Was it any wonder that the Test has ended in the way it has? It always had to happen once a team employed bizarre tactics that looked to cater more to safeguarding the captain more than the team. Did India get out of jail? One could also definitely say that!
Australia were in danger of doing it a third time – letting the opposition win the toss, bat first and post a total in excess of 600. It even cost them the Mohali Test. Now Australia managed to curb the Indian innings the first time round but loosened the noose once India was standing at the gallows. Not only did it give India a reprieve, it gave the hosts a very realistic chance of pushing for the Border Gavaskar Trophy, not with a 1-0 victory but 2-0, a margin that could not have been more humiliating for the world champions.
But the benevolence of the Australians did not stop with their strange post tea tactics on the fourth day. Often when a big wicket is dislodged, it means that the batting team has gone weaker. In Australia, the adage since they became world champions, was that the fielding team could not rest till it scalped numbers one, two and three in the batting order and even then, there was a threat of the lower order wielding their bat to damaging proportions.
Indians could have well seen the Australians draw the Test. But once again, Australia were a dilemma. They though had little choice. They had to push in hope of victory. But the hara-kiri was seen before in Mohali. Simon Katich, who has batted with such responsibility right through the series, played one shot that perhaps said it all. Australia could not curb their aggression and not for the first time in the series, it appeared that they would certainly now wake up the Indians to the fact that perhaps a second victory in the series is on the cards.
What sealed the thought was the wicket of Ricky Ponting, gifted away in another moment of mayhem for the Australians. No amount of scampering from the fast Australian would save his wicket as Amit Mishra aimed sharp and accurate. That was perhaps the turning point of the match and where the series appeared more comprehensively fought and won. This despite the fact that Matthew Hayden was waking up too late for the task in the series and his seventy-seven was virtually lost in the sea of Australian wickets.
Yet again the downward spiral did not begin with the bowling of the Indian spinners. It was Ishant Sharma who played the role of the tormentor in the morning and it is a heartening effort on a fifth day pitch when the captain’s eyes are usually trained on his best spinners. Instead Sharma was all over the Australian batsmen and the only thing on his mind were wickets. Michael Clarke was indisposed and his presence with the bat was more of following through with a formality than actually an attempt to challenge the Indians. Runner in tow, Clarke was severely hampered. That one commentator made the ludicrous comment that no sympathy was shown to Clarke, would Australia have been generous had the tables be turned and not pick up the wicket of an Indian batsman in similar discomfort? The game being played on the field was fair, not brutal, not deliberate but in keeping with the game.
The parade that followed thereafter was more like a matter of time than being a matter of possibility. Victory for India did not seem in doubt. How long it would take, the Australians did not want to leave in much doubt. Even the brief resistance from the partnership between Shane Watson and Cameron White was practically futile given that neither runs were forthcoming nor a shadow of doubt that the Indians could not overcome Australia.
After all India have played their tactics smart right through the Tests, or nearly. With Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra having both tasted match winning performances against the Australians in the series, there was always a greater chance that the Indian spinners would prevail better on this pitch even though Jason Krezja did himself or his reputation any harm. With just one wicket standing ten minutes before the tea interval, the only question was: would Mishra or Harbhajan, both with three wickets apiece, take the final wicket? The question was answered on the brink of tea: Harbhajan Singh.
