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| Monday, 11 October 2004 |
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India make Australia sweat for victory BANGALORE, Sunday World champions Australia overcame dogged resistence from India's tailenders to win the first Test by 217 runs on Sunday and take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. The hosts, chasing an improbable target of 437, slipped to 125-8 before the last two wickets added 114 runs to help carry the total to 239 in the post-lunch session of the fifth and final day. Irfan Pathan, who hit a career-best 55, and Harbhajan Singh (42) put on a record 89 runs for the ninth wicket before last man Zaheer Khan chipped in with an unbeaten 22. But India, depleted by the absence of the injured Sachin Tendulkar, paid the price for falling for 246 and 239 on a bone-dry wicket on which Australia made 474 and 228. "The boys are keen to get back into the series," said Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. "We did not bat well at all and need to lift our game. The good thing is that the team is fired-up to come back strongly." Leg-spinner Shane Warne, who began the day needing one more wicket to equal Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan's world record of 532, failed to strike in 13 overs which cost 55 runs. Jason Gillespie was Australia's most successful bowler with three for 33. Glenn McGrath, Warne and Michael Kasprowicz took two wickets each. Australia, aiming to win their first series on Indian soil since 1969, will start firm favourites when the second Test begins at the Chepauk in Madras on Thursday. The world champions consider India the 'final frontier', a term coined by former captain Steve Waugh after Australia lost the last two series here in 1998 and 2001 by 2-1 margins. "It was a convincing win, but that does not mean one team is better than the other," said Australia's caretaker captain Adam Gilchrist, deputising for the injured Ricky Ponting in the first two Tests. "There were some areas we have to work on and we know India are capable of bouncing back. It should be a good series." India put up unexpected resistance after resuming at the overnight score of 105-6 in front of a holiday crowd of 10,000 at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Vice-captain Rahul Dravid and Pathan denied the Australians a wicket for the first 55 minutes after the tourists missed an early chance. Pathan had not added to his score of seven when he edged Kasprowicz to second slip where Michael Clarke failed to take the catch. Dravid shielded Pathan from Warne for five overs, forcing the leg-spinner to switch ends to have a go at the tailender. Kasprowicz provided the break by trapping Dravid leg-before for 60. The lanky Queensland seamer then bowled Anil Kumble for two to make it 125-8, but Pathan and Harbhajan defied the world champions to take the match into the afternoon session. Their stand was India's best for the ninth wicket against Australia, surpassing the 81 by Tendulkar and Kiran More at Perth in January 1992. Warne watched stunned as the 19-year-old Pathan hammered him for a six and Harbhajan followed with a four and a six off consecutive deliveries. Gillespie finally broke through with the second new ball when he had Pathan caught behind by wicket-keeper and captain Gilchrist. Gillespie then forced Harbhajan to miscue a catch to McGrath at fine-leg to signal Australia's win. Australia 1st innings: 474 India 1st innings: 246 Australia 2nd innings: 228 India - 2nd innings A. Chopra lbw b Gillespie 5 V. Sehwag lbw b McGrath 0 R. Dravid lbw b Kasprowicz 60 S. Ganguly run out 5 V. Laxman lbw b Warne 3 Y. Singh c Gilchrist b McGrath 27 P. Patel lbw b Warne 4 Irfan Pathan c Gilchrist b Gillespie 55 A. Kumble b Kasprowicz 2 H. Singh c McGrath b Gillespie 42 Zaheer Khan not out 22 EXTRAS: (B6u, LB5, NB3) 14 TOTAL 239 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-7, 3-12, 4-19, 5-81, 6-86, 7-118, 8-125, 9-214 BOWLING: McGrath 20-10-39-2, Gillespie 14.4-4-33-3, Kasprowicz 14-7-23-2, Warne 32-8-115-2, Lehmann 6-3-14-0, Clarke 1-0-4-0 Overs: 87.4; Minutes: 383 Man of the match: M. Clarke |
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