WHO STOOD TALL ON DAY 3 AT MELBOURNE

  Result of the test match between India and Australia at Melbourne looks like a cat on the wall. Both teams have equal chance take the lead in four match test series.

   
















 
 

       Dravid got bowled by a beautiful delivery from Hilfenhaus on the  first over of the day for a score of 68. Then Laxman came to the crease, he was not seemed to be in good touch. He walked back to the pavilion after nipping back one from the bowling of  Siddle.

 

   Kohli arrived to the middle but not stood for a long time. Hilenfaus,  by pitching fuller got rid of kohli. Again bad form for Dhoni in Australia continues after he was caught by Hussey at gully of Hilfenhaus bowling for a score of 6.

  While wickets were trembling at one end Ishant showed some character and hung in there for a long time. Ashwin showed his batting ability by scoring runs at the other end.

   Hilfenhaus continued his best run by getting rid of Ishant and finishing with his career best figures of 5/75. Zaheer was bowled by pattinson and siddle took Ashwin's wicket who scored a handy 31.  India all out for 282.

   Australian openers arrived to the middle after lunch  for their second innnings with a lead of 51 over India

 

     



 


   Yadav struck early to get rid of top three batsmen of Australia. He bowled Warner and Marsh of an inside edge. Ed Cowan got out by LBW of Yadav's delivery with came back to him. Australia was reduced to 3/24.

                 

   Australian skipper Clarke was got out for seventh time to Ishant's bowling this time by an inside edge. Australia was struggling at 4/27. out of form Hussey came to the middle to bat along with Ponting. They scored a century partnership, both scored fifty a piece.
 

Zaheer was brought back to the attack, he took two crucial wickets of Ponting who again scored a sixty and Haddin for six which brought India to the game after a vital partnership.

 
   
    Yadav got rid of Siddle after he nipped one back to Dhoni. Ashwin after a long spell got Lyon out of a carom ball which reduced Australia to 8/166. At stumps of day 3 Australia were 8/179 and they  got a important lead of  230.

    At day 4 India should get those remaining wickets quickly without giving much runs and start batting positively. On Australian side, they must try to score some 50 or 60 runs and should get early wickets while bowling to have the upper hand in this game. This game is going to produce a nail biting finish .

REVIEW ON DAY 2 OF BOXING DAY TEST

    Swamy army on day 2 completely took control over the Aussies with both batting and bowling at the MCG.

     

   








 
 
     
 
   Zaheer continued his best form that he gained on  2nd  session of day 1. He completely outplayed the Australian lower order batsmen by getting out of  Haddin and Siddle.

      

     

   
   
 
    But Pattinson showed some resistance for about fifty balls but Ashwin took the responsibility to clean up the Australian tail with a score of 333 on first innings.

        

 
     

 
    Indian openers came to bat. Sehwag started off in his own typical style but Gambhir walked to pavilion by nipping one back to Haddin of  Hilfenhaus bowling after scoring only three runs.

 
    Few words were exchanged in the middle between Pattinson and Sehwag  just after Pattinson tried to hit Sehwag with his elbow while going for a run.  

 
 









     
     
     
   Dravid and Sehwag batted brilliantly but Sehwag got bowled of an inside edge of Pattinson's delivery after scoring a good fifty. Sehwag crossed 8000 runs in tests during his en route to sixty five.
   

   








   


Then the little master came to bat with huge roaring and expectation. Sachin and Dravid both scored fifties. Sachin scored more quickly than Dravid.

 
   












    Siddle bowled Sachin at last over of the day for seventy three. Yet again Sachin failed to score his hundredth ton. Ishant walked into middle as the night watchman.
     
      On day 3, India must take a lead of at least 200. but  Aussies should toiled hard to bowled out India soon. 

REVIEW ON DAY 1 OF BOXING DAY TEST

  Much awaited series of 2011 started on Boxing day at Melbourne with a jam packed stadium with 70,000 people.

  

Clarke won the toss and took a brave decision to bat first on a grass covered Melbourne pitch.

  

    Ed Cowan made his debut as 427th player for Australia in tests and 11th debutant in 2011.

  

    

     Warner got off to a blistering start whereas Cowan looked solid on other end. Cowan  batted patiently by punishing the wrong ones for boundary.

           

    

     As Ishant and Zaheer failed to strike early Umesh took two quick wickets in successive overs of him to bring back India to the game exactly after the rain break.

           

                       



      
Cowan and Ponting were started to strike the ball well for boundaries especially after lunch. They scored a century partnership.But Umesh bowled a beauty to get rid of Ponting after scoring his fifty.   

   Zaheer again proved himself as great old ball bowler by making Clarke and Hussey to walk back to the pavilion in successive balls but failed to get hat rick.

                

                                                       
                                                                                            

Ashwin was credited with Cowan's wicket after a long spell. Cowan justified his selection as opener.

   
       But Siddle and Haddin steadied the innings with few fine and lucky boundaries to finish the day with a score of 277 for  6. India should quickly grab the wickets of lower order batsmen and must start batting before lunch.

AUSTRALIAN CORNER ON THE BOXING DAY TEST

  Playing at home is a big advantage for the Aussies. Pitch in Melbourne looks to give a great purchase for both batsmen and bowlers. This is the right time for Australia to regain thier supremacy in tests. They have won 19 boxing day tests out of 35 played in australia with 7 tests were drawn.

   If Australia bats first, opener Cowan must carry on his good run from his domestic season and Warner should start from where he left at Hobart against kiwis, if they, gets off to a good start against new ball bowling from Ishant and Zak then indian bowlers will lose their  
confidence . Ricky is expected to regain his form against his favorite opponents.If ricky and hussey spends a good 40 or 50 minutes in the middle they will automatically bounce back. Clarke and Haddin usually get some starts but they fail convert it into good tones. Aussie batsmen must put on considerable high total because their bowlers are not experience enough to defend a small total.

    If Australia bowls first then their new ball bowlers Pattinson and Siddle must not give time for the indian openers to settle. If they were able to make the both indian openers to walk back to the pavilion within one hour of play then aussie will have upper hand. Australian seam bowlers are extremely tested when they are bowling against indian middle order they must strive hard to bowl out Indian middle order. 

   

    Australia's young bowlers were not fully tested against a great batting line up especially Lyon because Indians are veterans in playing spin bowling.  He will be kept under extreme pressure to bowl against Indians.

INDIAN CORNER ON THE BOXING DAY TEST

    Always MCG tests in the past had produced a good contest between bat and ball. There is something for everyone so if a team wins toss they should go for their strengths.India should go for batting first obviously but Australia have equal strengths in batting and bowling due lack of experience and form.

      If India bats first then initial hours of  play is very crucial Indian openers should survive in the middle for at least one hour especially Gautam because this is the first test battle for him in Australia. Sehwag as usual must take a ride on Aussie bowlers.India's middle order looks promising with Dravid, Laxman and Sachin likes to play in Aussie environment. Rohit must be preferred over Kohli because of his experience and current form. Dhoni must regain his form after a long rest and must be prepared to play with lower order batsmen. With Ashwin's batting ability India looks to trouble the young Aussie bowlers to take 20 wickets.

     If India bowls first it'll be a great opportunity for Zak to get back his form because top three Australia batsmen were left handed we have seen his ability to trouble left handers he pick few quick wickets and must trouble batsmen to get easy runs and if Ishant is confident he can swing the new ball into the right handers and hit the deck hard.

     Umesh is expected to have a pleasant treat at MCG with hos pace and swing. Ashwin  will be the trump card for India to win this test he will be looking dangerous for Aussie batsmen with his collection of variation and bounce but he must be patience to get wickets. if Indian bowlers picks one or two wickets in first hour of play then they will be on song to get Aussie to bowled out for a low score 

INDIA TOURING DOWN UNDER

 One of the highly awaited series of all time starts on boxing day at Melbourne between new looking Clarke's men and Dhoni's men. Border-Gavaskar trophy is rated equally to ashes series ,cricket fans expect it to be a cracker of a series.Indian fans expect India to dominate over Aussie team in every field. As usual Indian batting order looks formidable with big names of world cricket but India's no.6 spot throws some worry to Dhoni .India's bowling attack looks terribly weak as Zak is not in his best of form, Praveen ruled out due to an injury and latest blow as Aaron also ruled out due to an injury.Only hope for India is Ishant and Ashwin both hoped to enjoy those conditions.Its really tough task ahead for India down under.

 Aussies were looking to regain their supremacy in world cricket under Clarke's captaincy but both their batting and bowling form not anywhere similar to the typical Australian standards.Series against South Africa and kiwis is the best possible warm up before series against India.But only Clarke and Watson maintain some form in batting. Ricky is likely to regain his form against his favourite opponent as he was backed by Dravid.  As Cummins, Johnson ruled out of test series Siddle, Pattinson and Lyon are expected to fire as early as they can. This is best chance for Aussie team to show their dominance with home conditions favouring them.


GUNS EXPECTED TO FIRE:
INDIA:  Sehwag,Ishant,Ashwin
AUSTRALIA:  Ricky,Warner,Pattinson


RECORDS ON THE CARDS:

• 100th century for Sachin.
• 12 sixes needed for Sehwag to equal most number of sixes hit in tests by Gilly.