India’s part-time off-spinner Virender Sehwag picked up three key wickets to thwart Australia’s grim fightback on the third day of the third Test yesterday.
Sehwag, 30, denied centuries to captain Ricky Ponting (87) and Matthew Hayden (83), before dismissing Michael Hussey (53) as the tourists finished the day on 338-4 in reply to India’s imposing 613-7 declared.
They are still 275 runs behind with six wickets in hand and face the unenviable task of batting on a wearing fifth-day track.
PHOTO: AFP
The tourists, who trail the four-Test series 1-0 after a 320-run thrashing in Mohali, must avoid defeat if they are to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Michael Clarke was batting on 21 with Shane Watson on 4 at the close after they survived some close chances against the spinners, who managed to extract good turn from the track.
Ponting hit 14 fours in his fine 163-ball knock and also shared a vital 82-run stand with the in-form Hussey.
PHOTO: AP
The Australian skipper looked set for his 37th century following his 123 in the drawn Bangalore opener, but was bowled by Sehwag, who gave away just 66 runs off his impressive 22 overs.
Ponting is currently second behind India’s Sachin Tendulkar (39) in the highest Test century-makers’ list.
Hayden, 37, too looked in ominous form, belting 13 fours and a towering six in his 154-ball knock for his highest score of the Test series so far.
The left-handed Queenslander shared 123 runs for the opening wicket with Simon Katich (64) and another 79 with Ponting to lay the platform for Australia’s reply.
His fine innings ended when he was trapped leg before wicket by a ball that dipped in sharply.
The hosts, meanwhile, had an injury scare involving leg-spin veteran and captain Anil Kumble.
Kumble had to be taken to hospital for precautionary scans after he hurt the little finger of his left hand while attempting to take a sharp catch off Hayden at short mid-on.
Australia, 50-0 overnight, were off to a steady start, with Hayden and Katich putting on their highest opening stand of the series.
Katich looked fluent in his stroke play, hitting 10 fours and completing his 10th Test half-century.
Three times he hit pace man Ishant Sharma for fours and also appeared at ease against Kumble, who conceded 53 runs off his 17 overs.
Katich was undone by Kumble’s leg-spin partner Amit Mishra (1-95), who lured him into playing a flick from outside the off stump and then watched as the ball sneaked through the gap and hit middle stump.
Hayden looked determined to end a poor run of scores, having hit 0, 13, 0 and 29 in the two Tests, and played each ball on its merit.
He pulled Mishra over mid-wicket for a huge six to bring up Australia’s 100 in the 29th over.
Play was held up two balls into the second session when a swarm of bees caused the players and umpires to lie on the ground for a couple of minutes until the threat passed.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS