the return of MacGill, with only one satisfied face at the end of it all in the India A camp — that of leg-spinner Ananthapadmanabhan who may have to prove himself with the bat as well to give the team the upper hand.

Having dropped batsman in form Bihar’s Rajeev Kumar, thanks to an urgent missive from up above today morning, India A’s batting display was probably a fitting message to the big men. Hemang Badani, asked to report here all the way from Chennai in five days, and the off-spinner without a godfather Kulamani Parida were the other omissions. For Australia, Mark Waugh gave Warne some company at a nearby swimming pool, while Gavin Robertson and Michael Kasprowicz were the other pullouts.

SCOREBOARD

India A: Daniel Manohar c Ponting b Wilson 30, VikramRathore c Taylor b MacGill 36, Devang Gandhi st Healy b MacGill 20, Amay Khurasia c Ponting b Wilson 0, Jacob Martin (batting) 41, Vijay Dahiya st Healy b MacGill 42, Nikhil Chopra (batting) 13;

Extras: (b1, lb1, nb5) 7.

Total (for five wickets in 72 overs): 189.

Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-88, 3-88, 4-92, 5-153.

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Bowling: Adam Dale 12-4-32-0, Paul Wilson 15-5-43-2, Stuart MacGill 25-8-56-3, Paul Reiffel 10-3-15-0, Darren Lehmann 5-1-23-0, Greg Blewett 5-0-18-0.

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