Crumbling ground beneath their feet

On wearing Chennai pitch,Ashwin leads spin assault as Australia lose nine wickets

Australian skipper Michael Clarke stood staring at the pitch long after he had fallen to a Ravichandran Ashwin delivery,one that had taken a long and urgent right turn towards the stumps. Clarke had anticipated meeting the ball at hip-height but it merely reached his knees. The man who seemed to have mastered the dusty Chepauk pitch in the first innings had misread the bounce by at least a foot in the second.

The spot that conned Clarke wasnt the only grey area on the pitch. On either side of him were unpredictable patches that had foxed batsmen who were now resting in the Aussie dressing room. The scuffed up surface on his right had accounted for Shane Watson. The right-handed stand-in opener,padding up first as David Warner was dealing with a minor illness,had thought that Ashwins flighted ball would reach his shin after pitching. But it actually rose to kiss his gloves and balloon into Virender Sehwags hands at slips.

To Clarkes left was an abrasive depression which if captured on film could be passed off as an image beamed down by Hubble. The crater,the size of a dart board,had abruptly ended number four bat Phillip Hughes stay at the crease. As was expected,left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja had placed the ball in the rough outside left-hander Hughes off-stump. Having seen the labyrinth of cracks on the broken soil,Hughes expected the ball to rise to his rib cage. Not sure if he underestimated Jadeja or if it was the surface,but the ball rocketed to his face. As Hughes came up with an instinctive act of defence,the ball once again took the glove before reaching Sehwag in the cordon.

Dazed and confused

The fourth day wear-and-tear on the pitch was acting up and the Indians had the resources plus the skills to exploit the conditions. The Australian batsmen,following Mahendra Singh Dhonis assault,were too dazed and tired to take the ultimate test facing three spinners on a rapidly breaking wicket. Coaches talk about playing with soft hands,rotating the strike and punishing the loose balls on a pitch with variable bounce. Watson,Warner,Cowan and Clarke all played by the book but on this Day Four Chepauk pitch,there was always that unplayable ball lurking around the corner,always emerging unannounced.

On either side of Australias top-order collapse were partnerships between in-form batsmen and gritty tailenders. The morning saw Dhoni,in Bhuvneshwar Kumars company,taking India to 572,the total that gave the home team a lead of 192 runs. The final session was about an Aussie revival led by the young Moises Henriques,unbeaten on 75 at close. Giving him company were lower-order batsmen as the visitors went ahead by 40 runs. In a twist to the tale,Henriques had extended the Test to the fifth day and helped his side avoid a near certain innings defeat. With nine wickets down,however,an early end to the game is expected on Tuesday.

Problems aplenty

Henriques heroics notwithstanding,the stunned and stationary Australian captain after his dismissal provided the image of the day. Beaten by the low bounce and a first Test loss looming large,the Aussies has a plateful of problems. The adaptability of his young team,the quality of the only spinner in his playing XI and the long hard journey ahead would have cluttered the mind of the Aussie captain on his walk back to the pavilion.

Not too long ago,Dhoni had faced as many uncomfortable questions. But following his 224,the score that improved Indias record of highest individual Test score by an Indian captain,he seemed a lot less stressed on the field. Dhoni yelled more instructions from behind the stumps and between overs conducted longish discussions with his impressive bowling unit.

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Harbhajan Singh,with two wickets,also put up an improved show. That trademark hand-flapping run-up was more pronounced,the pace was slow and the tweak was greater. Also,Jadeja finally stuck to his brief. He was economical,accurate and banked on the pitch for natural variation. But once again it was Ashwin who gave the Dhoni the breakthroughs he desired. The conditions were certainly helpful for the spinners,but it was he who asked the most uncomfortable questions of the Australian top-order.

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