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fourth test: day 1
An uphill climb for India
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Tough to take 20 wickets here: Ponting
Ashwin: We gave easy runs in second session
Rafa, Roger set up semifinal clash
IOA counters reports on Ethics panel
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fourth test: day 1
Adelaide, January 24 Ponting (137) and Clarke (140), both of whom tormented India in the second Test in Sydney with centuries, joined hands once again for an unbroken 251-run fourth wicket stand which took the hosts to a comfortable 335 for three after a shaky start. Australia have already clinched the series with a 3-0 lead and India are desperately hoping to avoid a whitewash. The effort was not all that bad to start with as India struck two blows inside the first 10 overs after the hosts opted to bat first. Zaheer Khan removed David Warner (8) with a delivery which came in and Ravichandran Ashwin, surprisingly introduced as early as in the fourth over, bowled a delivery which came in with the arm and clipped the off-stump of an out of form Shaun Marsh's (3) hesitant forward prod. Ashwin snared another victim before the lunch-break, opener Ed Cowan (30) driving little uppishly into short covers and VVS Laxman snapped a brilliant low catch. After that, it was former captain Ponting and current skipper Clarke for the rest of the day. Ponting smashed the 41st century of his 162-Test career, his eighth against India which put him at par with Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Vivian Richards as the batsmen who has scored maximum tons against the sub-continental team. It is also his 23rd century at home which is one more than what Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis have scored in their glittering careers. During his knock, he also crossed the 13,000 run landmark. For Clarke, this was his 19th century in his 80th Test, his second of the series after a mammoth 329 at the SCG early this month. Their stand is also far better than the 210 these two put together for the fourth wicket at this very ground against India four years ago. Ponting now has as many as six centuries from 16 Tests at this venue and four out of four against India. In this match, Ponting has so far concentrated for 254 balls and struck 13 fours in his flawless innings. Clarke has been the more flamboyant one, staying put for four hours and 18 minutes and 188 balls, smashing 19 fours and a six. Ponting had batted freely in the morning session to be 43 not out at break but it was Clarke who shifted a gear or two in the afternoon. Both reached their half centuries off 69 balls with Clarke slamming eight fours to Ponting's seven. Resuming at 98 for three in the afternoon, Ponting and Clarke were steady to begin with against the bowling pair of Zaheer and Umesh Yadav but it wasn't long before the big shots began booming off their bat. Clarke shifted gears in Yadav's second over when he pulled the youngster from the meat of his bat for four. Then Zaheer twice drifted down on to the pads and both Clarke and Ponting helped themselves to a boundary each. Yadav was removed after four expensive overs for 26 runs which gave him embarrassing figures of none for 67 from his nine overs. Now it was the turn of the other two frontline bowlers to face the music at the hands of the Australian pair. — PTI Scoreboard Australia 1st Innings Ed Cowan c Laxman b Ashwin 30 Warner lbw b Zaheer 8 Marsh b Ashwin 3 Ponting batting 137 Clarke batting 140 Extras (lb-11, w-6) 17 Total (3 wkts, 90 overs) 335 FoW: 1-26, 2-31, 3-84. Bowling: Zaheer 18-2-52-1, Yadav 12-0-87-0, Ashwin 26-4-81-2, Ishant 20-5-52-0, Sehwag 13-0-49-0, Kohli 1-0-3-0.
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An uphill climb for India
The Adelaide pitch is not only the best batting pitch in Australia, the heat and humidity there is also energy sapping and so bowlers with long run ups can get tired quickly. It is therefore essential for India’s batsmen to show just a bit of patience and not lose early wickets which works as a tonic for the bowlers. Sehwag captaining the team because of the suspension of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was quick to realize that the moisture under the surface could be exploited by a spinner and he brought Ashwin on and he got the out of form Marsh and Cowan out quickly. Unfortunately with little support at the other end Ashwin couldn’t do much. Zaheer bowled well, but seemed to be more intent on getting the ball to move away from the right hander’s, and that often means that he is bowling wide off the stumps. There was a spell just before the second new ball was due where he got the ball to swing back in at Ponting and it was only the experience of Ponting as well as the fact that he was well set that had him middle it. Ponting smiled after that in acknowledgement of Zaheer’s canniness and if the southpaw can mix it up again with the second new ball that was taken just before the days end, then India may be able to restrict the Australians to a total under 500. Ishant’s figures look economical, but he is still bowling a foot and half shorter than he should. He had Clarke drawn forward and pushing at a delivery which on another day would have stuck in Laxman’s hands, but he didn’t seem to have learnt from that and continued the short of length line. Yadav on the other hand was more expensive and that’s mainly because he is a little inexperienced and so is not consistent with his line, but he looks like he is going to get a wicket and his extra pace is definitely something that the batsmen know they have to watch out for. Michael Clarke took a blow from one such delivery and even Ponting was watchful against him. The short square boundaries also did not help as the cuts and pulls went for fours despite fielders being nearby. India are missing an all-rounder especially on days like this when two batsmen get stuck and the heat means that bowlers have to be rotated wisely. Sehwag did bowl a lot, but perhaps some of those overs could have been given to Ashwin who was bowing so well. It is going to be an uphill climb for India, but as Ponting indicated, it is wicket where it won’t be easy to get twenty wickets and that is where India’s chances of saving the Test lie. —
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Tough to take 20 wickets here: Ponting
Adelaide, January 24 "You have to be careful not to bat too long. It will be a tough wicket to take 20 wickets if you want to win this game. We need to make sure we're not killing too much time," said Ponting who struck an unbeaten 137 and put on 251 runs for the fourth wicket with skipper Michael Clarke (140) on day one of the fourth and final Test against India. Such was Australia's domination that it raised questions about if it was the worst Indian attack he has faced Down Under. "I don't remember the attack from 2003-04. That's a long time ago. I don't think this is a bad attack at all. Zaheer's one of the premier fast bowlers and has been for a while. But he has been down on match fitness and practice. "Ishant is someone who has got me a lot in my career. Yadav is someone up and coming. Ashwin, like we saw early this morning, has the capability to take early wickets with the new ball when there's not much on offer for bowlers. "I just think our batsmen in particular through this series have played particularly well. Most of the guys have put the hand up and made big runs. When you put that kind of pressure back on bowling attacks at different times every attack will look ordinary." After his century in Sydney, Ponting had said he wanted to really make a big one. He now has the chance to fulfill his wish against a lackluster Indian attack. "I thought I played better today than I did in Sydney. It's probably a better wicket to bat on than Sydney. There was no sideways movement for the quickies. There was not a lot of spin. There was a little bit of reverse swing in the middle of the day. — PTI
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Ashwin: We gave easy runs in second session
Adelaide, January 24 Australia ended the day 335/3, managing to recover from a shaky start, as India's desperate hope of at least one win in the four-match series began to fizzle at the very outset. Australia have already clinched the series by winning the previous three matches. Both Clarke (140) and Ponting (137) are unbeaten having shared a 251-run fourth-wicket stand. The two had similarly batted India out of the match in Sydney with Clarke going on to make an unbeaten triple hundred. Asked if the two have managed to psyche the Indian bowlers, Ashwin said it was not the case. "I don't think as a bowling unit we have a psychological block towards it. It has happened in two Tests, in Sydney and in Adelaide here. Probably we need to take a couple of early wickets tomorrow," said Ashwin, who picked up two wickets in the first session. Ashwin believed the day slipped away from India's hands after they failed to keep lid on scoring in the second session. "We were telling each other that we really wanted to be tight in the second session. It was very crucial. That's where we shelled the game a little bit. We gave quite a few easy runs to them and they just took off from there. After that it was quite easy to carry on", he said. India's bowling suffered on a baking hot day and there was a thought if Ishant Sharma didn't bowl well or if India was better off with two spinners but Ashwin blamed it all on luck. "The rub of the green hasn't gone our way. You can't really help it. Nicks are not going to hand. Michael Clarke was beaten on 130. It was that kind of day in the office. "He (Sharma) could probably have a 10-wicket haul, five-wickets together, you never know," he said. Ashwin, recalled for this Test, was brought into operation as early as in the fourth over of the innings. "It was a very instinctive decision (on the part of skipper Virender Sehwag) to really bring me on. He told me an over before that I was going to come on. I was really wondering what to do and what was my plan really. "I wanted to be sure my plan was bang on place and I really wanted to execute it even if that plan was not right for that person. I wanted to be very sure what I was doing. I thought I was pretty good at executing what I had in my mind," he said. — PTI
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Rafa, Roger set up semifinal clash
Spanish second seed Nadal was forced to dig deep to beat Tomas Berdych, battling back from a set down in the evening match on Rod Laver Arena to subdue his Czech opponent 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-3 in 4hr 16min. In sharp contrast, Swiss maestro Federer, chasing his fifth title in Melbourne, barely broke sweat as he dismantled his Argentine opponent 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in a rematch of the 2009 US Open final won by del Potro. It means Federer and Nadal will clash in Melbourne again on Thursday, three years after the Spaniard, who leads their head-to-heads 17-9, reduced the Swiss to tears with a five-set win in 2009's epic Australian Open final. Federer, the third seed, brought up his 1,000th tour-level match with his win, which he described as a "big milestone". "It's nice to win this one. I mean, eventually I will forget which was one was my 1,000th match and someone will remind me again," said Federer, 30.I do not remember my 500, and that was the US Open final against Agassi (2005). No bigger matches than those ones." Federer started his match against del Potro in ominous fashion, unveiling his full repertoire of strokes and breaking del Potro at his first opportunity. The tall del Potro, seeded 11th, settled and forced a break of his own in the seventh game, but a double-fault cost him the opener. An exquisite backhand down the line gave Federer another break and a 3-1 lead in the second set, and he moved two sets clear after a tough ninth game in which he was forced to save four break points. — AFP
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IOA counters reports on Ethics panel
New Delhi, January 24 “I am surprised by this malicious statement of Mr Anand. Nobody ever sent me a note or gave me the copy of the “disbanded Ethics Committee’s report regarding Kalmadi and others,” IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra stated here on Tuesday. “In the General Body meeting of the IOA held on December 16, 2011, it was decided to revamp and reconstitute all the committees and commissions (including the Ethics Committee and the Court of Arbitration Commission). Mr Anand was very much present in the meeting and why did he not raise this issue then and there”, asked Malhotra. “What prevented Anand from telling the House about the report of the Ethics Commission, which he is flaunting to know. Why he maintained silence on this issue, which he is raking up now?,” wondered Malhotra. He continued: “As mandated by the General House, I reconstituted the commissions and committees and specifically mentioned that rules of these committees/commissions will be framed shortly”. Malhotra said it was intriguing that while Anand kept quiet when the House decided to recast the commissions, he has now started a mudslinging campaign against the IOA. “I emphatically deny any knowledge about the report of this disbanded commission”, he added. He also expressed his displeasure about dragging the names of former judges in this issue. ”In my six decades of public life, I have always held the judiciary in highest regard. I have utmost respect for former judges. I have never cast any aspersion on present or former judge(s)”, Malhotra stated. “All the (retired) judges were retained in both the enlarged committees. So where is the question of doubting them?,” he asked. “The IOA has kept the International Olympic Committee (IOC) informed about the developments and Anand need not threat us on this issue. We are in constant touch with the IOC”, Malhotra noted.
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The old firm of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke put India's hapless bowlers to the sword with contrasting centuries as Australia took command of the fourth and final cricket Test on the opening day itself here today.
Centurion Ricky Ponting does not want Australia to "kill too much time" in their pursuit of putting up a huge first-innings total for taking 20 wickets could be hard work on a benign Adelaide Oval pitch here.
"You have to be careful not to bat too long. It will be a tough wicket to take 20 wickets if you want to win this game.
Melbourne, January 24
India were put under the kosh by Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, as they both hit classy centuries which has also given Australia just the platform that they need to put pressure on a beleaguered Indian lineup. India will take some comfort from the fact that this pitch does not seem to have the extra bounce that the pitches in the earlier Tests had, though young Umesh Yadav did get the odd ball to get up awkwardly.
Melbourne, January 24