Mohali, October 19
Had it not been for the shoulder niggle of skipper Anil Kumble, Amit Mishra would be cooling his heels outside the dressing room lobby, probably whiling away time by twiddling his thumbs. Most probably, he would have finished even the four-Test series against Australia as a mere passenger as was the case five years ago.

But the ace leggie failed to recover in time from his niggle before the crucial Test and was declared unfit, opening the door for Mishra to sneak in. The Haryana spinner was determined not to let this one go. He unveiled his bag of tricks in front of unsuspecting Australians, hurtling them in an unenviable situation on the third day of the second Test at Mohali today.

The leggie completed his maiden five-wicket haul on debut as the visitors were bowled out for 268, giving India a healthy 201-run lead and a rare opportunity to force the world champions to follow-on in their second innings.

As if this was not mortification enough for the world champions, the hosts rubbed further salt on the wounds of the Australians when openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave India a rollicking start and the hosts finished the day at 100 without loss.

With India effectively 301 runs ahead with all 10 wickets in tact and two days remaining for the Test, the Australians will be fighting with their backs to the wall if they intend to remain alive in the series.

Sehwag and Gambhir, batted with freedom and scored runs at an impressive pace. Sehwag was a shade subdued in the beginning and let his junior partner take te lead. Gambhir made his intentions clear sending the third delivery in the Lee’s first over crashing to the cover boundary.

Sehwag soon came into his own and played bold strokes, while Gambhir unleashed some spanking drives, cover region being favourite area in run making. India’s 50 was up in 12 overs. Playing his audacious strokes, Sehwag completed his fifty consuming 68 balls, while Gambhir was unbeaten on a 68-ball 46 at close.

The day, however, belonged to stocky Mishra. Like yesterday, he was into his groove straightway and bowled a steady line. Rarely straying in line, he maintained an early stranglehold on the rival bastmen. Extracting appreciable turn on the track, never known to be a spinners’ ally, he kept them guessing.

Ishant got the first breakthrough of the day and evicted the dangerous Michael Hussey, inducing an edge off an away going delivery to the left-handed batsman, just after the batsman completed his half-century. Harbhajan took his first wicket, clean bowling Brad Haddin, while Mishra warmed up for the day, castling Cameroon White.

Lee and Shane Watson defied the bowling attack. Watson was stubborn. He showed good defence and was not afraid of going for his strokes. The lanky all rounder played a couple of booming hits to the fence in the mid-wicket area.

Lee also showed his willingness to stay at the wicket and graft runs. He was batting on 35 when he edged a Harbhajan delivery to be caught by Dravid at first slip.

Mishra then claimed the scalps of Watson and Siddle to signal the end of the Australian innings at 268. Mishra finished an impressive spell with figures of of 26.4-8-71-5 on debut.

Mishra was first included in the Indian squad for the West Indies series at home in October 2002, but failed to get a game. The absence of several senior players after the World Cup debacle in the West Indian meant he was again in the squad for the TVS Cup in Dhaka in April 2003. He was unlucky this time also, and remained a passenger.

Scoreboard

India first innings: 469

Australia first innings (overnight 102-4)

Hayden b Zaheer 0

Katich b Mishra 33

Ponting lbw b Ishant 5

M Hussey c Dhoni b Ishant 54

Clarke lbw b Mishra 23

Watson lbw b Mishra 78

Haddin b Harbhajan 9

White b Mishra 5

Lee c Dravid b Harbhajan 35

Johnson not out 9

Siddle st Dhoni b Mishra 0

Extras (lb-13 nb-4) 17

Total (all out, 101.4 overs) 268

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-17, 3-62, 4-102, 5-130, 6-146, 7-167, 8-240, 9-262.

Bowling: Zaheer 25-7-56-1, Ishant 21-4-68-2, Harbhajan 29-9-60-2, Mishra 26.4-8-71-5.

India second innings

Gambhir not out 46

Sehwag not out 53

Extras: (nb-1) 1

Total: (for no loss, 23 overs) 100

Bowling: Lee 6-0-22-0, Siddle 8-1-30-0, Johnson 7-0-43-0, White 2-0-5-0. 

Mohali, October 19
Amit Mishra had a virtual perfect day at the PCA Stadium and the first question that popped up during the media briefing was whether he felt that by claiming his five-wicket on the debut he had created a dilemma for selectors, Mishra shrugged: “My job, if selected, is to play and try to perform. It was a big match and I am happy I was able to do well.” With the team for the next two Tests yet to be decided, it will be hard to keep Mishra out of the playing XI as he completed a creditable five-wicket haul on his debut at Mohali.

The 25-year-old Haryana lad bowled an impressive spell picking up five for 71 as Australia were bowled out for paltry 268. “Kumble gave me some tips and told me about variations in bowling before the match, which helped me a great deal,” the leggie said, adding that “Anil Bhai has always been very supportive.”

“I took it as any other game never thinking even for a while that I was playing against the mighty Australians. Dhoni, before I started bowling, told me to bowl as I have been bowling in other matches and not bother about the result. I tried to do just that,” he replied when asked how he approached the match.

“Besides, I keep talking Narendra Hirwani, not that he is a selector, but to seek guidance as a leg-spinner,” he said. “During the period I remained out of the India squad, I became more focussed and kept working on variations. In fact, those five years were very good for me. The experience of playing in different matches for India A proved handy,” he replied when quizzed how he kept going after he failed break into the India team after being selected in 2003.

Asked who his idol was, he was candid enough to say, “I like Anil a lot, but Shane Warne is my idol. I interacted and learnt a lot from Warne, when he was here in country on account of IPL engagements.”

“Michael Clarke’s wicket I enjoyed the most. The ball landed exactly where I intended it to and struck him on the pads as the batsman was out lbw.”

Mohali, October 19
“Low spectator turnout during the Tests was a matter of concern and steps will be taken to address the problem,” I.S. Bindra, PCA chief, said at the PCA Stadium here today.

Elaborating the reasons, the principal advisor to the ICC, said the stadium had hosted as many as 13 big matches during the past two years. This included two internationals, Champions Trophy matches and seven Indian Premier League matches. Therefore, it was not easy to sustain continued spectator interest.”

“Besides, Mohali is not a very big place with teeming population to fill the stadium every time a match of this level is held here,” he added. “Our aim is to stagger cricket to at least to three venues in Punjab. Bhatinda and Jalandhar will be developed as additional venues,” the former BCCI chief said.

“Till now the cricket stadiums in the country were not spectator friendly. This could be among the reasons for decreasing spectator response to the game. Henceforth, more facilities would be added to the venues to attract people to the ground. The presence of spectators at the venues was most crucial. All the money collected will count for nothing if the grounds are empty during matches. We had started short-changing the spectators. If the ground facilities are not improved, they will start short-changing us.”

“Wankhede stadium has been demolished. Other stadiums were also in line for demolition. New Stadiums with state-of-the-art facilities would come up which would cater to the spectator interest better,” he said. To lure crowd to Test matches, Bindra said the PCA will arrange better facilities. The stadium will have a new pavilion block and covered stands. Many more facilities will be there in the stadium before the 2011 World Cup.

When to declare and what target to set will be the discussion in the Indian camp when play resumes on the fourth day. When the opposition is Australia, nobody can be sure how much is a safe total or how many overs are needed to get them out the second time in the match.

Ever since the Kolkata Test of 2001 when VVS Laxman crafted the Indian Test innings of the century, and his partnership with Dravid turned the match upside down, and then Harbhajan Singh bowled them to an astonishingly incredible win; skippers of the world think twice before inviting the opposition to follow on. Mahendra Singh Dhoni would hardly have thought too long in deciding to bat again simply because the pitch was still playing good as could be seen from the Shane Watson and Brett Lee partnership. The pitch will get slower and the ball will keep lower over the next couple of days, and the wear and tear will mean that there will be more help for the spinners than in the first innings.

All these factors would have helped make up Dhoni’s mind, and also the fact that his bowlers would get a bit of a break before they come out to try and win the game for India. The bowler they will be relying on is Amit Mishra who was making his Test debut. He showed no nervousness at all and immediately dropped into an immaculate length, and showed a big heart by flighting the ball. The pessimists keep saying that limited-overs cricket and T20 cricket will finish off the spinners, especially the ‘leggie’, but Mishra has shown that he enjoys all versions of the game, and he in fact came into prominence with a hat-trick in the IPL.

Every one of his five wickets was the result of flight and variation, and his dismissal of the well set opener Simon Katich and the number eleven Peter Siddle were classic leg-spinning dismissals. As if to show that he does possess a well disguised googly, he bowled Cameron White with one that drew the batsman forward to drive and then rattled the stumps.

Don’t forget that White is a leg-spinner himself and who also bowls the googly, so to deceive a fellow member of his bowling tribe must have been satisfying indeed. His success will add a bit of grey to chairman Srikkanth’s hair as he and his selector colleagues ponder over the composition of the playing eleven for the Delhi Test if Anil Kumble gets fit.

There was much to praise the efforts of the other Indian bowlers too. Zaheer was consistently dangerous and Ishant continues to get better by the day. Harbhajan may not have the wickets to show for his efforts, but on another day he will not bowl half as well and end up with five or more. That’s just the way this game goes. He will relish the wicket of Haddin and will be looking forward to bowling in the second innings. The last time he played at the Mohali stadium he did not have happy memories. He will want to leave this time with a big smile on his face. — PMG

Ahmedabad, October 19
The Royal Bengal Tigers made it to the top of the table after defeating Mumbai Champs by 12 runs today for their third win in a row in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) T20 championship at the Sardar Vallabbhai Patel stadium here. Chasing a target of 171 in the alloted 20 overs, the Champs were bowled out for 158. Captain Nathan Astle, who came in after the fall of Umar, put up a 55-run partnership with opener Dheeraj before getting out in the ninth over.

Brief Scores:
Bengal Tigers: 170/4 in 20 overs (Marshall 55, Gavaskar 30, Dasgupta 32; Yadav 2/40, Iyer 2/32)

Mumbai Champs: 158 all out in 19.5 overs (Jhadav 39, Van der Wath 35, Ahmed 3/22, Ahmid 2/25, Adams 2/28). 

Jalandhar, October 19
Bharat Petroleum, Mumbai outplayed R.C.F, Kapurthala 3-1 during the second day of the Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park here today.

In a keenly contested game Bharat Petroleum dominated the proceedings right from the word go and scored a field goal through Amar Aiyamma (1-0) in 10th minute. Despite playing good hockey both teams failed to capitalise on some good opportunities.

Both the teams were awarded a penalty corner just before the lemon break but missed the golden chance. At half time the winners were leading (1-0). In the second session R.C.F, Kapurthala tried to pick up the game and posted a field goal in the 42nd minute with an equalizer from the stick of Deepak Kumar (1-1).

Once again Bharat Petroleum displayed good hockey when its Gurpreet Singh converted penalty corner to a field goal and sounded the board from cracking hit (2-0) in 53rd minute.

Amar Aiyamma scored another field goal in the 63rd minute thereby taking his team to victory (3-1).

Meanwhile, in another match of the day Air India, Mumbai and Punjab Police, Jalandhar could not score even a single goal till the filing of this report.

Chittagong, October 19
Shakib Al Hasan hit a maiden half-century after taking seven wickets to guide Bangladesh to 184 for eight and a lead of 258 over New Zealand at the close on the third day of the first Test today.

Left-arm spinner Shakib took seven for 36 as Bangladesh bundled out the Kiwis for 171 in their first innings. Shakib then hit a career-best 71 before becoming one of New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori’s four victims. Shakib hit 12 boundaries, including three consecutive fours from one Jeetan Patel over before he was caught at second slip by Ross Taylor.

Brief Scores

Bangladesh first innings: 245 New Zealand first innings (overnight 155-9) B McCullum 25, Vettori 55; Shakib 7 for 36, Ashraful 1 for 3.Bangladesh second innings: Iqbal 33, Shakib 71; Vettori 4 for 39, J Patel 2 for 52. — Reuters

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