by Rupesh UK
After its victory in the second test match at Mohali and going up by one level in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India was expected to go for a victory in the third test match played at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, to give them an unassailable lead. The Indian team was boosted with the return of their most experienced bowler and skipper Anil Kumble. Australia rejuvenated was always a tough team to contain and India had to do pretty well to beat the Australians.
Starting on a smoggy morning of Delhi, India batted with purpose scoring heavily and declaring their first innings at 613 for 7, which contained two double centuries by Gautam Gambhir (206) and V.V.S.Laxman (200 not out). Gambhir who seemed to be in prime form, scored his first double century and Laxman, a nemesis for the Australian team, plundered the Australian bowling for a fourth wicket partnership of 278 runs. The early jitters, the resurrection followed later by Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar and the middle order coup was enough for the remaining batsman to go for setting a huge total and the resulting pillage was felt safe by the team management who went for a declaration. Australia had to do better and better was always to be a tough word with the spinning wizard Kumble and India’s new found strength in Amit Mishra, working in tandem. The Indian innings was also played with high intensity, when Shane Watson and Gambhir got involved in a war of words and the latter elbowing Watson while taking a run. Both the players were fined as a result and Gambhir was also handed a one test match ban. Gambhir later placed an appeal over his ban as he was charged under level 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct that also allowed players to make an appeal. Albie Sachs, a South African Judge, would hear Gambhir’s appeal.
For the first time in the series Mathew Hayden came to the fore with a magnificent 83, which also resulted in a century stand for the first wicket, a relief to the Australian team that had always seen their first wicket fall early. Also, the Indian bowling seemed to have lost some shine and to make things worse they dropped catches. Australia eventually batted well with their entire premier batsman running amuck, the top four scoring half centuries and Michael Clarke with a defiant century guiding the tail and also with the extras crossing the fifty mark, all these helping the Australians to make their run meter read 577. Apart from the Australian attack, the Kotla saw an attack of a different sort, when a swarm of bees decided to invade the ground making everyone to lay down on the ground.
Apart from its bowling failure, the Indian team had another reason to worry when skipper Kumble injured himself attempting for a difficult catch. Kumble almost grabbed the catch, fell down and made another attempt hurling himself from the ground, bruising his left hand in the process and eventually had to leave the field for the hospital. But the spirited leader that he is known to be, he came back the next day to bowl with a bandage over the stitches on his left hand, a reminisce of the past of an Antigua test match against the West Indies in which Kumble had a broken jaw and yet he continued to bowl bandaged. An inspiring leader that he is, he bowled and took three wickets in the end. Virender Sehwag in the meantime captured his first five wicket haul in test matches. With a minimal lead of 36 runs, India had to do aplenty, to post a challenging task and to ask the Australians to do the batting again. India lost early wickets, Ishant Sharma was sent as a night watchman who hardly watched the delivery thrown at him and was out. As wickets fell early again on the fifth day, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting might have felt there was a chance for a surprise victory, but, Sachin, Laxman and later Saurav Ganguly took India to safer grounds as they did on numerous occasions. India declared their second innings at 208 for 5 and Australia came out to bat again needing to score 245. The match eventually ended in a draw with Australia scoring 31 without loss in its second innings.
The match also saw Anil Kumble making a final appearance to bowl, after announcing his decision to quit after the current test, wearing his old battered blue cap which he had worn with pride since making his debut in August 1990. Kumble, rightly called as Jumbo for his big exploits will be best remembered for his record ten wickets haul against Pakistan in the second test of February 1999, incidently, the same ground that he was playing today and he was also the second cricketer to achieve this mark after Jim Laker. A Wisden cricketer of the year (1996) and with his name enlisted third in the all time test match bowlers list, an overall tally of 619 test match wickets, all is just a part of being a legend. Laxman won the player of the match award for his double hundred and for his match saving half century in the second innings. M.S.Dhoni who lead India to a victory in the second test match at Mohali, was appointed as the skipper for the final test match.
With one more test match to be played it would be a tough ask for the Australians who has to go for a win for a series draw. India has to ensure that it continues its excellent batting form in the fourth test match at the Vidharbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur and go for a memorable series victory.
