Victory at Perth!!

Yes...Yes...would you believe it?
We have done it....And could victory have been more sweeter?After the Sydney fiasco when most people had written India off,we have come back strongly to beat Aus in their own backyard,at Perth..



What a game?It had so many ups and downs....When Ind made 330 in the first innings,I felt that they were once again 60-70 runs short,having lost the crucial wickets of Dravid and Laxman just when the first days play was drawing to a close...Then when the Aussie openers came out to bat,Pathan bowled beautifully and swung the new ball,had good control and dismissed both the Aussie openers quickly...At 61-5,Australia were tottering..Is it?hang on...They have this uncanny knack of clawing out of difficult situations....This time ,it was Symonds and Gilchrist who came to the rescue with a wonderful partnership..At one point of time,they were going along at 7 runs per over( I was being reminded of Gilli's century in last year's WC when he bounced back after a series of dismal performances..)..That was a brilliant counter attack ....Just when they were gaining momentum,Kumble struck for his 600th wicket,getting rid of the dangerous Symonds,and when Gilli was out,there was little resistance from the tail as they surrendered quickly to be bowled out for 212...

When India batted for the 2nd time,Sehwag made his intentions clear and he was not going to hang around,though Jaffer was clawing his way out.By the end of the day's play on the 2nd day,Sehwag had quickly raced to 29 of just 35 deliveries and Pathan had been sent in as a night watchman following Jaffer's dismissal.The morning of the 3rd day belonged to Aus...Brett Lee once again stood out ...And India were reduced to a hundred odd..for the loss of 5 wickets...Following that,Laxman and Pathan notched up a good partnership and then Laxman once again in the company of Dhoni and Rp Singh added useful runs towards the end and we managed to set Australia a target of 413....

As the chase began, Pathan bowled well once again with the new ball,getting rid of the openers and by the end of the day's play on day 3,Aus still required a further 348 runs to win with 8 wickets in hand....

Hmmm...So what did you think would happen?Would India win or would Australia once again get the better of us? As it turned out,On the 4th day morning,the Indian bowlers were disciplined,and dint give away too many runs easily...Ishant Sharma bowled a fiery spell and after beating Ponting a couple of times,he finally had his man,when he got one to just straighten a bit and Dravid took an easy catch at first slip....Symonds and Hussey were clearly unlucky to have been given out lbw.In Symonds's case,luck had evened out!Just when India seemed to be gaining the upper hand,Austalia were clawing back .. Meanwhile Clarke remained aggressive at the other end,putting away the loose deliveries and carved out an excellent half century.


At 220 for 5 ( 200 odd runs further required)or so,Sehwag was introduced into the attack.I got the feeling India were trying one option too many and may be there was a sense of frustration creeping in.It was a gamble but it paid off... Sehwag got Gilli bowled round his legs...(that would have made Shane Warne proud...!!) And soon Lee followed,caught at silly point once again of Sehwag,,,And When Dhoni had Clarke stumped for 81,the score board read 253-8.Thats when Clark came to the crease...


Johnson and Clark hit some lusty blows and the score board began to move along at a rapid pace...Oh man,I must admit that when they added 50 runs or so for the 9th wicket,their were a few jitters going around in our Tv room and though Johnson slogged a few deliveries of Kumble,he looked organised and composed...while we started to lose our composure! Meanwhile,I was persuading Harish to go and have his lunch,since I felt that his departure would bring another wicket and I was also telling a few others to remain seated in particular positions only...(Superstitious!!)Finally,when Pathan got Clark ,caught behind...we sensed that victory was just a few moments away....

Eventually, the end came...Rp Singh accounting for Shaun Tait with a well pitched up delivery and as the celebrations began on the field,we were dancing around...hugging each other...shouting and screaming as though we had just conquered the world...!!!could anil Kumble ask for more..?Having got his 600th wicket in test cricket and to have captained the team.Hope we can go on to win the test at Adelaide....Wouldn't that be the icing on the cake??