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Batting lashing

The full force of the Australian bowling attack hit India like a hurricane late on day four in a devastating assault that has almost guaranteed Australia victory in the first Test. All the carefully prepared plans India would have formulated for ensuring a draw came to nothing as Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne scythed through the top order with a will that India were unable to resist. After two sessions of tough, grinding, cricket in which the Indians bowled admirably to restrict the Australian run scoring, the vaunted batting let the team down in spectacular fashion.

The Indian scorecard resembled a shooting gallery at one stage as three of the top six were shot out for ducks. But as much as India will be lambasted for the meek manner of some of the dismissals, it was not so much an unconditional surrender as a submission at gun point. Before lashing the batting for a collective failure that has in all probability determined the result of this Test, consider how often any side has been able to defy the Australian attack from the position India was placed in.

With a lead of around 400 and a day and a third to bowl the opposition out, Australia becomes nigh on unstoppable as it is safe in the knowledge it cannot lose and can therefore set the most attacking field settings and hold nothing back.

India are not the first side to succumb to the fury of the Aussie attack going all out in the last innings. And really, apart from a few exceptions, all the Australian bowling success in the past 5 years stems from the ability and intimidating presence of McGrath and Warne. Those two bowlers have taken more than 700 Test wickets between them and when both are fit and in form, as they are now, survival becomes a difficult proposition. That said, the Indian top order has problems and has to be expected to do better than lose two wickets in the first two overs when fighting for a draw. It sets the tone for the rest of the innings and when Australia has the initiative in pressing for a win, they rarely relinquish it.

McGrath fired the first shot with an over of intelligence and perfect execution at the very start of the innings. Remembering how Gandhi was completely unsettled by anything short in the first innings, the first ball of the second innings was dug in and fended off the gloves. McGrath followed up with more deliveries that had Gandhi ducking then, completing the set-up, the final ball of the over was pitched up and slightly wide for Gandhi to nick to Gilchrist.

Damien Fleming also struck in his first over by rattling the stumps of VVS Laxman for a golden duck, at which point you could tell this was not to be India's day. Laxman played all around his first ball from Fleming, perhaps expecting it to swing when in fact it moved in the other way and squeezed between bat and pad onto the stumps.

Rahul Dravid also fell in the first over from a new bowler, dismissed by Warne when he was brought on to replace Fleming. Dravid tried to leave the bat behind his front pad but the ball spun past this line of defence and brushed the glove on the way to Gilchrist. That was quite a blow, but the biggest shock of all arrived when Tendulkar fell lbw to McGrath in unusual fashion. His astonishing and unfortunate dismissal left India spiralling towards defeat at 4/27.

Ducking a short-pitched delivery, the ball kept very low and struck the diminutive Tendulkar on the upper arm directly in front of the stumps. McGrath bent down in a huge appeal and umpire Daryl Harper pondered the delivery's merits for a moment before adjudging Tendulkar leg-before, in name only, since he was hit on the arm.

The dismissal is worth scrutinising because some Indian fans are bound to feel aggrieved, particularly considering Tendulkar was wrongly given out in the first innings. Because of the unusual nature of the dismissal, with the ball keeping low and hitting the body, the decision appeared dubious at full speed. But seeing as Tendulkar was struck right in front of the middle stump, the sole factor to be considered in judging the legitimacy of the decision was height.

The side-on replay showed that the ball struck Tendulkar marginally below the top of the stumps, with only a short distance to travel to hit the wickets since he was back in the crease. With the ball having hit a spot on the pitch which caused it to skid along, it was dying rather than continuing to rise over the top, which would normally be the case with a delivery of standard bounce.

The umpires have not had the best of matches and Australia is so far ahead in the area of dodgy decisions, but on this occasion Harper got it right. Tendulkar can count himself unlucky because of the unfortunate bounce he got on the wearing fourth day wicket, rather than erroneous umpiring.

When Ramesh gave away his wicket to Warne, there was an outside chance that Australia might have clinched the victory this evening by taking enough wickets to request the extra half hour. Ramesh, who had played Warne so well, departed in a way that can only be attributed to a brain fade due to the pressure of the situation. He crazily chose to pad up when plumb in front of the stumps to present umpire Steve Dunne with the easiest decision he could wish to make.

Australia tried to suffocate Mannava Prasad with men crowding all around the bat but he held firm while Ganguly, India's last hope, struck the ball beautifully.

Earlier, the Indian attack made life extremely difficult for Australia's batsmen, preventing them from pushing the score along with sustained spells of accurate bowling. Agarkar bowled impressively, maintaining a consistent line and dismissing both Waugh brothers, including Steve for the second time in the match by keeping the ball full outside his off stump.

Greg Blewett continued to struggle in an uncharacteristically laborious innings, playing an anchor role and batting for almost a day before tiring 12 runs short of his century. He attempted to pull a delivery from Agarkar that was too full for the stroke and simply missed. Agarkar bowled intelligently to Gilchrist by attacking the body and giving him no room to swing freely, yet the wicketkeeper still scored at almost a run a ball.

Australia batted on for 20 minutes after tea to try and reach a lead of 400, but were content with 395 when Gilchrist skied a pull shot against Srinath.

Daniel Laidlaw