MELBOURNE, DECEMBER 30: The morning bode ill for India. Despite a show of bravado, Sadagopan Ramesh, who batted with a broken thumb had to retire hurt after one over. By afternoon, Rahul Dravid's vigil had been breached. And by tea, Sachin Tedulkar had been outwitted by Shane Warne.Yet another defeat away from home. Yet another display of gutless batting. Yet another time a Test match, which should have been saved, was surrendered without a fight. This is yet another page from the story of India's overseas disaster, a story replete with repetitions, where only the characters may be different but the script remains the same.India began their effort to bat a day and 105 overs, on a cloudy and chilly morning. Unfortunately, Ramesh's thumb had been rendered ineffective by Brett Lee yesterday. It took him one over to realise that it was too painful to hold the bat. India, though having lost only one wicket to a bowler were, effectively, two down. In Adelaide as well as here, in the first innings, Indian openers had walked from the pavilion to the wicket without losing much time.Tendulkar has been the lone success story of this tour and today too, he started to bat as only he can: full of assurance. His partner Dravid has had no such successes coming his way here. Today, he had a look on his face which spoke of his intense desire to play out the day without getting out. For almost two hours he did not let his concentration fail him, using his bat only when it was the only way the ball could be kept out the harm's way.The rest of the time he would weave, duck and use his fine judgment of line and length and not allow the ball anywhere near his bat. Even by Dravid's standard's of high quality batting in the face of adversity, he was raising visions of piecing a defensive innings of rare technical virtuosity.His sudden unexpected fall just before lunch was a severe setback for India's rising hopes. The man to do the damage was Lee again. The delivery may have looked innocuous and the dismissal unfortunate as the batsman gloved the ball while trying to glide it down the legside. But Dravid was undone by the bounce and at the time of contact, he wasn't balanced as his feet was in the air.Tendulkar was still there and so was Saurav Ganguly. India had to last just two sessions more. Ganguly, to begin with, looked slightly uncomfortable against Lee, but it did not take him long to stamp his presence at the middle. Warne was driven or rather caressed through the off side without the batsman appearing to even twitch a muscle. And then another dismissal. Of all the people it was Greg Blewett's ordinary ball which Ganguly played too far away from his body and dragged it onto his stumps.Ganguly could not believe the result of his indiscretion and stood rooted at the crease for a while before leaving the ground.Tendulkar was at the crease and India could still save the match. The picture did not appear all that bad as Hrishikesh Kanitkar looked calm, confident and started stroking the ball right from the first delivery. Even if a couple of them were edgy strokes, his four boundaries in the span of two overs lifted the spirits of the Indians and heralded the arrival of a man who could bat as well.When all looked secure for India, Warne, the wizard, started creating his own little problems for India. Even Tendulkar started looking a bit fragile. His excessive pad-play proved counter-productive and he was out in repeating this act to a ball which went straight through. Even the fact that he was on the front-foot could not have saved him from umpire David Shepherd's raised finger. His hundred in the first innings and fifty in the second fetched him the man of the match award but was not good enough to save India from the defeat.The story was still not over. Kanitkar was growing in confidence, despite the threatening Warne and MSK Prasad started playing with competence. But not for long.Dark clouds were developing in the horizon and the new ball was eight overs away. Steve Waugh gave the ball to brother Mark. Prasad was tempted at seeing the gentle, slow stuff leave the bowler's hands and courted death, driving the ball from a distance and perishing in the slips. Seeing the next ball too short, Ajit Agarkar slashed at it and the ball ended in Greg Blewett's hands at backward point. Who could have imagined that Mark Waugh would be on a hat-trick.Javagal Srinath spoiled Mark Waugh's dream but now the story could not be prolonged any longer as Kanitkar, like his predecessors too lost his patience and missed a straight ball from Fleming.After 89.3 overs were bowled, Anil Kumble ran himself out to give Australia a victory by 180 runs and the series win at 2-0.Today Australia celebrate their sixth successive Test win and India mourn their loss. The tragedy for them is that there does not seem to be much hope of a revival.ScoreboardAustralia (1st innings): 405India (1st innings): 238Australia (2nd innings): 208-5 declIndia (2nd innings; overnight 40-1):Laxman c McGrath b Fleming (16b, 15m) 1(hooking a short ball)Ramesh retired hurt (69b, 93m) 26(broke thumb from defending a Lee short ball)Dravid c Gilchrist b Lee (109b, 169m) 14(trying to glide down the leg-side)Tendulkar lbw Warne (122b, 162m, 4x4) 52(padding up to a straighter one)Ganguly b Blewett (39b, 57m, 2x4)(inside edge onto the stumps)Kanitkar lbw Fleming (78b, 102b, 6x4) 45(played tentatively to a leg-cutter)MSK Prasad c Warne b M Waugh (29b, 45m, 1x4) 13(exuberant drive edged in slips)Agarkar c Blewett b M Waugh (1b, 1m) 0(slash to point)Kumble run out (55b, 66m, 2x4) 13(fails to beat Blewett's throw)Srinath c Warne b Lee (5b, 4m) 1(fending a a short ball to slip)V Prasad not out (17b, 21m) 6Extras: (lb3, nb4) 7Total: (in 370m, 89.3 overs) 195Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Laxman), 2-72 (Dravid), 3-110 (Ganguly), 4-133 (Tendulkar), 5-162 (MSK Prasad), 6-162 (Agarkar), 7-184 (Kanitkar), 8-185 (Srinath), 9-195 (Kumble)Bowling: McGrath 17-8-22-0, Fleming 21.3-7-46-2, Warne 26-7-63-1, Lee 19-6-31-2, Blewett 3-1-17-1, M Waugh 3-0-12-0Result: Australia win by 180 runsMan of the match: Sachin Tendulkar.
