India vs Australia 2nd Test 2008: India Sealed a Thumping 320-run Victory
India has taken a lead in the four-match test series against Australia with a resounding victory over Australia at Mohali. India kept the pressure on the Australian side from the very beginning of the match. Chasing a winning target of 516, Australia got all out on 195 in their second innings with Indian bowlers performing at their prime form.
Australia was 141 for 5 at the end of the fourth day with Michael Calrke and Brad Haddin batting on 42 and 37 respectively. India needed 18.4 overs to pick up the remaining 5 Australian wickets today with Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra sharing 3 and 2 wickets respectively. All the Indian bowlers bowled very well in the second innings and contributed to the victory. Yesterday, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma were on fire picking up 3 and 2 wickets respectively, while today, Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra took charge and packed up the Australian tail end.
Michael Clarke continued his resistance today too and reached 69 before getting out as the last batsmen being a catch of Sehwag off Amit Mishra. Before that, Brad Haddin got out on previous day’s 37, while Brett Lee and Cameron White also failed to shine. However, it was Mitchell Johnson who provided some assistance to Clarke. Johnson scored 26 runs off 44 balls and got out giving a return catch to Amit Mishra. Soon after the dismissal of Johnson, Clarke also fell to Mishra on 69 and that was the end of Australian innings.
One interesting thing is that out of Australia’s 20 wickets, 8 were taken by Indian pacers and 12 were picked up by the spinners. So, it is pleasant news for the Indian fans that Indian pacers have also contributed a lot to their victory, which is rarely seen in India’s flat wickets. I think, the wicket of Mohali was sporting and provided support to all parties- batsmen, spinners as well as pacers.
Winning the toss, India chose to bat first and piled on 469 in the first innings with Sourav Ganguly making his 16th test century. On his way to play an excellent innings of 88, Sachin Tendulkar broke Brian Lara’s record as highest run scorer in test cricket and has become the first and only batsmen to step into twelve thousand runs club of test cricket. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir scored 92 and 67 runs respectively.
Australia responded poorly to India’s excellent batting performance and got all out on 268 in their first innings, handing a lead of 201 runs to India. Shane Watson scored highest 78 runs for Australia. Debutant leg spinner, Amit Mishra, who was playing in place of injured Anil Kumble, picked up 5 Australian wickets in the first innings. Then in the second innings, India batted pretty aggressively with opener Gautam Gambhir scoring an excellent hundred. Sehwag and Dhoni also played crucial innings of 90 and 68 not out respectively. Chasing a huge total of 516, Australia got all out on 195 and ensured a crushing victory for the home team. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was awarded man of the match award for his impressive batting performance as well as intelligent captaincy. The third test of the series will take place at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi from 29 October to 2 November 2008.
