Melbourne Test – Day 3

India’s only hope of ending Day 3 on even remotely even terms with the hosts was to bowl them out cheaply in their second innings. At 4/161, India seemed to have made some progress in this direction. Andrew Symonds came along and produced a quick fire 42 which reduced India to waiting for the declaration. India could not find their Stuart Clark – someone who could run through the lower middle order. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh toiled manfully as India hoped to delay the Australian declaration. It was all in all a difficult day. When bowlers toil manfully, it usually means they’re fighting a losing battle. The bowling attack has been bested. India showed in the first innings of the match that they had the ability to keep the Australian batting in check. However, the manner of the Australian dismissals indicated that the Aussie batsmen contributed to the dismissals as much as India’s bowlers. When India batted, their batsmen were bested by the quality of Clark and Lee. Tendulkar and Ganguly apart, all the other Indian batsmen were beaten and dismissed. At the end of Day 3 of the boxing day test, it is fair to say that India have been outclassed with both bat and ball.

Australia added to the “aggression” myth by declaring with 8 overs to spare on the third day – a useless declaration in my view, with two full days remaining. These decisions seem to be mainly for public consumption. They reinforce the perception of a relentless juggernaut, not willing to concede an inch. If it was simply a case of wanting to win the Test match, they could have batted tomorrow until they got bowled out and still won it. After all, is anybody arguing that they may bowl India out in 188 overs but not in 150? If the declaration was supposed to have surprised the Indian batsmen, im almost certain that it didn’t. India knew at tea or even earlier that such a declaration was a possibility. Further, given Rahul Dravid’s terrible form, would it not have been better to declare overnight and let Dravid walk out tomorrow with the prospect of having to survive an entire day, without giving him the benefit of an easier target – that of having to bat out 8 overs? As it happened, he walked out, took first strike and played out the day.

Whatever happens tomorrow, what one hopes for is that India are able to make the Australians sweat for their wickets. Test matches are rarely won in 4th innings run chases which are the result of declarations. In fact, the only time in recent years when this has been accomplished successfully was when Graeme Smith made a quixotic declaration on the last day in desperate quest of a series leveling victory. Ricky Ponting on that occasion played a brilliant innings (in his 100th Test match) to win the game for Australia. So chances of an Indian victory are slim.

My hopes, strangely enough, are pinned on Rahul Dravid. He’s out of form, low on confidence and has looked quite ordinary at the crease. He is a great batsman however, and i want him to do well very badly. It would be a shame if he lost his place in the side if India lost tomorrow itself. He has shown a lot of character in resigning from the captaincy, accepting that he was not enjoying the job and that it had had an adverse effect on his batting. This is of course in sharp contrast to his predecessor who was clearly in denial when he was dropped in 2005. To this day, Ganguly maintains that “the manner of his dismissal” was not right. This of course begs the question – how would he have liked to have been brought face to face with reality? It would be a shame if Rahul Dravid were unable to find second wind from somewhere and come back from the brink. He is not given to such dramatic streaks. His has been a steady, relentless ascent to the pinnacle of batsmanship. He deserves a break.

It is with this naive hope that events will break in India’s and Dravid’s favor, that i look forward to Day 4 of the Melbourne Test. On Dravid’s accomplished shoulders lie the hopes of India in this series opener. They may be out of rythm right now, but they are also best suited to guide an Indian revival. There is on other suggestion. The in-form left handed Ganguly at number 3 would test the Australian bowlers and given them the challenge of bowling to a left hand right hand bowling combination. Promoting in form batsmen to number three has traditionally worked for India in the past as Ganguly will know.

India have been well and truly beaten so far in this game. With the weather set fair for days four and five, an inconclusive result is out of the question. Australias batsmen looked untroubled against the Indian bowling today, and India will take heart from that.