Filed under Ind v Aus-Melbourne test

If you didn't notice, Indian team's famous batting lineup were demolished for less than 200 in both the innings.. how many times India have been bowled out so cheaply? well, only thrice - vs New Zealand at Hamilton (scored 99 & 154) & Wellington (scored 161 & 121) in 2002 and in this test match at MCG.

Today at Melbourne, Australia completed their 15th consecutive test match win (list), denting all the confidence visitors may have had! After spirited performance on Day 1 by the bowlers, Indian batting collapsed on Day 2 and since then - they were always chasing this game. Mathew Hayden (man of the match) continued his good form against Indians whereas Stuart Clark appeared more accurate than famous Asian batsmen could digest. The pitch wasn't dangerous. in fact, it was much like a sub-continent wicket with little bit of reverse swing & no steep bounce.. yet, Indian batting couldn't stand up for the wonderful work their bowlers had done.

A temperature of over 48 degrees in the middle didn't stop Aussie seamers, as captain ponting puts it "run in & hit the deck hard". In other words, Indians had lost this match in the first innings batting itself, second essay was just a formality!

Caravan now moves to Sydney cricket ground where 2nd test match of this Ind v Aus test series will be played from 2nd of January 2008.

India vs Australia : 1st test Melbourne 26-30 Dec, 2007-08 series
Australia 1st Inn : 343 all out in 93 overs	India 1st Inn : 196 all out in 71.5 overs
Jaques 66, Hayden 124, Ponting 4,	Jaffer 4, Dravid 5, VVS 26, Ganguly 43
Clarke 20, Hussey 2, Symonds 35	Sachin 62, Yuvraj 0, Dhoni 0, Kumble 27
Australia 2nd Inn : 351/7 dec, 88 overs	India 2nd Inn : 161 allout, 74 overs
Jaques 51, Hayden 47, Clarke 73	Jaffer 15, Dravid 16, Sachin 15, Yuvraj 5
Symonds 44, Gilchrist 35, Hogg 35*	Dhoni 11, Ganguly 40, Laxman 42
India lose by 337 runs, series 1-0 with 3 tests to go

Last few notes from Melbourne
**Talk about runs, this is India's third biggest test match loss ever. Once they lost to Australia by 342 runs at Nagpur & to Pakistan by 342 runs at Karachi.. and now this match at Melbourne by 337 runs.

**Now don't ask me in which match most batsmen were out off a no-ball, and hence, continued batting. In this game, 3 bowlers were denied wickets cause it was a foot no-ball.. Johnson-Dravid, Zaheer-Symonds & Lee-Jaffer!
**Around the 2nd hour today, Laxman stole a single at mid-on which was the 100,000 run scored at Melbourne crickets ground (MCG), which also hosted the first ever test match!

One last test of Dhoni's abilities!

Preview : It's time India wakes up, & early.

Not another brick, but the WALL himself

Day 1 : In-form Indians gallop first 9 wickets

Day 2 : Great Indian batting collapse, revisits..

Day 3 : Aus bets famous Indian bats - Target 499.

Indians blown away at Melbourne, series 1-0.