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Kumble wickets put India back in match

India's Harbhajan Singh rolls on the ground while celebrating taking the wicket of Australia's Ricky Ponting on day four of the second Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Australia's bid for a record-equaling 16th consecutive Test win hung in the balance yesterday after Anil Kumble took two quick wickets to get India back in the match.

The India captain dismissed century-maker Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke with consecutive balls and had a confident appeal for lbw against Andrew Symonds rejected on the hat-trick ball late on the penultimate day of the second Test.

After stuttering from 250 for two to 250 for four, Australia recovered to 282-4 at stumps -- a lead of 213 -- with Mike Hussey on 87 and Symonds on 14.

With three sessions remaining, the dilemma facing Australia captain Ricky Ponting is when to declare and what sort of target he can set India to ensure a result. He must balance the quest for the winning-streak record against jeopardizing Australia's 1-0 lead in the series.

It took one of the great comebacks in Test cricket history by India, winning after being forced to follow-on in Calcutta, to end Australia's world record winning streak at 16 in 2001.

Many of the stars of that India performance are playing in this Sydney Cricket Ground Test.

The Australians, who won last week's opening Test by 337 runs, lost quick wickets in two batches after resuming at 13 without loss yesterday.

Kumble struck first when Phil Jaques (42) played a rash pull shot to Yuvraj Singh in the outfield, ending a cautious, 85-run opening stand with Hayden.

It was Kumble's 100th Test wicket against Australia.

His celebrations were muted compared with Harbhajan Singh's ecstatic reaction when Ponting (1) pushed a leading edge to V.V.S. Laxman at silly point.

The feisty Punjabi spinner sprinted toward the boundary with his right index finger in the air, then rolled twice on the ground in the shadows of the pavilion after removing Ponting with his first ball to the Australian captain.

It was the eighth time in eight Test matches that he has dismissed the Tasmanian and it was a key wicket, with Australia losing two wickets for five runs and slipping to 90-2.

Hayden and Hussey combined to lift Australia to 250, with Hayden notching his 29th Test hundred to move level with legendary Australian batsman Sir Donald Bradman and South Africa's Jacques Kallis at No. 6 on the all-time list of most Test centuries.

The left-handed Hayden, needing a runner in the latter part of his innings because of a back problem, grafted for 196 balls to score 123, including 12 boundaries, before he mis-timed a reverse sweep against Kumble and lobbed a catch to Wasim Jaffer.

Clarke (0) edged his first ball to Rahul Dravid at first slip and then Symonds was lucky to survive after failing to offer a shot on the next ball and getting hit high on front pad.

Symonds scored an unbeaten 162 in the first innings to boost Australia from a precarious 134-6 to 463, before India replied with 532 with centuries by V.V.S Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar.
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