Harper ruling costs Indians dear

ADELAIDE, DECEMBER 12: From sublime to the pedestrian, the third day's play at the Adelaide Oval fell into two distinct patterns. The firs...

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ADELAIDE, DECEMBER 12: From sublime to the pedestrian, the third day’s play at the Adelaide Oval fell into two distinct patterns. The first promising an exhilarating display of majestic batsmanship and the second falling into a predictable groove, where the Indians find themselves facing the prospects of a defeat.

The sour point of the day, not only from the Indian point of view, was not that Sachin Tendulkar failed to come good. It was umpire Daryl Harper’s decision of ruling him out when strokes were flowing serenely from his bat and nearly twenty thousand people at the ground were gasping in awe with each stroke the Little Maestro would unleash from the vast repertoire at his command.

With the score at 215 for 4 and the picture appearing bright and prosperous for India, came the most contentious moment of the match. Tendulkar’s attempt to turn Warne towards the legside failed to materialise and a very confident appeal from the fielders and the bowler for a bat and pad catch by Justin Langer at shortleg was upheld by the umpire. Tendulkar, never to show an emotion while batting, stared at the umpire for a second and started his walk back towards the dressing room.

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In Adelaide they say `leave your Australian flag behind if you are a Tendulkar fan’ and most in the crowd had done exactly that. There may have been joy at Warne having got the better of Tendulkar in the first round, but it was tinged with sadness, especially when the news spread that the Channel Nine had used all its camera angles and had not found any evidence of the ball having hit the bat. India had been robbed of a real chance of making a match of this Test.

Till that upsetting moment, the Indian batting unlike yesterday, was bold, attacking and decisive. Tendulkar seemed to have left yesterday far behind him and today on a dull, greyish and somewhat gloomy morning, he chose to stamp his masterly authority on the cricket field, beginning with a cracking back-foot cover drive off McGrath.

The left-handed Saurav Ganguly was not farbehind, caressing the ball on the off side and flashing his blade to Warne — the ultimate winner of the day to send the ball rocketing to the point fence. It was a sumptuous feast the which even delighted the home crowd.

McGarth, who seems to never waver from his perfect off stump line, putting the batsman into relentless pressure, was not spared and Warne, despite trying all sorts of tricks was unable to make an impression. And then umpire Harper in one stroke, changed the complexion of the game. Out went Tendulkar and India’s batting so reliant on him. In the absence of any worthwhile lower order it struggled against the guiles of Warne.

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Once his captain was ordered out, Tendulkar became defensive and Warne foxed him with a wrong one.

MSK Prasad was the victim of that Warne special, which has undone many in the past — the batsman left the ball alone, thinking it is way outside the legstump only to see it turn prodigiously and crash into the stumps.

The wickets started rattling regularly and Indiafell short of Australia’s first innings total by 156 runs. And by the end of the day’s play lead had swelled to 227. India may take some consolation from having taken two Australian wickets but unless they can engineer a sensational collapse, one sees little hope for them.

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA — SCOREBOARD :

Australia (1st innings): 441

India (1st innings; overnight 123-4):
Gandhi c Kasprowicz b McGrath (12b, 18m) 4
(fending a short ball to short square-leg)
Ramesh run out (7b, 9m) 2
(Blewett’s direct hit from long off fence)
Laxman c S Waugh b McGrath (87b, 113m, 3×4) 41
(slashing to gully)
Dravid c Langer b Warne (126b, 166m, 2×4) 35
(forward prod, bat and pad to short leg)
Tendulkar c Langer b Warne (133b, 181m, 8×4) 61
(bat and pad to short leg)
Ganguly st Gilchrist b Warne (133b, 172m, 8×4) 60
(stepping out and beaten by the turn)
MSK Prasad b Warne (58b, 67m) 14
(leaving a turning balloutside leg stump)
Agarkar b Fleming (69b, 88m, 3×4) 19
(beaten by pace)
Srinath c Waugh b Fleming (25b, 47m, 1×4) 11
(closing face of bat early, edge to slips)
Kumble not out (28b, 41m, 1×4) 17
V Prasad lbw Fleming (12b, 16m) 0
(played across the line)
Extras: (lb-1, nb-16) 17
Total: (all out in 113.5 overs) 285
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Ramesh), 2-9 (Gandhi), 3-90 (Laxman), 4-107 (Dravid), 5-215 (Tendulkar), 6-229 (Ganguly), 7-240 (MSK Prasad), 8-266 (Srinath), 9-275 (Agarkar).
Bowling: McGrath 30-13-49-2, Fleming 24.4-7-70-3, Kasprowicz 11-2-60-0, Warne 42-12-92-4, Blewett 6-1-11-0.

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Australia (2nd innings):
Slater c Ganguly b Srinath (9b, 10m) 0
(edging an outswinger)
Blewett batting (87b, 120m, 1×4) 26
Langer c Gandhi b Kumble (72b, 101m, 4×4) 38
(gloved the ball to short leg)
Waugh batting (1b, 7m) 0
Extras: (b3, lb3, nb1) 7
Total: (for 2 wkts in 28 overs)71
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Slater), 2-65 (Langer)
Bowling: Srinath 8-1-23-1, Agarkar 5-2-11-0, Prasad 7-2-14-0, Kumble 8-3-17-1.