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Australia made two important breakthroughs before lunch on the fifth day in Bangalore, where India were set 299 for an unlikely victory. The loss of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid severely dented India's hopes and a defensive mindset from Gautam Gambhir suggested they would be happy simply to stop Australia from opening the series with a win.
Ricky Ponting was keen to attack after giving his bowlers nearly a full day to dismiss India on a pitch that was not a minefield but continued to offer considerable variations in bounce. There was also the matter of the weather; although the conditions had brightened by lunch there was still the chance of rain later in the day.
Sachin Tendulkar had a more positive approach than Gambhir but the man the Australians dearly wanted to remove was Sehwag, whose ability to score quickly must have featured in Ponting's target-setting calculation. For that reason, Brad Haddin must have wanted to hide under a pile of coats and hope everything worked out after he dropped Sehwag on 5.
It has been a tough match behind the stumps for Haddin, who has had to deal with unpredictably low bounce, occasional steepling bumpers and the odd swinging wide ball. Judging how close to stand has not been easy and when Sehwag edged a Brett Lee outswinger the ball was on to Haddin too quickly and bounced off his right glove as he dived.
Fortunately for Australia, the mistake cost only one run as Stuart Clark picked up Sehwag for 6 in the following over. Sehwag was looking to clip a straight ball through leg but was on the shot too quickly and it ran off the back of his bat to Matthew Hayden, who took a sharp chance low to his left at first slip.
India's 16 for 1 became 24 for 2 when Dravid also fell to a fullish delivery which angled in. He tried to clip Lee through the leg side but a brilliantly fast reaction from Ponting, who dived to his right and clutched the catch at short midwicket, had the Australians celebrating.
The two early breakthroughs came after Australia added 35 to their overnight score as they batted for 30 minutes for setting India the chase. Haddin and Cameron White put together a useful 25-run partnership after Shane Watson was bowled for 41 trying to loft Ishant Sharma, who finished with 3 for 40.
Ponting's declaration meant the match was similarly poised to the memorable Sydney Test of January, when India were set 333 to win on the fifth day. On that occasion, Australia batted for most of the opening session and only just sneaked home in the dying overs; this time the uncertain weather and tricky pitch encouraged Ponting to trust his bowlers.
source: cricifo
