Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke shared honours on day one of the fourth Test to put Australia on top.
Here is how the day panned out.
90th over: Australia ends Day 1 on a high with 335/3.
Michael Clarke pushed the last delivery of the day towards mid-off and thus concluded another fruitful day for the Australian team. Clarke (140*) and Ponting (137*) forged an unbeaten partnership of 251 runs.
76th over: Australia race past 300 runs
Ponting drives Sehwag towards long on for a single, Australia reach 300 runs as they look set for a massive first innings total.
71st over: 200-run partnership
Clarke cuts one towards backward point for a boundary; the partnership is now worth 200 runs.
68th over: Captain Clarke slams 19th Test ton
Michael Clarke reached his 19th Test ton with back to back boundaries off Umesh Yadav to pile the misery on Indian bowlers on the first day of Adelaide Test.
64th over: Ponting strikes his second century of the series
Ricky Ponting struck his second century of the series to take his personal tally to 41 Test hundreds. He looked in fine touch and his choice of strokes and execution wore a marked improved look than Sydney innings.
Post Tea
62nd over: 150 runs partnership between Ponting and Clarke
59th over: Michael Clarke dispatches Virender Sehwag towards long on for the first six of the match.
Second Session
The second session belonged to Australian batsmen as the duo of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke exploited the batting friendly conditions at Adelaide Oval to neutralise the impact Indian bowlers made in the first session of the day.
A splendid straight drive, a typical Punter shot off pacer Umesh Yadav was potent enough to send a strong message to the Indian bowlers that he was in fine touch. Out of his five tons at Adelaide, four have come against India. Sharma was the only bowler who troubled Ponting.
58th over: Signs of desperation
As the runs started leaking easily, the signs of desperation from the Indian team were clear as Virat Kohli appealed for a run out against Clarke.
52nd over: Ponting completes 13000 Test runs
Ponting sweeps Ashwin to deep square leg to reach the milestone of 13000 test runs.
Post Lunch
45th over: Halfway down the first day’s play, Michael Clarke changes his bat.
Ishant has bowled differently from the earlier Test matches in this series. He has been more focussed, accurate and sticked to his line.
A missed chance
Clarke’s edge off Ishant Sharma’s bowling flows past between Keeper Saha and second slip.
32nd over: Ponting completes a brisk half-century after
A fluent Punter on a placid Adelaide strip completed half-century in quick time to keep the Australian scoreboard ticking. Ponting took only 69 deliveries to raise his bat for 61st fifty Test fifty.
30th over: 100 up for Australia
Australia are 100 up. Michael Clarke plays one towards midwicket off Umesh Yadav to bring in 100 runs for the hosts.
First session (before lunch) (29 overs, 98 runs and 3 wickets)
There hasn’t been much movement for the bowlers in the morning. Indian bowlers barring Umesh Yadav have bowled superbly on a placid wicket to keep the Australians from scoring freely.
R Ashwin took two early wickets to keep the Australian batsmen in check as India restricted them to 98/3 at lunch. Ricky Ponting(43*) and captain Michael Clarke(9*) were on the crease as a clever captaincy from Virender Sehwag saw India dominating the first session of Adelaide Test on day 1.
26th Over: Ashwin strikes again
Intelligent bowling from R Ashwin saw grafter Ed Cowan playing one towards cover where VVS Laxman took a good catch to send the lefty back to the pavilion.
Ashwin tossed one to lure Cowan for a drive towards cover where Laxman took a brilliant low catch. He scored 30 runs before getting out.
10th over: 2nd wicket falls, R Ashwin castles Marsh
R Ashwin runs through the defence of out of form Shaun Marsh to bowl him out as Australia lost their second wicket at the score of 31. Marsh’s wretched series continues as he misjudged and thus played the wrong line. The southpaw was late to realise he was bowled.
7th over: 1st wicket falls, Zaheer strikes early
Left arm pacer Zaheer Khan provided the early breakthrough for India as he trapped Perth Test’s hero David Warner in front of the wickets to pick his and India’s first wicket.
It seems that Sehwag’s strategy of introducing Ashwin early into the attack has worked for India as his tight bowling from one end led Zaheer from the other to trouble the openers and the result was what India would have liked.
4th over: Sehwag brings Ashwin into the attack early in the innings.
A good start from R Ashwin as his first over is a maiden. It seems introduction of Ashwin has somewhat shifted the momentum in favour of India. Clever captaincy from Sehwag!
Source:Zee News
