Harbhajan And Ishant Set Platform For Victory In Mohali

Mohali: MS Dhoni's Midas touch has brought India on the brink of a 1-1 lead in this series, a refreshingly positive approach to Test captaincy seeing India five Aussie wickets away from a memorable win in the second Test. Set an impossible 516 to win, the Australians had disintegrated to 141 for five by close of play to Day Four, their hopes now resting mainly on Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke, who staved off further damage on Monday by resolutely batting out the last hour-and-half till stumps.

After the batsmen had stretched the lead with ridiculous ease earlier in the day; Harbhajan Singh (3 for 23 in 15 Ov) and Ishant Sharma (2 for 29 in 9 Overs) set off panic in the opposition ranks as Australia sank from 49/0 to 52/4, and then 58/5, to signal a shockingly tame surrender. Rarely have Australians displayed such weak stomachs for the fight, at home or away, and over the curse of this Test it has looked like the Indians have been batting and bowling on a different surface altogether.

On the Monday morning, the trend continued, with dropped catches, overthrows and missed run-out chances being the order of the day as Gautam Gambhir 104 (138b, 7x4, 1x6) finally converted another solid start in a big one, a well-deserved second Test hundred on either side of birthday boy Sehwag 90 (122b, 8x4) and Dhoni's 68* (84b, 3x4, 1x6) breezy knocks lifting the lead to 515, prompting the declaration and giving Indai a cushion of five sessioins and a bit to prise out ten Aussie wickets.

Brief Score: Australia 268 and 141 for 5 (Clarke 42*, Haddin 37*) need 375 runs to beat India 469 and 313 for 3 (Gambhir 104, Sehwag 90, Dhoni 68*)

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Session Reports
1st Session 130 runs, 2 wickets, 26 Overs
2nd Session 134 runs, 3 wickets, 24 Overs
3rd Session 91 runs, 3 wickets, 38 Overs

Day Four Highlights

• Ghambir slammed a ton and Sehwag hit 90, before Dhoni took charge to ensure Oz had 516 to chase, Bhajji and Rajdhani Express Ishant then cleaned half of the Aussie batting to put India enroute to a victory.
• 1178 runs aggregate achieved by Virender Sehwag this year at 65.44 including three hundreds and three fifties in 10 Tests. He is now just one short of Graeme Smith's run aggregate of 1179 (Ave 69.35) in 11 Tests.
• 104 runs made by Gautam Gambhir, it is his first hundred against Aussie and second in Test. His career best score is 139 against Bangladesh at Chittagong in 2004. For the first time, he has posted a ton and a fifty 67 & 104 in the same Test.
• Eighth times has dismissed Hayden in 12 Test - the most number of times any bowler has dismissed him. Both SA's Makhaya Ntini and Zaheer Khan have got him out seven each.
• First time MS Dhoni (92 & 68*) has scored two fifties in a Test. On Monday, his scored his 11th half-century.