A decent start, a middle-order collapse and a tail-end resurrection has been the story of Australia’s tour of India and it was no different on the first day of the Delhi Test. We’ll have live coverage of the action from 3.00pm AEDT.
After Dave Warner departed early without scoring, it was left to the suddenly in-form Phil Hughes to take over the scoring.
Ed Cowan’s game was no different from what’s been on display in the rest of the series – he absorbed a lot of pressure and batted on until the lunch break.
Hughes was confidence personified and his 45 consisted of 10 boundaries, most of them crisp cut shots that scattered the fielders away.
It was the pitch that played its part in his dismissal. One of Ishant Sharma’s deliveries reared up and smashed his helmet, two balls before a roughed up Hughes inside-edged the ball on to his stumps.
The rest of the middle-order was a blur. Batsmen kept throwing their wickets away, with only Matthew Wade unlucky to be declared out caught when he hadn’t quite edged the ball.
From 2/106 in the second session Australia lost five wickets for 30 and a score of even 200 looked out of reach for the visitors.
It was here that Steven Smith, coupled with Peter Siddle brought the side back into the game adding 53 for the eighth wicket, blunting the Indian spinners quite easily.
Smith fell to Ashwin – his fourth wicket in the innings – but Siddle was then joined by James Pattinson, and together they stitched a stand of 42 unbeaten runs.
While on paper a score of 8/231 looks an under-par total, for one it could have been a lot worse. Secondly and more vitally the track has shown enough signs of cracking up and assisting even the quicker bowlers, which should keep Australia in the hunt.
From India’s perspective they will need to restrict the last two Australian wickets to as less as they can before looking to bat Australia out of the game much like they have done in the rest of the series.
Live coverage of the game begins from 3.00pm AEDT this afternoon, so don’t forget to add your opinion in the comments section below.
Blaze
Guest
Lol serious?
Colvin
Guest
Watto's on a roll. Trip home to welcome a new born baby. Trip back and appointed Captain for the fourth test. Captains like he was born to it. Team playing like Champs in unfamiliar conditions under Watto Aus may now pull off a surprise win. Watto for permanent captain of Aus.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Nahh, its just that Lyon commits the cardinal sin of not being Shane Warne.
Brendon
Guest
+1
Brendon
Guest
I'd you'd been watching, you'd have seen he bowled very well, so thanks captain negative
Lancey5times
Guest
Thanks for the great commentary Suneer. Looking forward to tomorrow
AdamS
Roar Guru
Seems Warnies predictions of a competitive total were correct. He might look like a knob end now, but he knows his cricket..
Rinks
Guest
True Felix , cricket sells in India, it is said if you want to sell a product in India link that with cricket , target achievement would be 200 % .
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Good to hear from you then mate, always good to hear from a first class cricketer. Do keep following the coverage.
marees
Roar Rookie
the first day pitch looks like day-4 pitch. match is unlikely to go past 3 days and all they are worried about is the next program for that day they can show all the xtra programs they want on the 4th and 5th day
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
This has been a tough, gritty day of Test cricket and one of the few ones on the tour where Australia have come out on top. India seemed to have got off to a good start at 0/108 but you always got the inkling that it wasn't the best pitch to bat on and a wicket could lead to many more. In this case, five more fell before a 44-run stand for the seventh wicket. Then Jadeja was given out to a doubtful one before Ashwin fell off the last ball. Nathan Lyon has been the pick of the bowlers and got himself a five-wicket haul. Glenn Maxwell couldn't bowl for some time because he wasn't on the field but immediately struck in his first over. Nothing to choose from at this stage with the second innings now to decide the winner. And we will have a winner, rest assured! Goodbye for tonight, have a good Saturday night ahead!
Frankie Hughes
Guest
If a pie chucker like Lyon is getting 5 wickets, Ashwin and Jadeja will fancy taking all 10 between then in Australia's second dig.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Gone! Ashwin's been given out lbw and Lyon's got his fifth! That's hit him on the off-stump and given out, not quite plumb but would have gone on to hit the stumps. Stumps being called as well, with India four ahead and with two wickets standing. 8/266 in 68.
Amith
Guest
Well done Lyon, 5 wickets, well deserved.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Boundary for BK after a couple of them almost took the gloves and fell short. Lead of four.
Felix
Guest
Suneer I'm not sure who said it, but someone on the commentary just said "Come on it's a television sport, you have to get the programs in" regarding the over rates. Is that a bit of an indictment as to the huge sway that advertising and cash has on the game in India? Not saying it doesn't have a huge sway here, but I don't think the pompous Channel 9 team would admit it on air.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Peter Siddle's got a warning for running on the pitch. The first one.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
A couple of runs for Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the square-leg before a single equals the score. 7/262. The tail's wagging a tad for India too.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Because he was bowling very well. He was getting deliveries to turn and bite and wickets fell. He had basically held one end up on his own. I don't mind such a long spell for a spinner, probably a couple of overs less - just that he's probably not used to it.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
India are six behind Australia with three wickets standing. That previous partnership was worth 44, which is a lot of runs given the circumstances. 7/256 in the 65th with 15 minutes of play remaining.