Round 1 — An Australian knockout

It is back to lot of introspection and to ponder over how best to make readjustments at the top so that the three batting stars of the team do not have to walk into a crisis everytime their turn to bat comes in. India have a four-day game in between the Melbourne Test to try to sort out those problems. But more on that later.

First Things first. India had pinned a lot of their hopes on Ganguly to play a long innings so that not only the margin of defeat is lessened but it leaves them in astate of depression for the future two battles ahead.

Ganguly did begin well. So did MSK Prasad, whose concentration on a wicket which had deteriorated rapidly and was producing uncertain bounce, should be the envy of the top order Indian batsmen. The had come together when India were in a danger of folding up yesterday itself. They had applied themselves well and for about 20 minutes in the morning it did look like the two would, at least, delay the inevitable for a while.

A short ball from Damien Fleming tempted Ganguly’s patience. He swiveled on to his backfoot for the hook but the ball took the edge and Adam Gilchrist leapt into the air to take a splendid catch. That was the beginning of a quick end to the Indian innings.

It was now Prasad’s turn to head towards the pavilion. Unfortunately, for the much-maligned wicketkeeper-batsman, he got almost an unplayable ball, rising abruptly from the good-length spot to take the shoulder of his bat.

The impending end was given a dramatic twist when on thenext ball Damien Fleming got rid of Ajit Agarkar and was now on a hat-trick. He got almost there but for Shane Warne, whose dropped catch denied Fleming the distinction of becoming only the fourth bowler in the history of the game to do the trick twice. Fleming had achieved this feat the first time against Pakistan in Pakistan.

Javagal Srinath slashed at a rising ball which flew at great speed straight towards Warne in the first slip, but the ball popped out of his hands.

All Fleming could do was to accept the reality and walk back dejectedly towards his bowling mark. Fleming was the one to rattle the stumps of the last Indian batsman, Anil Kumble, to take his tally of wickets in this innings to five and bring the curtain down to yet another satisfying Test match for the Australians.

Scoreboard

Australia (1st innings): 441
India (1st innings): 285
Australia (2nd innings): 239-8 decl
India

(2nd innings; overnight 76-5):Gandhi c Gilchrist b McGrath (4m, 6b) 0
(fishing outside theoff stump)

Ramesh lbw Warne (80m, 50b, 3×4) 28
(padding up to ball which turned into him)

Laxman b Fleming (1m,1b) 0
(beaten by the movement)

Dravid c Gilchrist b Warne (29m, 16b) 6
(gloved the ball which turned and bounced)

Tendulkar lbw McGrath (6m, 5b) 0
(ducking to a short ball which didn’t and hit him on shoulder)

Ganguly c Gilchrist b Fleming (97m, 72b, 4×4) 43
(attempting to hook)

MSK Prasad c Langer b Fleming (80m, 43m) 11
(abruptly rising ball takes shoulder of the blade)

Agarkar c S Waugh b Fleming (1b, 1m) 0
(thick outside edge to gully)

Srinath c Slater b McGrath (27m, 29b) 11
(fending a rising ball)

Kumble b Fleming (15m, 10b) 3
(beaten by low bounce)

Prasad not out (2m, 3b) 0
Extras: (lb1, nb5) 6
Total: (all out in 38.1 overs and 177 mins) 110
Fall of wickets:1-0 (Gandhi), 2-3 (Laxman), 3-24 (Dravid), 4-27 (Tendulkar), 5-48 (Ramesh), 6-93 (Ganguly), 7-93 (Agarkar), 8-103 (M. Prasad), 9-108 (Srinath)

Bowling:McGrath 12-2-35-3, Fleming 9.1-2-30-5, Warne 10-6-21-2, Kasprowicz 6-0-23-0, Mark Waugh 1-1-0-0

Result: Australia won by 285 runs with five hours to spare.
Man of the Match: Steve Waugh

Worst total in Australia

ADELAIDE: The Indian margin of defeat by 285 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday was its second worst defeat. And the second innings total of 110 was India’s lowest total in Australia in 51 years.

Their previous two lower totals had come in the 1947-48 series when they had made 58 and 67 at Brisbane and Melbourne. In terms of defeat by runs, India had only once done worse than this debacle. They had lost the Perth Test in the 1991-92 series under Mohd Azharuddin by 300 runs.