Ramesh, Laxman and Mongia take batting honours

By G. Viswanath

NAGPUR, FEB. 18. Colin Miller showed his bag of tricks at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground on Sunday afternoon. In the process he gave ample hints of positioning himself as an able ally to leg-spinner Shane Warne and pose a threat to Indian batsmen in the three-Test rubber.

The oldest practitioner of off-spin bowling in international cricket exploded a myth that Indian batsmen are the best in the business of facing spin bowling. He was in the vanguard of Australia's remarkable fightback after Sadagopan Ramesh and Venkatsai Laxman had collared the pacemen in the first two hours of the second day of this three-day tour opener for Australia.

Miller took six wickets in the 32 overs, and in a fashion that must have pleased the discerning. But in spite of Miller's exhibition of clever bowling, India `A' took a lead of 77 runs and the day's honours, thanks to Ramesh's 101 (20 x 4s) and Laxman's 94 (17 x 4s) and a late order rearguard show of pluck by Nayan Mongia (71 not out, 11 x 4s). Australia wiped out

half of the deficit in eight overs, but lost the wicket of Michael Slater to off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

There was no demon in the VCA pitch and it was only a combination of seam and spin attack that had played the incisive part in bowling Australia out on Saturday, Ashish Nehra and Rahul Sanghvi, both fighting for places in the team, were just about inspired to lift their levels of performance. The two, impressed the national selectors, who have more or less decided about the nucleus of the team for the first Test. If Nehra and Sanghvi showed the get-up-and-go attitude on the first day, the batsmen, first, Ramesh and Laxman and thereafter Mongia demonstrated their inclination to take on the Australian attack.

Opener Shiv Sundar Das (he was run out) was unlucky on Saturday evening, but in the 43 minutes he faced Jason Gillespie, Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz, he showed no nerves. For Ramesh, it was his first opportunity against Australia in more than a year's time after he badly hurt the right thumb of his bottom hand in the Melbourne Test. He scored fluently on Saturday evening and it was not any different when he resumed his innings (at 43) on Sunday.

Ramesh at his fluent self

A leg-glance and pull of Damien Fleming saw him reach his half- century. In a matter of minutes Ramesh was stroking the ball with the precision he is known for. Soon he hammered Jason Gillespie for three fours in an over, the strokes being a pull, an extracover drive and another pull. At the other end Laxman excelled in front foot drives and matched Ramesh stroke-for- stroke. The two batsmen were in such good form that none of the Australian pace bowlers was able to check the scoring rate. In fact, they struck 22 boundaries in the first session.

Within three quarters of an hour, Steve Waugh introduced Miller. He did not make an immediate impact, Ramesh and Laxman picking two fours each of the off-spinner when he bowled from the pavilion end. Things began to happen after lunch. Miller bowled a lovely over to Ramesh, when the left-hander was on 99. He beat him once. It took Ramesh nearly 15 minutes to reach his century before he chased a near wide delivery from Gillespie and edged to Adam Gilchrist. For three and a half hours he had looked confident and in smashing form, but the casual shot resulted in his dismissal.

It was after Ramesh's exit that Miller showed his class and calibre against left-handers Dinesh Mongia and Hemang Badani. It was a combination of Miller's line and the faster ones he mixed with tossed up deliveries that terminated the innings of Mongia. The Punjab left hander probably failed to pick up the release of the ball that came like a dart, pitched, turned a bit and took the edge to Gilchrist. Mongia had allowed the previous ball, that curled in from outside the leg-stump line, to hit his pad.

Similarly, Badani seemed uncomfortable with Miller's line, the off-spinner bowling over the wicket. Both Mongia and Badani failed to score a run. Mark Waugh (substituting for Damien Martyn) held a good catch at slip to send back Badani. And soon Australia struck a big blow when Steve Waugh took a brilliant catch, diving forward at cover to take the drive of Laxman. It was the fall of the home team's third batsman at score of 232.

The sixth-wicket stand produced 32 runs before Fleming held a spectacular catch - running ten yards from mid-off to deep mid- off - to send back Balaji Rao. Debasis Mohanty struck a straight six off Miller that saw India `A' take the lead after the off- spinner had trapped Rahul Sanghvi leg before.

Nayan Mongia's grit to the fore

At 287 for eight it looked an even contest for the first innings, but Mongia, who scored a century against Australia as an opener in the inaugural Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in New Delhi in 1996, showed his resolve to battle it out even with a tailender in Mohanty for company. Mongia may have hit some fine shots in front of the wicket and pulled the Aussie pace bowlers, but what stood out was his solid defence against the short deliveries.

Steve Waugh dropped a sitter at cover of Mongia when the latter was on 69, but by his determined effort, Mongia has, indeed, made the selectors's job for the first Test, a tough one. Miller got his sixth wicket as a result of a fine catch by Slater at deep extracover, but the opener failed the second time with the bat.

It was an absorbing day's cricket with Ramesh and Laxman dominating the bowlers. Thereafter Miller took the centre stage for two hours when India `A' made 95 runs and lost seven wickets. And finally Mongia played a fighting innings to take his side's total to a healthy 368. And for the catches held, Steve Waugh's effort ought to get a No. 1 ranking, followed by Fleming and Slater's.

The scores:

Australia - 1st innings: 291

India `A' - 1st innings: S.S. Das (run out) 12, S. Ramesh c Gilchrist b Gillespie 101, V.V S. Laxman c S. Waugh b Gillespie 94, D. Mongia c Gilchrist b Miller 0, H. Badani c sub (M. Waugh) b Miller 0, N. Mongia (not out) 71, W. Balaji Rao c Fleming b Miller 6, Harbhajan Singh st. Gilchrist b Miller 12, R. Sanghvi lbw b Miller 1, D. Mohanty c Slater b Miller 28, A. Nehra c Slater b Kasprowicz 4, Extras (b-13, lb-10, nb-15, w-1) 39, Total (in 97.4 overs) 368.

Fall of wicket: 1-36, 2-231, 3-232, 4- 232, 5-232, 6-264, 7-281, 8-287, 9-362.

Australia bowling: Gillespie 19-8-55-2, Fleming 21-4-74-0, Miller 32-10-90-6, Kasprowicz 22.4-2-103-1, Ponting 3-0-23-0.

Australia - 2nd innings: M. Hayden (batting) 20, M. Slater c Rao b Harbhajan 11, J. Langer (batting) 0, Extras (lb-6, nb-2) 8, Total (for one in 8 overs) 39.

Fall of wickets: 1-31.

India `A' bowling: Mohanty 2-0-7-0, Nehra 3-0-9-0, Harbhajan 2-0- 13-1, Sanghvi 1-0-4-0.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Saimeera bungles; Swati is sole leader
Next     : Ramesh joins select band