India v Australia
Paul Weaver
15-Apr-2005
At Nagpur, October 26, 27, 28, 29, 2004. Australia won by 342 runs. Toss: Australia.
"Looks like home, don't it?" said umpire David Shepherd, in his familiar West
Country burr, as he surveyed the strip at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground on
the eve of this match. And, indeed, it looked like an old-fashioned English green
seamer. As Australia prepared to cross what had become known as "the final frontier"
and win their first series in India for 35 years, even the return of Tendulkar, who had
been out of cricket for two months with tennis elbow, was overshadowed by the
preparation of the VCA pitch. Ganguly said he had asked the groundsman to remove
the grass from the wicket the previous week. "But I don't think he has done much,"
he said, sounding miffed. "Our strength is our spinners but the pitch is up to him."
India seemed dispirited and when Ganguly withdrew injured on the morning of the
match they were thrown into disarray. They were also without Harbhajan Singh, who
was suffering from gastroenteritis.
The pitch suited tall fast bowlers: Australia had three, India none. McGrath, who
became the first Australian fast bowler to win 100 Test caps, bowled with astonishing
accuracy, conceding barely a run an over in the first innings. But even he was upstaged
by Gillespie, who bowled superbly to take nine wickets and was unlucky not to win
the match award.
By the end of the first day Australia had scored 362 for seven. For the fourth time
in five innings, Langer and Hayden got them off to a good start, but it was left to
Martyn to score a handsome century. Zaheer Khan again bowled with great zest but
Agarkar looked uncomfortable at this level, even on a pitch such as this. Kumble seemed
disheartened by the nature of the surface, and India badly needed a third seamer;
Tendulkar helped out but was more at ease bowling spinners. Apart from Zaheer, India's
best bowler in Australia's innings of 398 was Harbhajan's replacement, the left-arm
spinner Murali Kartik, who took three wickets and bowled with relative economy.
When India batted they were outclassed not just by McGrath and Gillespie but by
Australia's thoughtful field placements. Kaif, whose place was in jeopardy despite his
maiden Test fifty in the previous match, top-scored with 55 in India's total of 185.
Tendulkar's keenly awaited return yielded just eight diffident runs from 36 balls. Despite
a lead of 213, Australia once more declined to enforce the follow-on. When they batted
again, they declared on 329 for five just before lunch on the fourth day. Katich was
unlucky to fall one short of his century, though he was probably lucky not to be given
out lbw before he had scored. Martyn played another elegant innings, failing by just
three runs to score his third Test century in three innings, a feat last achieved for
Australia by Bradman. But the best batting came from Clarke, a jaunty pre-declaration
73, which made up for Langer's curious ponderousness at the top of the order.
India required 543 for victory. They were soon 37 for five, and only a late rally took
them to 200. Tendulkar (McGrath's 450th Test victim), Dravid and Laxman made just
six runs between them, and Gillespie added four wickets to his first-innings five.
Australia, two up with one to play, had won in India for the first time since Bill Lawry's
side triumphed against the Nawab of Pataudi's in 1969-70. Acting-captain Dravid
conceded that Australia had been the better team at Bangalore and Nagpur. He made
the point that a number of Australians had benefited from their numerous visits to the
subcontinent since the 1996 World Cup.
Not even the cockroach Gilchrist found in his soy sauce before the match could put
Australia off. The restaurant manager quickly swallowed it as if to destroy the evidence.
"He took one for the team," said Gilchrist.
Man of the Match: D. R. Martyn.