Adelaide, January 27
India were lurching towards defeat and a 4-0 series humiliation against Australia after another batting collapse in the fourth Test in Adelaide on Friday. The beleaguered tourists, chasing a record 500 runs to win, took the Test into a fifth day for the first time in their ill-fated tour but only after losing their top six batsmen, including Sachin Tendulkar.

VVS Laxman and first innings century-maker Virat Kohli stalled Australia's charge for almost 90 minutes before Laxman fell two overs from stumps.

Laxman, struggling for form in Australia, played spinner Nathan Lyon off the back foot to short mid-wicket for 35 leaving nightwatchman Ishant Sharma surrounded by 10 close in fielders.

But in the day's penultimate over Kohli was run out on a chancy single by a brilliant side-on throw by Ben Hilfenhaus for 22 to leave the tourists in tatters.

Australia will expect to mop up India's tail on Saturday with only forecasted storms likely to save the visitors from another embarrassing capitulation.

At the close on the fourth day, India were 166 for six, trailing by 333 runs with Sharma on two and Wriddhiman Saha yet to score. Lyon ended the day with three for 57 off 19 overs.

The tourists were left with 146 overs to reach their improbable target after Australia declared their second innings at 167 for five shortly after lunch. But they were soon in trouble, losing Gautam Gambhir for 13 in the fifth over, caught behind off Harris.

Stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag blasted 12 fours in a rollicking 62 off 53 balls before he skied a full toss from spinner Lyon only to a waiting Ricky Ponting in the covers. Rahul Dravid lasted 71 balls before he edged to Mike Hussey in the gully off Ryan Harris for 25 to complete a poor series in which he was bowled six times and scored just 194 runs at 24.25.

Tendulkar again missed out on his elusive 100th international hundred when he was caught close to the wicket by Ed Cowan off Lyon for 13. — AFP 

Scoreboard

Australia Ist Innings: 604/7

India Ist Innings: 272

Australia 2nd Innings: 167/5

India (2nd Innings):

Gambhir c Haddin b Harris 3

Sehwag c Ponting b Lyon 62

Dravid c Hussey b Harris 25

Tendulkar c Cowan b Lyon 13

Laxman c Marsh b Lyon 35

Kohli run out 22

Ishant batting 2

Saha batting 0

Extras (lb-3, w-1) 4

Total (6 wkts, 56 overs) 166

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-80, 3-100, 4-110, 5-162, 6-166.

Bowling: Harris 14-4-25-2, Hilfenhaus 9-2-33-0, Siddle 10-3-36-0, Lyon 19-3-57-3, Hussey 2-0-3-0, Clarke 2-0-9-0.

Adelaide, January 27
Rahul Dravid's glorious international career may have come to an end today, with the veteran batsman likely to announce his retirement shortly. The 39-year-old Dravid, one of the game's greatest batsmen, is believed to have told some of his teammates after another failure against Australia in the final Test here, that he had decided to hang his boots.

He could not be reached for his comments. Dravid, like most other Indian batsmen, has had a poor run in the current four-Test series which will conclude tomorrow with India likely to suffer another defeat to give Australia a clean sweep.

He made 194 runs at an average of 24.25 in this series. Dravid has already announced his retirement from one-day cricket and Twenty20. The elegant right hander, nicknamed 'The Wall' for his dour defence, is the second highest run getter in Test history with 13,288 runs, behind only Sachin Tendulkar who has 15,470 runs. He has 36 Test centuries with a highest score of 270 and an average of 52.31. Dravid has also taken more catches (210) than anyone else in Test history during his 164 Test matches since he made his debut against England at Lord's in 1996.

He captained India from December 2005 to August 2007. There is a question mark over another Indian veteran V V S Laxman who too had a miserable run against Australia in the current series. There was no word yet about his future plans.

Since his debut in England, Dravid went on to cement his place in the middle order and along with Tendulkar and Laxman was a key member of India's famed middle order. Dravid took up the vital number three position in the line-up and played some of his finest knocks for the country in that position. Armed with an orthodox technique, he became the pivot of the Indian team which not only won matches but also started winning overseas.

At Adelaide in 2003, when India won a Test in Australia for the first time in a generation, he batted 835 minutes over two innings. A few months later, he was at the crease more than 12 hours for the 270 that clinched India's first series win in Pakistan. Initially he was not suited for one-day cricket but he reoriented his game over the years to become an adept middle-order finisher in the shorter version. — PTI 

Adelaide, January 27
India were "extremely disappointed", but not embarrassed, by their inept performances against Australia, spinner Ravi Ashwin said on Friday.

The Indians face a humiliating 4-0 series wipeout and their eighth consecutive away Test defeat in the fourth Test in Adelaide, where they were trailing by 333 runs at 166 for six.

India have been thrashed by an innings in two Tests and lost the opening Test in Melbourne by 122 runs in a miserable tour of Australia.

Australia will expect to mop up India's tail on Saturday with only forecasted storms likely to save the visitors from another embarrassing capitulation.

Ashwin, who once again was delegated by the team to face the media after another wretched day for the tourists, said: "We are extremely disappointed but there is no need for embarrassment.

"It's a sport and at the end of the day we have all competed hard at the ground, it's not like we've chucked it away," Ashwin said.

"We've given it everything we had, yes, we've come up short on occasions.

"We have not seized the initiatives and we've not enough reserves in the bank to do it, but at the end of the day we are extremely disappointed." — AFP 

Melbourne, January 27
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is likely to sue Indian software for using his face in a mobile phone application without permission.

Retired greats Glen McGrath, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne's faces have also been used without permission by Indian firm AHI Infotech in 99c iPhone app "Face Guess Cricket". The applications asks for users to guess a cricketer's identity from close-ups of his face.

"We weren't aware of it and we'll be issuing action against them straight away for the use of his intellectual property," Ponting's manager James Henderson was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

"It's news to me. We have no relationship with (the developer). And we had to look it up to see what Face Guess Cricket was," McGrath's manager, Warren Craig, said. — IANS

Adelaide, January 27
The only Australian bowler who has not made an impact so far, off-spinner Nathan Lyon is aiming for a five-wicket haul against a demoralised India in the ongoing fourth and final Test as he feels the Adelaide Oval pitch is showing "natural variation".

"There's plenty of rough for the spinners so hopefully I will be able to play more of a role tomorrow," said Lyon who took 3 for 57 during India's second innings here today. "We're starting to see some natural variation and some spin and the ball is starting to keep low," added the bowler who had taken just two wickets in the series coming into this match.

Australia are just four wickets away from completing a 4-0 series whitewash. Lyon's first wicket was that of Virender Sehwag, who chose a full toss to hit uppishly into the covers.

"It probably wasn't my best ball. I'm not going to call him back. That's for sure. Ricky Ponting came up to me just before that ball and said 'do him in the air' so I was pretty happy about it," he said. He also claimed Sachin Tendulkar, caught at forward short leg, but didn't seem overwhelmed by the scalp.

"It's been an absolute privilege to get him out," said Lyon. This is the first time Lyon has got among the wickets but he stressed he had bowled well throughout the series.

"I've felt I've bowled reasonably okay the whole summer. It's just good to be able to contribute to hopefully a team's victory," he said

At one stage, Lyon had nine fielders around the bat during India's second innings.

"To have that many fielders around the bat is something I've never done before. It didn't work but we'll give it a crack another time, hopefully," he said. Lyon has worked as one of the groundstaff at Adelaide Oval and he said he is enjoying his present stint with the Australian team.

"It's been a different type of fence, you could say right now. I'm enjoying the Test match rather than sitting on the roller watching it. It's been a fantastic experience in front of the home crowd and I've enjoyed every moment of it," he said.

Virat Kohli and Ben Hilfenhaus were involved in a verbal spat on the field on the third day and today the latter appeared to have had his revenge by running out the young Indian middle order batsman. "What's been said on the field stays on the field as far as I'm concerned. Ben Hilfenhaus' run out was pretty special. It set us on a good feeling in the change room right now," said Lyon.

Lyon disagreed with critics that India is an average team. "I wouldn't say India's an average team. They're full of great cricketers and we still have got a lot of work to do. Australia's heading in the right direction where we want to get to," he said. — PTI

Melbourne, January 27
Defending champion Novak Djokovic dug deep Friday to see off Britain's Andy Murray in a thrilling five-set semi-final at the Australian Open. In a rollercoaster match lasting nearly five hours the Serbian top seed, trailing two sets to one, stormed back to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 7-5 to set up a title match with Rafael Nadal.

"There's not any words that can describe the feeling I have now," Djokovic said. "Andy deserves the credit to come back into the match after 2-5 down. He was fighting, I was fighting." Djokovic now gets a shot at his third Australian Open title while Murray's quest for Britain's first male grand slam title in 76 years goes on.

Djokovic, who enjoyed a stellar season in 2011, winning 10 titles including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, drew first blood on Rod Laver Arena, breaking in the fourth game when the Scot double-faulted.

Abu Dhabi, January 27
Pakistan were left with a battle to avoid conceding England a series-levelling win after Monty Panesar proved threatening with three wickets in the second Test here today. After Panesar had taken 3-44, it was left to Azhar Ali (46) and Asad Shafiq (35) to put on a 71-run stand for the fifth wicket to lift Pakistan to 125-4 at the close on the third day on a weary Abu Dhabi Stadium pitch.

Ali joined Shafiq with Pakistan reeling at 54-4, as Panesar dismissed Mohammad Hafeez (22), Younis Khan (one) and Misbah-ul Haq (12) in his sustained 20-over spell on either side of the tea interval. But both youngsters helped Pakistan erase the 70-run lead and promised to steer their team around the trouble on a spin-assisted pitch on Saturday.

Pakistan lead by 55 runs with six wickets intact. Pakistan will look to their remaining batsmen to help produce a formidable target for England to maintain their chances in the series, which they lead by 1-0 on account of a ten-wicket win in the first Test at Dubai. Stuart Broad gave England a crucial 70-run lead with an unbeaten 58 which took England to 327 in the morning session.

Both Ali and Shafiq defied England's mixed pace and spin attack in the last session much to the delight of a near 5,000 holiday crowd. Ali has so far hit seven boundaries to Shafiq's three. — AFP

New Delhi, January 27
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has once again urged the London Games organisers to drop controversial Dow Chemical’s sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics. “There is no need to carry this toxic legacy”, IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said here on Friday. He requested the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the organisers not to legitimise Union Carbide’s role in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy by granting sponsor’s status to Dow in the Olympic Movement.

In a letter to the IOC president Jacques Rogge, a copy of which has also been sent to the London Games organising committee chief Sebastian Coe, Malhotra said there was a growing world opinion against this sponsorship and the resignation of Meredith Alexander from the Games Ethics Committee was vindication of the IOA’s stated position.