A 138-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting saw Australia race away to 400 for 5 at close on the first day of the second Test in Adelaide on Friday.
It was the highest score ever made in a single day at the Adelaide Oval, and Ricky Ponting, with an unbeaten 176, was the chief slayer of the Indian attack, depleted by the absence of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh.
Batting at 4.43 an over, the Aussie batsmen did not let any bowler settle down as they attempted to make the most of batting first on a belter of a wicket
Javagal Srinath, in his column, wrote that the number of maidens bowled might decide the fate of the Test. At the end of the day, India had bowled only seven. A quick look at the scorecard explained why.
With the position Australia is in, there can be only one winner in this Test, and it is certainly not India.
Morning session:
It was the worst possible start to India's campaign at Adelaide. A hamstring injury forced Zaheer Khan out of the playing eleven, giving 19-year-old Irfan Pathan Jr his first Test cap. Anil Kumble replaced Harbhajan Singh, sparing Murali Kartik, who had just flown into Adelaide from New Delhi, the hassle of having to play without any rest.
Things got worse for India when Sourav Ganguly lost the toss and Steve Waugh chose to bat in a blink.
Pathan almost had a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket when he rapped Matthew Hayden on the pads. Umpire Rudi Koertzen turned down the appeal though the ball's trajectory seemed to have crashed into off-stump.
In his second over, Pathan induced a bat-pad from Hayden that ballooned in the air but fell short of the bowler in his follow-through. Pathan probed the openers with searching lengths, forcing them to reach for the ball just outside off.
In between, Hayden did hold his own against Pathan, driving him through covers for a couple of boundaries.
With his 14th ball in Test cricket, Pathan, swinging the ball with the curl of a comma, forced Hayden to edge it to keeper Parthiv Patel. Hayden, standing outside his crease, was unable to get on to the front foot or rock back.
Australia was 22 for 1 and India on target with an early wicket despite the loss of Zaheer. The track record at Adelaide proves that after the first 20-25 overs, during which bowlers have a chance of picking wickets, the game belongs to the batters.
Ricky Ponting arrived at the crease and drove Agarkar to the fence to get off the mark. Agarkar would consider himself unlucky to have a confident leg before appeal turned down by David Shepherd. Ponting walked across the crease and was struck on the front pad with the leg stump exposed. The ball would have crashed into middle stump and it was yet another poor decision in the series.
Agarkar ended a brief five-over opening spell that cost 25 runs with Ponting taking 15 runs off 10 balls from him.
A few overs later, Ponting slashed at a wide delivery from Pathan, got an edge, which flew to Virender Sehwag at third slip. Sehwag got his fingertips to the ball but failed to latch on to it. Ponting has had at least one life in every innings he played in this series and has been riding his luck with fifties.
Ashish Nehra failed to swing the ball and was punished by Langer and Ponting with a flurry of boundaries. Anil Kumble also failed to justify his inclusion in the side with a patchy start, bowling too full and fast.
Ponting reached his third consecutive half-century with his sixth boundary and that also saw Australia cross the 100-run mark in only the 24th over.
Ponting was offered a lot of driving length from the Indian seamers and he did not snub the offering. 37 of his runs were through the off-side in front of the wicket.
Langer, playing second fiddle to Ponting, then served the most exciting moment of the morning session, taking 20 runs of a Kumble over.
Taking a shine for Kumble's harmless deliveries, Langer sent the first ball of the 25th over soaring over the mid-wicket boundary; he then played a crisp cover drive. Another sweep through mid-wicket fetched a boundary which was followed by the biggest hit of the morning, over the mid-wicket fence for six.
Langer raced to his half-century off 64 balls (the same as Ponting) and also brought up the hundred-run partnership between the right-left combine.
Why Ganguly packed the off-side field with Kumble turning the ball into left-handed Langer was baffling.
Kumble was soon offered some consolation when he hurried Langer with a faster one. Langer mistimed the sweep and the ball ballooned towards mid-wicket for a simple catch to Sehwag.
Langer was gone for 58 and Australia went into lunch at 135 for 2 with Ponting undefeated on 60.
Post Lunch session:
Despite a good 45 for lunch, Ponting appeared as hungry as ever for runs when he walked out to bat with Damien Martyn. What followed was easily one of the finest exhibitions of modern day batting. No slogs or cross-batted tonks. It was uncomplicated quality batting against an inexperienced attack.
Damien Martyn was all silk. Batting with soft hands and relying solely on timing and varying the angle of his bat to find the fence, he was sublime.
But the artist departed with an unfinished piece, edging Nehra to VVS Laxman at second slip. His 30 off 39 balls was of the very best and added 65 runs with Ponting for the third wicket in 12 overs.
Steve Waugh walked out to a red hanky welcome. Spectators waved small red kerchiefs as he made his way out to the middle with the Cathedral outside the picturesque Oval serving as the perfect backdrop. The story of Waugh's red hanky is legendary. He always carries it with him when he walks out to bat.
Ponting was not going to let the opportunity for a huge score pass by. He punctured the off side with strokes off either foot, anticipating the length early and finding improbable angles to pierce the field.
When he got to his 19th Test hundred with his 17th boundary, Australia had raced away to 227-3 in only the 43rd over. It was an innings dominated by off-side stroke play. 91 per cent of those runs came through the off with not a single four played on the leg-side.
Another statistic to illustrate his dominance was the fact that he had 61 runs through the off-side in front of the wicket and 16 behind. He played some audacious strokes, a chop down to the third man fence being the pick of the lot.
36 boundaries were scored before showers forced tea to be taken early. Australia was sitting pretty at 241-3 off 51 overs with Ponting eyeing a double century and Waugh contend to do what he has been doing for the past 17 years -- spending time in the middle.
The Indian bowlers in the absence of Zaheer Khan drifted a lot. Agarkar was bowling half-heartedly and Nehra, at best, was mediocre, bowling sans any lateral movement or any disconcerting bounce. Kumble was a pale shadow of his self, never threatening to ask questions of the batters. If anyone wants to know why a bowler with 350 Test wickets has a return of only six wickets from four Tests in Australia, at 85 runs per wicket, they only have to watch a couple of overs from the leggie.
Pathan was a revelation until he ran into Ponting, who pillaged the greenhorn mercilessly. Pathan must be a confused man. Here was a dream start to his Test career with the wicket of Hayden, only to be pulverized by a man in form. But the young bowler will take more positives from this outing than he would have from 10 side games.
Post Tea session:
Steve Waugh's wicket was the only bright spot for India after tea. Nehra claimed his second wicket of the innings with one that moved in a tad and dislodged the bails.
Waugh was gone for 30 and India were in with a sniff of picking a few more wickets and clawing back into the match.
Simon Katich joined Ponting at the crease and the scoring rate returned to sanity. Katich looked out of place initially and was unable to maintain the tempo.
Ponting was unabated and keen to make this one count after giving it away at Brisbane. The fact that he changed gears after crossing 150 was ample evidence that he was keen on scoring a double hundred.
After 83 runs came in the 21 overs after tea, the Indian bowlers - especially Nehra and Kumble - slowed proceedings. Nehra had a good third spell when he bowled 10 overs on the trot for 27 runs and picked up two wickets, that of Martyn and Waugh.
It is really unfair to blame the Indian bowlers, sans Zaheer and Harbhajan, for not countering the Aussie blitz on the batting paradise.
Katich dug in deep and scored a fifty that was not very fetching to look at, though his innings kept Adam Gilchrist from strutting his stuff on this pallid wicket.
At the fag end of the day, Agarkar bounced Katich, inducing the hook shot, which was brilliantly taken by Sehwag, who ran around in the deep.
Katich went for 75, ending the 138-run partnership with Ponting. In the process, the duo batted India out of the game on day one.
Gilchrist smacked a four off the second ball he faced, providing a teaser to what awaits the Indians on day two.
Australia reached 400 for 5 off the last ball of the day. Ponting was unbeaten on 176.
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