Australia Day and Republic Day for India ended in spectcular fashion after tea and sadly I was out and about when it all happened.
This day did indeed provide a fairytale to two players, fittingly one from each country. Peter Siddle was the star for the Aussies right from the beginning of the day when he ripped through the fray Indian batting lineup. First the legend Tendulkar was sent on his way by Siddle who put in the corridor of doom/Avenue of Apprehension and whatever else you want to call the corridor of uncertainty.
He followed it up with another well directed bouncer to Gambhir who once again struggled with the short ball and spooned a catch to a diving Hussey. Gambhir has completed the set having previously gotten out to the left armer, Starc in the same fashion.
It was after tea where Siddle would pick up the remaining 2 wickets he needed for another test 5-fer. Like so many other bowlers over the summer, Siddle was on a hattrick as he dismissed Ashwin and Khan in consective balls. Sadly like others before him, Siddle was unable to complete the hattrick however the wicket of Khan gave Siddle his fifth 5-fer.
The other star of the day was Virat Kohli who batted well after lunch with Saha in one of the best partnerships for India in this tour. Kohli has shown signs of his promise throughout this tour, none better than his knock at Perth where he reached his previous top score of 75. Today will be a day he remembers forever, on the Republic Day for India, Kohli made his maiden Test century. His knock ended on 116 to a rough decision.
As mentioned Saha stepped up for India and one suspects if the tea break wasn't one over away, Saha would probably have batted on. Instead Harris cleaned bowled Saha as a little tingle went down Clarke's back as memories flood back of himself getting out just before an interval and leaving one, only to be made a fool of by being clean bowled.
Hilfenhaus will once again have a chance to take that elusive hattrick, I believe when he starts his next innings, this will be his 3rd attempt at a hattrick, all in this series.
Clarke decided not to enforce the follow on and India didn't mess around with Ashwin call to bowl with the new ball. Clearly this new tactic will be looked at by more teams when facing Warner. As I didn't see his knock, the reports suggest Warner had some struggles against Ashwin before eventually getting out to him. He did make 28 runs in the process which shows despite his struggles he is still capable of making runs. As I mentioned on day 1, facing spin early in a Test match is something Warner needs to come to terms with. It is interesting to note that both his hundreds have come against a team without a specialist spinner so that is one thing Warner will like to get off his back.
Marsh's horrible series continued as he was LBW. DRS would have overturned the decision however an inform Marsh would not have got himself hit on the pad. Marsh's time in the Test side is definitely over for the time being. He will need to regain his confidence and hit some big runs in Shield cricket just like Hughes and Khawaja,
Cowan was the other to fall, also LBW. Like Khawaja, Cowan has struggled to convert his starts and hit that career starting 100. He has shown promise in this series and his partnership with Warner has shown glimpses. More than likely it will be preserved with and Watson will return to stable up the number 3 position either through Ponting moving back up or Watson taking that spot.
The top 3 is definitely a concern, one thing this series has confirmed is having a inexperienced top 3 is not the way to go. It is lucky Ponting has hit form again, Clarke has hit career best form and Hussey produced his knock at the SCG. With hindsight it would have been better having Khawaja/Marsh at 6 however the problem is neither Clarke or Hussey have liked that spot.
Australia still have the upper hand but they certainly won't want a sub 100 total as that would give India a sniff with so much time remaining to chase 400 odd. Unlikely as it maybe, India still do have some great batsmen in their side and that fear is always there despite the form of the veterans.
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