At last a Test in this series will enter the fifth day. But for India, this marginal shift in the dynamic of the narrative hasn't translated to a change in fortune.
At stumps on the fourth day of the fourth Test, the touring party's position was roughly that of Batman's, from that memorably cheesy, camp series on television: bound, blindfolded, and at the complete mercy of a suitably dastardly super-villain.
Only, those tuning in at the same Bat Time, on the same Bat Channel, won't find an escape routine involving the utility belt; they'll get instead the same Bat Capitulation.
India — set 500 to win or nearly five sessions to bat out — ended Friday on 166 for six, Wriddhiman Saha and the lower-order standing between Australia and a clean sweep.
The day began with Australia 382 ahead and looking to press on. India, its intentions revealed by Virat Kohli's bluff and bluster at the end of the third day, was eyeing quick wickets and a fantastic chase. This conflict suggested a dramatic first session.
But what happened instead was vaguely pleasant tedium, the sort of feeling that besets you under a breezy fan after a heavy lunch.
Australia increased its lead to 499, shedding two wickets in the process. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, who had resumed duties for Australia, extended their partnership to 71 before the Australian captain was wrongly adjudged caught-behind off Umesh Yadav for a brisk 37 (43b, 4x4).
The situation demanded a typical Michael Hussey knock in the second innings, a knock that moved the game along quickly. But the left-hander could manage just 15 off 39 balls before he was adjudged ‘lbw', Ishant Sharma winning a marginal decision. The rate of scoring during the partnership between Clarke and Ponting was 4.26; Hussey and Ponting could do no better than 3.42; it was to get even slower with Ponting and Haddin — 2.79.
Clarke betrayed a rare moment of frustration after lunch when he gestured to his batsmen to return. The call signifying the declaration of the innings wasn't one of controlled satisfaction as it usually is, but of grumpy displeasure. Clarke mightn't have been happy with how Ponting (60 n.o.) and Hussey were batting, but he had enough of a target and more importantly sufficient time for 10 wickets.
Sehwag's knock
Virender Sehwag decided to brighten the day, which thus far had consisted of holding-pattern bowling, not entirely imaginative batting, and sub-par fielding (although the three dropped chances, involving Ashwin, Dravid and Saha, were difficult by most standards).
Sehwag had begun the Test series with a half-century. He ended with another, book-ending a string of low scores. The odd ball seamed or bounced strangely, but without conventional swing (it was windless, unlike Perth, and dry too), the seamers hadn't much to threaten him with.
Sehwag began by exploring the third-man area, not always convincingly, but his batting against Peter Siddle, the bowler of the series, was spectacularly decisive.
Two back-foot drives through cover, one through point, a cut, and a lofted off-drive: each time, the balance shifted at the right time; the bat flashed, the sun's rays glinting off it. Sehwag got to his 50 off 36 balls with 11 fours, including back-to-back boundaries off Nathan Lyon that brought up the landmark.
The off-spinner had the last laugh, however, with a joke of a ball, a full-toss. The punchline was particularly nasty: it cramped Sehwag just enough from around the wicket. Had he hit down on it with a horizontal bat, he might have done better. Instead Sehwag lost control of the bat; the ball ballooned on the off-side. Lyon looked sheepish.
Sehwag's second dismissal off a full-toss in the match succeeded, by 66 runs, the exit of Gautam Gambhir, tempted into indiscretion outside off-stump. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar fell within 10 runs of each other, leaving India on 110 for four.
Curious innings
Dravid had a curious innings. When he began, his back foot seemed better inclined to move across from leg-stump, but he quickly slipped back into the habit that has cost him this series. He fought hard, like he always does; but with his back foot on or just outside leg-stump, he was reaching beyond his front foot with his arms when the ball was outside off-stump. So far he has been bowled with the ball cutting back from that line; on this occasion, he couldn't completely cover the line when driving. He was caught at gully.
Lyon bothered Tendulkar from around the wicket. With the great man unwilling to unsettle the off-spinner and the close-catchers — barring one thunderous strike early in his innings — the inevitable happened. He was caught off bat and pad at short-leg.
V.V.S. Laxman (35) and Virat Kohli added 52, but lost their wickets in the dying minutes of the day. Laxman, who seemed more comfortable having taken guard further across his stumps to try and counter Australia's wide lines, survived a chance on 25 when Ponting dropped him off Ryan Harris. He couldn't make Australia pay, flicking Lyon to Shaun Marsh at an unconventional short mid-wicket.
Tragicomic run-out
Hilfenhaus then bettered Marsh's effort with a stunning pick and diving throw, against his body's momentum, to run Kohli out.
Why Kohli was attempting a short single with the night-watchman at the other end wasn't certain. It was tragicomic, not unlike India's tour.
Brief Score:
Australia 1st innings: 604
India 1st innings: 272
Australia 2nd innings:
David Warner c and b Ashwin 28
Ed Cowan lbw b Ashwin 10
Shaun Marsh lbw Khan 0
Ricky Ponting not out 60
Michael Clarke c Saha b Yadav 37
Michael Hussey lbw b Sharma 15
Brad Haddin not out 11
Extras (6lb) 6
TOTAL- (for five wickets decl.) 167
Fall of wickets- 1—39, 2—40, 3—40, 4—111, 5—147.
Overs- 46. Batting time- 191 minutes.
Bowling- Zaheer Khan 13—1—38—1, Ravichandran Ashwin 20—2—73—2, Ishant Sharma 8—0—27—1, Umesh Yadav 5—0—23—1.
India 2nd innings:
Gautham Gambhir c Haddin b Harris 3
Virender Sehwag c Ponting b Lyon 62
Rahul Dravid c Hussey b Harris 25
Sachin Tendulkar c Cowan b Lyon 13
V.V.S. Laxman c Marsh b Lyon 35
Virat Kohli run out 22
Ishant Sharma not out 2
Wriddhiman Saha not out 0
Extras (3lb, 1w) 4
TOTAL- (for 6 wickets) 166
Fall of wickets- 1—14, 2—80, 3—100, 4—110, 5—162, 6—166.
Overs- 56. Batting time- 230 minutes.
Bowling- Ryan Harris 14—4—25—2 (1w), Ben Hilfenhaus 9—2—33—0, Peter Siddle 10—3—36—0, Nathan Lyon 19—3—57—3, Michael Hussey 2—0—3—0, Michael Clarke 2—0—9—0.
Keywords: India's tour of Australia
