Australian Captain Michael Clarke continued his rich vein of form as he rescued the visitors from a precarious position with a responsible half-century in the second cricket Test against India, here today.

Along with wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade, Clarke put on a century-plus partnership as Australia reached 187 for four at tea, after being reduced to 63 for four during the first session of play.

If the opening session belonged to India, who sent back four top-order Australian batsmen back to the hut, the post-lunch session undoubtedly belonged to the Aussie pair of Clarke and Wade, who put on 124 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand.

Clarke started from where he had left in Chennai and found a gutsy partner in left-hander Wade as they engineered an impressive fightback.

The Aussie Captain was batting on 68 with the help of eight boundaries and a six while Wade, who was in doubt for the match after fracturing his cheekbone during a freak accident during a training session here, reached 55 with the help of seven boundaries.

The duo had their anxious moments but overall they handled the spin troika of Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja with ease.

While Clarke again used his feet to perfection, Wade decided to play with the spin on most occasions as they logged 104 runs in the second session.

Earlier, with suitable help from a strip that is offering variable bounce, talented UP seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar rocked the Australian top-order with a triple-strike in his first spell removing openers David Warner and Ed Cowan along with the dangerous Shane Watson.

After a luckless first Test, where the Indian spinners got all the 20 Australian wickets, India’s new ball bowlers, especially Bhuvneshwar gave a much better account of themselves hitting the right areas.

The Australian top-order played shots during the first session but was often troubled by the deliveries that were keeping low.

Young Bhuvneshwar, operating from the Visaka End, bowled couple of leg-cutters (off-cutter for left-handers) to get rid of Warner and Cowan in the third and fifth over of the innings respectively.

In case of Warner (6), the delivery landed on the seam and cut back enough to take the inside edge of his bat knocking the off-stump back. This was Bhuvneshwar’s maiden Test scalp.

In his very next over, the 23-year-old removed Cowan with a similar delivery. The ball landed on the seam and moved a shade as Cowan was trapped plumb in-front.

To make matters worse, the ball kept really low and umpire Marais Erasmus adjudged the batsman leg before.

From 15 for two, Phillip Hughes (19) and Watson (23) tried to make amends with a 42-run partnership. Both looked assured with their footwork.

Watson, in particular, hit some lovely drives off both Ishant and Bhuvneshwar’s bowling. Just when it looked like Watson was getting set, he completely misjudged the length of a Bhuvneshwar delivery and was trapped leg before in the process.

The seamer bowled a short one and the ball kept low as it came back in. The batsman committed himself early to a pull shot but missed the delivery completely to be hit on the thigh pads.

Umpire Erasmus had a long hard look before raising his dreaded finger. Bhuvneshwar bowled an unchanged spell of nine overs and his figures read 9-1-36-3.

With the fall of wickets, Ashwin, introduced from the pavilion ends kept things very tight bowling four consecutive maidens.

Hughes, under pressure to get a big knock, finally caved in when Ashwin bowled a typical off-break and the batsman went for a cut-shot. Dhoni fumbled on the first attempt but held on to the catch to make it 63 for four.

Clarke, however batted with a lot of composure as he even danced down the track to lift Ashwin for a big six.

Related Topics