Mohali, Saturday 18 October 2008: India started Day 2 of Mohali Test from where they had left on day 1. After Sachin fireworks on the first day of the second Test, it was the turn of retiring Sourav Ganguly and skipper MS Dhoni to continue the onslaught on the Australians. Ganguly scored a fabulous century while an umpiring error denied Dhoni his century as he fell short by 8 runs. India finally posted 496 in the first innings before Australia could muster 102/4 at the end of Day, which was clearly dominated by India.

Zaheer Khan then scalped Matthew Hayden for the third time in the series with Ishant Sharma following in his footsteps to dismiss the Australian captain Ponting for 5. Debutant Amit Mishra could not have asked for a better debut. He found Michael Clarke plumb in front of the wicket in the last ball of the match with a perfect googly. Earlier he bamboozled Simon Katich and the left-hander could do nothing but look at his dislodged furniture. The Daredevil spinner struck with the 18th ball of his Test career. Katich had no clue whatsoever as the Mishra delivery came in a trifle after pitching outside the off stump brushing the Aussie’s leg stump.

Before that, the Ishant Sharma ghost came to haunt Australian captain Ricky Ponting as the lanky pacer from Delhi caught the skipper in the crease for the batsman to be adjudged leg before wicket by umpire Rudi Koertzen. Ponting fell for 5 runs scored off 23 deliveries.

Prior to Ponting’s wicket, it was Zaheer Khan and Matthew Hayden in the face off, again. The result the same. An in swinging delivery from the left arm pacer crashed through the defence of the Big Matt only to rattle his furniture. Matthew Hayden has been dismissed three times in as many innings on this tour by Zaheer Khan. He departed for naught with Australia losing their first wicket on zero.

Earlier, a great start by Sehwag and Gambhir combined with contributions from Sachin Tendulkar (88), Sourav Ganguly (102), MS Dhoni (92) and Rahul Dravid (39) put India on top as the hosts were wrapped for 469 in the first innings of the Mohali Test on Day 2. Dhoni was the last man to be dismissed, that too, unluckily. He scored 92. The world champs will have to hit back real hard if they have to pose any competition to their opposition.

After Sachin stole the limelight on day 1 and Ganguly in the first half of Day 2, it was captain courageous MS Dhoni’s turn to press the accelerator and turn on the heat on the already bruised Aussies. The stand in skipper came to the crease with a positive frame of mind and took the attack on the Australians from ball one to score 92 quick runs. His innings included eight hits to the fence and four massive ones over it. However, TV replays showed that the ball was way outside the off stump.

Prior to that, a fabulous innings came to an end when Sourav Ganguly perished to Cameron White in an attempt to up the tempo for India. He departed for a superbly knit 102. Ganguly got out when India’s scorecard read 435 but not before he put India in the driver’s seat. What initially looked like a trademark Ganguly shot – down the wicket to a spinner, ball high in the air, ended in Brett Lee’s hands at long off.

Soon after Dada walked back to the pavilion, Harbhajan Singh, who replaced Ganguly at the crease, also took his way back after being castled by Cameron White for 1.

Sourav Ganguly scored his 16th century in Tests to stamp his authority on the game, yet again. Silencing all his critics with a flawless century, Dada along with MS Dhoni drove India to safety on Day 2 of the second Test match in Mohali. Ganguly made the Aussie bowling look spineless as he raised his bat to acknowledge the crowd’s greetings. Dhoni completed his half century alongside and the duo brought up a century stand for the seventh wicket too.

Earlier, Ganguly and Dhoni took control of the game after night watchman Ishant Sharma perished to debutant Peter Siddle. Ganguly held one end and Dhoni scored briskly on the other to take India past the 400 run mark at lunch on Day 2 of the second Test match.

Day 1 of the Mohali Test saw records tumble in abundance. Sachin Tendulkar was the name of the game. He zipped past Brian Lara to become the highest run scorer in Tests when he took three runs off Peter Siddle. Mohali was on its feet, the sky lit even in sunlight, the Aussies queued up to shake hands with the Master, everyone forgot about the Test. As if that was not enough, he cruised past 12000 runs, the first to do so, obviously.

Sourav Ganguly followed. He became the fourth Indian and the only left hander to join ‘Club 7000’. In the process, he also left behind Sir Donald Bradman.

Earlier in the match, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put up another 50 run stand for the first wicket to become the most successful opening pair for India. This was their 11th half-century stand for the first wicket.

Getting back to the match, it belonged to India as they gained a psychological edge over the Australians by getting a score in excess of 300 on Day 1. Sourav Ganguly hit back at critics with a superb half century to hold the innings together even after the loss of five top order wickets.

At the end of Day 1, India were placed firmly at 311 for 5 with Ganguly (54) and night watchman Ishant Sharma (2) at the crease.

(Agency)