Chennai: First day brought some power packed performances from the rank-turner wicket of M.A.Chidambram Stadium. Though local lad Ravichandran Ashwin ended up picking six wickets, Michael Clarke’s stupendous knock of 103 runs has put the Aussies in a comfortable position as Australia ended up with 316 on the board for the loss of seven wickets on Day One of the first Test match between India and Australia at MA Chidambaran Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
Michael Clarke was the cornerstone of the Australian innings and he scored a well-deserved century to steady the ship for Australia. He galvanized the Australian innings with debutant Moises Henriques who was looking very watchful in his valuable knock of 68 runs. Their partnership of 151 runs took Australia to a very competitive total from where they can continue their fight on the second day of the Test match. Australia lost two quick wickets in the last half an hour of play to end up with the score of 316 for 7. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picked up one wicket each in the final session of the play. Interesting thing in the final session was that the veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh was not asked to bowl even a single over by the Indian Captain MS Dhoni. Match is now in evenly poised and both the teams are having great chance to seal the fate of the match on the second-day.
Earlier in the day, it was local- boy who kept the Aussies quiet as he picked up three wickets in the second session of the day and all were leg before wickets. First he sent off Shane Watson who was looking very dangerous in his short innings of 28 runs and in his very next over he wrapped up David Warner who scored well-deserved half-century in the first session. After that, it was Australian wicket-keeper who got trapped in the spinning web of Ashwin and got out for 12 runs. But very soon Michael Clarke and Moises Henriques put the brakes on the wicket-fall. It was a tough phase which they grinded out well and made sure that they don’t lose any other wicket till Tea time. They ended up with the score of 215 for five till the second session of play. The biggest disappointment for India was Harbhajan, who could not pick any wicket and was bowling too short to Aussies in his spell of 19 overs.
David Warner was the star of the opening session of the day as he brought up his half-century with the six fours and was looking rock-solid. Australia got a decent opening start and after seeing off first couple of overs they took the toll on Indian pacers and started dealing in boundaries. Run was coming hard and fast and that brought the spin bowlers in to action from the seventh over of the day, Harbhajan Singh started the proceedings and later Ashwin joined him from the other end. Change made by Dhoni worked really quickly when Ashwin took two back to back wickets in the form of Ed Cowan and Philip Hughes.
