da heads bet： The next time the Australians come to India, they might well ask for achange in playing conditions
Anand Vasu21-Mar-2001The next time the Australians come to India, they might well ask for achange in playing conditions. Instead of the standard three sessionsof play, the Aussies could ask for just two sessions a day. After tea,the Australians seem to freeze up, lose their footing and with ittheir wickets. On three occasions in the series so far, theAustralians have lost seven wickets in the last session of play. Inturn Harbhajan Singh operating after tea is like the mythical werewolflooking up at the full moon. First there’s a loud howl asking thequestion, then there’s the kill. With 5/82, Harbhajan Singh pegged theAussies back to 241/7, leaving them leading by 131 runs with one dayto play in the third and final Test against India at the MAChidambaram stadium on Wednesday.Beginning the day on 480/9, there was not much the pair of SairajBahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni could look forward to. Unlike some of thebatsmen who followed him out to the middle, the Mumbai legspinner didnot attempt any ambitious strokes. For company Bahutule had Mumbaiteam mate Kulkarni. As it happened, the pair belied expectations andplayed out more than 45 minutes, frustrating the visitors. When thelast wicket fell, India had managed to extend their score to 501 andlead to 110 thanks to an unbeaten 21 from Bahutule.The Aussies in turn began very well, going in to lunch without losinga wicket. In this Australian team you cannot find two cricketers whohave had more contrasting tours of India than the opening pair.Matthew Hayden came to India as an effective batsman but a bitvulnerable against spin bowling. Almost never failing, Hayden hasbatted with panache taking on anything the spinners dished out.Michael Slater came to India with a reputation of being a flashystrokemaker, someone who would blaze a trail and give Australia theinitiative early on. Failing with the bat, Slater has also compoundedhis woes by getting into an unnecessary fracas over an umpiringdecision. In their own disparate yet equally effective ways, Slaterand Hayden were unbeaten on 34 apiece when lunch was called.After the break however, everything changed. Perhaps it’s the heatthat’s getting to the Aussies, perhaps the pressure. On a wicket thatis not yet doing anything that a fourth day wicket should not do, thevisitors lost wickets at regular intervals. Matthew Hayden was thefirst to go, playing a shot he has employed with great success.Heaving Kulkarni towards midwicket, Hayden departed as Zaheer Khanrunning in from the fence completed a good catch. Hayden had made 35,and was Kulkarni’s second wicket in Test cricket, coming 589 ballsafter the Mumbai left arm spinner picked his maiden wicket, way backin August 1997 at Colombo.Adam Gilchrist was promoted to number three, a move that was a biggamble in the best of circumstances. Having scored just one run in hisprevious three Test innings, Gilchrist could not have been in apositive frame of mind. Padding up to a ball from Harbhajan Singh thatdid not turn as he expected, the Australian stumper was trapped plumbin front for one.Slater looked like he might be coming out of a lean patch. Afterstroking the ball confidently early on, Slater failed to come good.Edging Harbhajan Singh to VVS Laxman at slip, Slater departed justwhen a big innings was needed of him.Justin Langer, coming in at number four began by playing well withinhimself. When the ball was there to be hit, Langer lofted well, hissix over midwicket off Kulkarni a case in point. However Langer toocould not go on, falling to the Harbhajan-Laxman combination. Langer’s21 propped up the Australian total but clearly did not do enough.Mark Waugh got into a very good rhythm against Sachin Tendulkar,bowling his leg breaks from the V Pattabhiraman Gate End. AlthoughTendulkar managed to get a fair bit of turn from the rough, Mark Waughsteadily grew comfortable. Despite getting well set, he fell to aspinner. The manner of his dismissal was not new in any respect.Harbhajan Singh tossed up an off break on middle and off that grippedthe wicket and spun into the right hander. Going back and across Waughturned the ball round the corner. Rahul Dravid at backward short leg,showed superb reflexes, plucked the ball out of the air. Waugh hadmade 57 (142 mins, 139 balls, 7 fours), the highest by an Australianat that point.Ricky Ponting, under pressure the moment he came on fell to the guileof Harbhajan Singh. Prodding at a ball that bounced a bit more than heexpected, Ponting gloved the ball to Dravid at forward short leg. The11 that Ponting managed was by far his best score in Test innings thisseries.Steve Waugh though continued to prove that he is the man for crisissituations. Unbeaten on a doughty 43, the Australian skipper washowever without a partner after the last ball of the day. Padding upto Harbhajan Singh, Warne was rapped on the back leg right in front ofthe wickets. The finger went up and Australia had lost their seventhwicket on 241.