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3rd Test: Australia wins Sydney Test (scorecard), South Africa won Test Series 2-1.. T20 & ODI series follows.
Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

Test Match 1 : Batters shine on bowlers paradise.

Filed under Aus in Ind 2008

Zaheer-Khan-Man-Of-The-Match-Test-1.jpg India had not won a test match at M Chinnaswamy stadium in last 13 years.. they still haven't!

Only 20 odd overs were lost to bad light & drizzling in this Bengaluru test match which had plenty for bowlers (both spinners & pacers).. yet batsmen took the honors & test match failed to yield a result.

Ultra-experienced batting of India were given a tentative target of 299 from 83 overs on a 5th day pitch by the visiting Australian team but their bowlers disappointed as they dismissed only 4 batsmen. Earlier, after giving away a moderate lead of 70 runs on first innings - Indian bowlers also failed to make inroads into Aussie second innings batting which compiled a 'slow & steady' 228 runs for 6 wickets before they declared.

This first test match of much hyped 2008 test series between India and Australia started with Ricky Ponting winning the toss and then scoring only his 2nd half-century in India and went on to convert it into a century. Michael Hussey made sure Australia go past 400 while batting first and since then - Indian team were chasing the game.

Full credit to the home team to never let Australia run away with game after losing that crucial toss.

India vs Australia, first test (2008 series) : Match scorecard
Australia (1st Inn) : 430 allout, 149.5 ovs Australia (2nd Inn) : 228/6 dec, 73 ovs
Hayden 0, Katich 66, Ponting 123(243B) Hayden 13, Katich 34, Ponting 17,
Michael Hussey 146 (276B, 15x4, 1x6) Hussey 31, Haddin 35*, Watson 41
Clarke 11, Haddin 33, Lee 27, White 6 Ishant Sharma 3/40, Harbhajan 2/76.
Zaheer Khan 5/91 & Ishant 4/77
Target = 299 from maxiumum of 73 ovs
India (1st Inn) : 360 allout in 119 ovs India (2nd Inn) : 177 for 4 in 73 overs
Gambhir 21, Sehwag 45, Dravid 51, Gambhir 29, Sehwag 6, Dravid 5,
Tendulkar 13, Laxman 0, Ganguly 47 Tendulkar 49 (177B), Laxman 42* (142B)
Dhoni 9, Harbhajan 54, Zaheer Khan 57* Sourav Ganguly 26* (68B, 2x4)
Mitchell Johnson 4/70 & Watson 3/45 Lee, Clark, Johnson & White took 1 wkt.
Test match Draw : Series 0-0 with 3 more test matches to be played.


INTERESTING NOTES
**This was last test match for both Sourav Ganguly (who averaged over 50 in test cricket at the venue and would retire after the series) and Anil Kumble whose it was the home ground.. both had confirmed they won't be playing any more matches at the venue.

**This was Ricky Ponting's first century in India.. he had only one other fifty in India and averaged merely 12 in his 10 innings on Indian pitches before this test match.




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