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 Adelaide,
Dec 12: Ricky Ponting cracked an unbeaten 176 as a
merciless Australia put a listless Indian bowling attack
to sword to take complete control of the second cricket
Test here today. The 28-year-old Ponting notched up his
19th Test century to provide the foundation for a huge
Australian total as the hosts reached a commanding 400 for
five on the first day of the match. At stumps, Adam
Gilchrist was giving Ponting company on nine on what
turned out to be a nightmarish day for the visitors.
Handicapped
by the injury-induced absence of pace spearhead Zaheer
Khan, the Indian bowlers struggled throughout the day to
contain the run deluge which saw the hosts posting the
highest total in a single day's play. The
skipper-in-waiting led the charge toying with a clueless
bowling attack as the world champions scored at an amazing
pace of around five runs per over on a perfect batting
strip at the Adelaide Oval.
 Simon
Katich (75), Justin Langer (58), Steve Waugh (30) and
Damien Martyn (30) also looked in superb form but failed
to consolidate getting out to some casual shots. Nothing
went right for Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly from the
moment he lost the toss this morning. India took the field
without Zaheer Khan who was replaced by 19-year-old
debutant Irfan Pathan. Harbhajan Singh, ruled out of the
series due to a finger injury, was replaced by the
experienced Anil Kumble who failed to make much of an
impact.
The
Australian batsmen responded with vigour after their
captain Steve Waugh had no hesitation in opting to bat on
a typical Adelaide featherbed. Waugh had demanded his men
to play with more "intensity" after the drawn
first Test in Brisbane early this week and today the
batsmen did just that. Ponting alone hammered 23 fours in
his 246-ball unfinished knock.
Left-arm
seamer Pathan had a dream start to his Test career when,
sharing the new ball with Ajit Agarkar, he had the world
record breaking Matthew Hayden caught by keeper Parthiv
Patel for 12 in the sixth over of the day. But after that
it was all downhill for India as Langer and Ponting held
the visitors by the scruff of the neck. Langer, with a
century from the first Test, galloped to his half century
in 64 balls, plundering 20 runs from a Kumble over through
two sixes and as many fours on the way.
The two
put on 113 runs for the second wicket before Langer edged
a sweep to Virender Sehwag at midwicket off Kumble.
Ponting survived a close lbw shout off Agarkar and was
dropped by Sehwag in the slips on 17 off Pathan. He made
the most of the reprieve by slamming his 19th Test hundred
that came in 118 balls and contained 17 hits to the fence.
Ponting was associated in two half-century stands with
Martyn and Waugh besides the 138-run stand with Katich.
 The
loss of Martyn and Waugh, both to Nehra, did little to
alter the course of the proceedings and the Aussie
juggernaut kept rolling. Ponting, in his peak form,
combined style with power to maul the Indians into
submission. Amazingly, most of his runs came in the third
man region. Ponting, known for his stylish on-side play,
exploited the geometry of the Adelaide Oval. Instead of
his trademark on drives, on display were chops and late
cuts against the fast bowlers to the shortish square
boundary.
His
exquisite drives to long on though came in the later
stages of his innings as he repeatedly stepped out to
Kumble. The right-hander had made two half centuries in
Brisbane but was out to his overzealousness. Today,
however, he seemed determined to make it big and the
result was endless misery for the Indians. Ganguly was in
despair as his reputed bowlers only served as cannon
fodder for Ponting. Nehra picked two for 80 but was
expensive at four an over while Kumble and Agarkar
conceded 197 runs for two wickets between them. Pathan was
equally expensive with an economy rate of 4.56.
Pathan
could have had two more wickets to his account but for his
butter fingered teammates. Besides Sehwag's reprieve to
Ponting, Kumble floored a cut from Martyn off the debutant
seamer. Nehra's twin strikes to remove Martyn and Waugh
put the skids on the hosts' scoring rate somewhat. Ganguly
also adopted a defensive field placement with as many as
seven or eight manning offside.
Waugh
began in thumping manner when he smashed Agarkar for three
fours in an over. But his discomfort against the
short-pitched bowling was there though unfortunately there
was no Zaheer to exploit it. Nehra coming around the
stumps then did the trick. The left-arm seamer slanted one
which angled in to Waugh and before the 38-year-old
veteran could shut the gap in his defence, the red cherry
rattled the timber. The second new ball was taken in
fading light at the score of 349 for four. Katich greeted
Nehra with a mighty pull into the midwicket stands and the
left-hander completed his 50 in the same over with five
fours and a six from 84 balls.
The
hundred for the fifth wicket came in 162 balls from 107
minutes before Katich fell in the penultimate over of the
day, trying to hook Agarkar and holing out to Sehwag at
fine leg. (Agencies) Scorecard
Published:
Friday, December 12, 2003
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