Moises Henriques’ late-order resistance may have taken Australia’s Chennai Test match against India into the fifth day but it will not be enough to avoid defeat, barring a miracle of gargantuan proportions. We’ll have live coverage of day five from 3.00pm AEDT.
Play on the fourth day went according to script. India batted on further to extend their first innings lead to 192 before their spinners took over and sent the Australian batsmen running for cover.
Shane Watson stood in for the gastro-hit Dave Warner and joined Ed Cowan in a decent first wicket stand but his wicket, one ball before the lunch break, pushed the visitors back.
There were starts for Cowan and Warner before Michael Clarke looked to have continued from where he left off in the first innings. But the Indian spin wizardry proved too hot to handle for any of the top-order batsmen, as the side capitulated to 9/175 – 17 short of making India bat again.
Only Henriques, who had earlier scored a half-century in his debut innings at this level, managed to keep the spinners at bay and grew more and more comfortable as the day progressed.
His last wicket stand with Nathan Lyon has already yielded 57 runs and while India should still go on and win the game, it would have given the dressing room an opening on how to play the Indian spinners from the next Test.
India will hope to quickly wrap up the Australian innings and knock off the runs without too much loss. The lead is already 40 and another 40 odd runs from here could make it uncomfortable for the Indians.
It is also about personal landmarks and Henriques is 25 away from a very well-deserved debut century. With Dhoni going on the defensive to him, he should get to that record if Lyon can support him through.
Live coverage of the game begins from 3.00pm AEDT this afternoon and you can add your opinion in the comments section below.
calum
Guest
Hmmmnnn, it is interesting that you mention the england series when the Australian selectors don't seem to have taken anything from it. Thinking back to that what happened in the second test - England picked a second spinner. Now, I know Australia don't have as good spinners as Swann and Panesar but still, I think it is really clear how much the selector messed this up. Go in with one spinner and get an allrounder in so we've got 4 seamers? Eh? Fair enough Henriques came up big, good on him, but the thinking here was so clearly wrong. I get it that 'your second spinner has to be as good as the seamer', I understand that. But you've got to factor in exactly how effective your seamer is going to be in India. Case in point is Starc - not got anything against him. I like him, I was keen to get him in for the SA series and I'm sure he is going to have a good career but his main atribute is his height, which is not much of an attribute to have on flat slow decks, and he hasn't had the time to develop other facets of his game to take wickets that way. But its like the selector were saying 'Starc is a 7 out of 10 whereas (insert 2nd spinners name here) is only a 6' but Starc isn't a 7 out of 10 on a flat, slow, Bunsen Burner in Chennai. (don't even get me started on him bowling round the wicket for over after over!) Anyway, basically have heard all the names of the guys in the conversation but haven't seen enough of the other spinners to know who you pick .... just to me (and I know that there are other problems aswell) there was a massive selector mess up here that no one seems to be commenting on.
nmj1654
Roar Rookie
It's embarrassing that MS Dhoni could make 224 with such an unrefined technique while Australia's top order crumbled like the pitch it played on. All of Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, and Shane Watson are better players than they showed. Perhaps the next Test lineup could read: Cowan Warner Hughes Watson Clarke (c) Henriques Wade (wk) Pattinson Starc Lyon Doherty Alternatively, Watson bats at 6 and bowls more, offering another pace option to ease the enormous spin workload in the blistering Indian heat. Give Khawaja a look in if possible.
dave gray
Guest
silly comment, what difference would Watson do opening, the spinners were on after 7 overs..
Renegade
Guest
Ahh it's Tendulkar mate.....he hit his first two deliveries in the first innings for 4 as well against pace!
Wilson Flatley
Roar Rookie
At least 30 if not more, Wade is very worrying he has made negligible improvement and now is expected to perform on Indian wickets? He'll drop many more before someone does the same to him.
Alan
Roar Guru
Finally India fire. Dhoni take a bow but that was a long time coming. He needs to produce that more often. He is a gun player when he is on form and my favourite player to watch besides Tendulkar. India did win the first test against England though and then failed badly so its still very early days here.... Good start nonetheless.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Normally yes, but that 200 was a dominating effort which took the game away, it bossed over all the other efforts in the match on a difficult pitch.
Matt
Guest
They got dominated, it was almost by an innings. Lose sure, but at least get close.
Cantab
Guest
Would have thought 12 wickets > 200 runs.
matt h
Guest
No point. Watson is going home after the next test. If you drop Cowan now and then bring him back for the third test I doubt it will have a positive effect.
matt h
Guest
Yep, I call Doherty "leftovers". We are looking in the spin bowling fridge and there as nothing except some expired pasta salad, brown ham and what may have once been a lettuce. But it's not pay day so it will have to do.
John Edgar
Guest
And take Cowan out, get Watson to open and Khawaja at 5, move Clarke to 4.
John Edgar
Guest
Thanks Suneer, early mark for you
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
That's it then from me in this first Test. India will go into the second Test match at Hyderabad 1-0 up and I will be there to cover the game from March 2. Hope you had a good time following our coverage and will be back for the second game. Ciao till then!
John Edgar
Guest
Yes that was the turning point, we need to hold our catches.
matt h
Guest
Embarrassing? Not really. Only two Australian sides in the last 50 years have come home from India with a series win, so what are you expecting? This is the most inexperienced side in a long time to leave our shores. Only 3 players in the team had ever played a test in India. Only one had played more than 40 tests. 380 is a par first innings score. 200 odd on that pitch was not terrible either. The bowling was a bit toothless and the difference really was Dohni who turned a close match into a procession. Embarrassing? No. Expected? Yep. I am optimistic that collectively this team will improve as the series progresses. I doubt it will be enough to win the series, but we shall see. No more than two changes for the next test. Doherty (otherwise known as leftovers) for Siddle and possibly Johnson for Starc (for the extra 5km).
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Presentation ceremony: Michael Clarke: Full credit to India, Dhoni was outstanding. That innings changed things for us. Ashwin also bowled well and that was the difference. Moises' debut was outstanding but we need to turn things around for the second Test. I thought it was a good wicket, just looked worse than it played. We were outplayed but we will be back. Helps to have only three days between the games, we want to get going quickly for the second Test. MS Dhoni, who is also the man-of-the-match, for his 224: I have spent a lot of time at Chennai, for IPL and also made my debut here. There are a lot of people, Saturday and Sunday it was full and it's interesting to see so many people turn up. It was important you play your shots so that the opponents have to spread the field. The first partnership after the first couple of wickets was important - Kohli and Tendulkar. Gave good platform for us because the bowlers were tired. The contribution from numbers three to five in our order was very vital. Ashwin bowled well, Harbhajan supported well in the second innings. Ashwin did not use too many variations which was a big positive for us. You got to learn from the last series, need to stay focussed on the game for the second Test. Never dreamt I will get a 200, never dreamt of even playing for the country.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
As you said, it's not Australian news I'm afraid. Feel free to write your own article - it's your sports opinion, after all.
Behold
Roar Rookie
Jadeja doesn't turn the ball much and he did pretty well in this game.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
An interesting Test match with India coming out victors in the end. It was played on what was a turner but not one that was unplayable by the time the fourth day came around. The tenth wicket stand between Moises Henriques and Nathan Lyon exemplified the way to bat on the pitch. Australia looked like they had enough on the first day day but India hit bat with superb knocks from Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli before MS Dhoni took the game away with batting not often seen at this level. It was a double-century like the one Adam Gilchrist had hit in South Africa in 2002, taking Australia's chances away. The tourists needed to bat as well in the second essay but the heat and the exhaustion seemed to have taken the edge off them; the sharp-turning deliveries from Ashwin, Jadeja and Harbhajan not helping matters at all. Henriques fought hard and deserved a century but a first innings lead of 192 was too much to counter. India lost both their openers before Tendulkar smoked a couple of sixes off his first two balls to get India through to a resounding win.