The Board XI batted and bowled better than the Australians, but couldn’t force victory. V. V. Subrahmanyam reports.
Michael Hussey lived up to his reputation as a saviour for the Australians, in the four-day match against the Board President’s XI at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Hyderabad) from October 2 to 5.
First, two promising members of the ‘Young Brigade’ of Indian cricket — the elegant Rohit Sharma (105, 144 balls, 12x4, 4x6) and Virat Kohli (105, 146 balls, 14x4 1x6) — hogged the limelight on the first day to help President&# 8217;s XI post 455. The most impressive feature about them was the confidence with which they handled a pace combination which was close to a Test attack — Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle — even while enjoying the friendly spin attack of Jason Krejza and Michael Clarke.
The onus was on the Australians to display their renowned skills of fighting back from a bad position. They were up against the spinners — leggie Piyush Chawla and left-armer Pragyan Ojha. Both, out of favour with the national selectors, were naturally keen to make an impact. And, they did that in style with the Hyderabadi Ojha picking up three wickets and Chawla returning with a five-wicket haul. The ball of the Australian innings was the googly from Chawla that foxed the Aussie captain Ricky Ponting as he leaned forward and knocked out his middle stump.
Both Chawla and Ojha seeemed to have done their homework well, coming up with subtle variations of flight, line and length on a pitch which not only kept low but was becoming slower as the match progressed. When they had the Aussies reeling at 218 for nine, 237 runs in arrears and only Stuart Clark to give company to southpaw Mike Hussey, the President’s XI had a wonderful opportunity of enforcing the follow-on.
But then Hussey (126 not out, 391 minutes, 309 balls, 14x4, 1x6) had other ideas — combining patience and wonderful stroke selection — to keep at bay the Indian spinners. In a way his splendid century was an object lesson for some of his teammates in the art of facing the spinners on Indian pitches.
To Hussey’s delight, Clark showed a lot of character and even played some authentic strokes — like the two huge sixes into the stands off Ojha and Chawla. A 96-run stand for the 10th wicket saw the Aussies avoid the ignominy of a follow-on.
The only other batsmen, apart from Hussey and Clark, who looked good for big scores were Ricky Ponting (41) and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (34) before the spinners dictated terms with a teasing line and length on the second morning. The Aussies lost five wickets in the space of 27 runs before the Hussey-Clark duo came up with the rescue act.
And, when the President’s XI batted a second time, it was the turn of captain Yuvraj Singh to score a belligerent 113 (208 minutes, 163 balls, 7x4, 7x6) even as opener Wasim Jaffer (93, 279 minutes, 159balls, 12x4), technically more perfect and complementing his captain with some elegant strokes on either side of the wicket, missed the magical mark by seven runs.
Their 200-run stand thoroughly exposed the inadequacy of the Aussie attack, particularly that of off-spinner Jason Krejza, projected to be the frontline spinner after leggie Bryce McGain went back home with a shoulder injury.
Yuvraj was particularly severe on Krejza, hitting him for four fours and three sixes. “I just wanted to prove myself. I should admit that I was conscious to regain my lost confidence. I am happy that I could get a big score at this venue which always lifts my confidence level,” he remarked. (For the record this was his third century here after his tons against South Africa and Australia in one-dayers.)
In the final session, to the delight of the Australian camp, Ricky Ponting was his old self (58 not out, 97 balls, 7x4, 2x6) and was really comfortable against the spin duo on a pitch which showed no signs of deterioration at all except slowing down considerably.
The other comforting feature for the visitors was the consistency of Stuart Clark and left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson. Even Peter Siddle, waiting for his Test debut, impressed in spells.
THE SCORESBoard President’s XI 455 (Rohit Sharma 105, Virat Kohli 105, Parthiv Patel 72, Irfan Pathan 52, Mitchell Johnson four for 75, Stuart Clark three for 67) & 292 for four decl. (Yuvraj Singh 113, Wasim Jaffer 93, Stuart Clark three for 33) drew with Australians 314 (Ricky Ponting 41, Brad Haddin 34, Mike Hussey 126 not out, Stuart Clark 44, Piyush Chawla five for 89, Pragyan Ojha three for 72) & 127 for two (Ricky Ponting 58 not out, Michael Clarke 36 not out).
Comments
SHARE