 India won the first Test match against Australia at Mohali thanks to a
brilliant display of batting by VVS Laxman on the fifth and the final day of the
Test match. The second Test match will now be played at Bangalore and it will
mean that India cannot lose the series. MS Dhoni will now maintain his record
of never having lost a Test series as a captain.
India had resumed from their overnight score of 55/4 and had Sachin Tendulkar
and Zaheer Khan batting. Both the batsmen needed to bat long given that one
was not sure whether Laxman was fit enough to bat, and there was only MS Dhoni
at the number eight position after Laxman.
However, after batting on for 30 minutes, the Indians lost their first wicket
for the day when Zaheer Khan poked one from Nathan Hauritz to the slips.
This brought Laxman to the crease and in partnership with Tendulkar, the pair
added some valuable runs. The two were aggressive as well, knowing well that
batting for survival without scoring the runs would mean that they would lose
their wickets one way or the other.
However, rather surprisingly Tendulkar kept trying to play the upper cut time
and again without success and in the end, only managed to edge it to the gully
fielder, Michael Hussey. Tendulkar's was a big wicket, and after this,
Dhoni did not last too long while Harbhajan lasted only two balls before he
was caught by the slips to leave the Indians needing 92 for the win with only
2 wickets remaining.
At this stage, with only Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha to go, it was
definitely going to be next to impossible for the side to get the runs.
As it turned out, Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman and Ishant got together
and batted with great aplomb and poise. They did not get out for long periods
of time and in the end, had added 81 runs when Ishant began to tire out. With
only 11 runs to win the game, Ishant was finally given out lbw, to a ball that
was sliding down the leg-side and that meant that the Indians were nine down.
After some hara-kiri and some good running between the wickets, the Indians
finally managed to get the required 11 runs for the win and claim the 1-0 lead.
Zaheer Khan was declared the man of the match for his eight wicket haul.
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