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 Brisbane,
Dec 4: A well-paced unbeaten century by Justin Langer
capped a dominating performance by Australia on the first
day of the first cricket Test against a struggling India
at the Gabba here today. Steve Waugh's farewell series
began on the right note for the Aussies as they finished
the first day at 262 for two with Langer on 115
accompanied by Damien Martyn on 36 before poor light
brought halt to the extended post-tea session. Overcast
conditions in the morning and a couple of rain
interruptions failed to clamp down the Aussie onslaught,
negating Sourav Ganguly's advantage of winning the toss
and opting to bowl under a dark cloud cover.
A perfect
century stand for the third wicket between Langer and
Martyn helped the hosts take firm control even as the
Indians found timely breakthroughs with the dismissals of
Matthew Hayden (37) and Ricky Ponting (54) earlier. Not
that Hayden and Ponting were subdued any bit in their
batting. The two put on 73 and 89 runs respectively for
the first two wickets with Langer and succumbed only to
their own over-confidence rather than to the opposition
bowling.
 After
a loss of 77 minutes of play due to rain in the opening
session, the tourists were submerged in the Aussie run
deluge. Hayden waded into the Indian bowling in disdainful
manner, driving and chopping the left arm pace duo of
Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan. Langer, who survived a catch
by Aakash Chopra at forward short-leg on eight as Nehra's
delivery was ruled 'no ball', settled down to play the
anchor role and left the damage doing to his more
buccaneering partner. When the Australians were flying at
well above 4.5 runs an over, India claimed the prized
scalp of Hayden.
Hayden's
dismissal came against the run of play as he
uncharacteristically flashed his bat outside the off-stump
and the edge was taken neatly by V V S Laxman at second
slip off Zaheer Khan. Ponting announced his intentions
with three sparkling boundaries in the very next over from
Agarkar before playing a rasping pull off Zaheer Khan. The
Australian captain's charge helped the hosts sustain the
brisk scoring rate and the 100 came in the 24th over. But
Agarkar returned to bowl a tight second spell and in
particular tied down Ponting with his away moving
deliveries. Ponting survived a loud appeal for caught
behind which TV replays showed to be noise of bat hitting
the ground.
At the
other end, Langer was repeatedly rapped on the pads as he
went for sweep shots against offie Harbhajan Singh. Chopra
was again in action when he got his fingers under a
Harbhajan ball gloved by Langer but he failed to hold on
to it. This particular phase marked the slowing down of
the Aussie juggernaut as the run rate dipped to 3.97. But
Ponting broke the shackles with a huge six into the
long-on stands off Harbhajan and then square drove Agarkar
for his half-century which came in 72 balls. In all, his
knock consisted seven fours and a six.
 Ponting
ultimately fell while trying to pull a Zaheer delivery
from outside the off-stump and top edged a simple catch to
wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. But if the Indians thought the
two dismissals would provide them any respite, they were
badly mistaken as Langer and Martyn brought runs at an
even faster rate, at near run a ball. The arrival of his
Western Australian teammate seemed to spur Langer as he
began to connect his hitherto failing sweep shots. The
sight of Harbhajan Singh continuously running into deliver
his now well known mix fastish off cutters and straighter
ones only to be mauled by Langer's bat summed up the day
at office for the tourists. Australia's 200 came in the
50th over and Langer brought up his hundred with a clip to
square leg fence off Agarkar. His century came in 155
balls and included 15 fours and the 100-run unbeaten
partnership with Martyn came in 122 balls.
Earlier,
India stuck to Aakash Chopra and Virender Sehwag as their
opening batting combination and left out Anil Kumble.
Australia too opted for a three-pacer-and-spinner bowling
attack, handing Nathan Bracken his first Test cap ahead of
Brad Williams. (Agencies)
Published:
Thursday, December 04, 2003
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