White and Haddin played the remainig 3.5 overs and scored 25 runs. Ponting declared giving himself a chance to bowl with 2nd new ball if required. India was set a target of 299 in 83 overs.
It was all dependent on how the start goes for India. To chase at the rate of 3.6, India needed a good start, especially from Sehwag.
Sehwag was dropped by Haddin in the 5th over bowled by Lee. It was a regulation outswinger taking the outside edge went between Haddin and Hayden at slip. It went off Haddin's gloves.
Sehwag should have utilized this chance, but he got out in the next over from Stuart Clark. The ball pitched close on the leg stump and swung to offstump. Sehwag tried to play towards midwicket but it took the outside edge and flew to Hayden and he took a good low catch.
Dravid did not last longer and fell to a trap set by Lee and Ponting. Lee bowled on the pads and Dravid flicked little away from Ponting's right. He took a superb catch to send Dravid back to pavilion for 5. India were 24 for 2 in the 9th over. India has to bat another 74 overs with 8 wickets in hand.
Sachin already with the pressure of surpassing Lara and also saving the match, occupied the crease. He played a sensible innings. He ensured that he stayed in the crease as long as he can.
He was inching towards his world record of becoming highest run getter. Gambhir and Sachin added 53 runs before Johnson's straight slower delivery knocked the stumps. It was a straight delivery which Gambhir missed to read and the ball went below the bottom of the bat. He scored 29 and India were 77 for 3.
Laxman joined Tendulkar and they added 61 runs for the 4th wicket. The important thing was they played out 25.4 overs among them. Tendulkar got out for 49 when the entire Bengaluru crowd was expecting him to go past Lara's record. He also missed to reach his 50th fifty in test cricket.
Tendulkar played a soft drive towards cover and gave a simple catch to Micheal Clarke. This was White's first test wicket and he was emotional about it. Tendulkar got out in the 53rd over 2nd ball leaving Laxman and Ganguly the responsibility to play the remaining 29.4 overs and they did it. Laxman was not out on 42 off 142 balls and Ganguly was not out on 26 off 68 balls.
Bad light stopped play couple of times and this definitly should have played in the mind of players, especially Aussies. Umpires asked the fielders to leave after checking the light meter on two occassions.
This should have played in the mind of Tendulkar as well as he was looking at lights and would have lost the concentration.
With 10 overs remaining, both the teams realized that it is not worth continuing as the match is sailing towards a draw. The players greeted each other and agreed for a draw, which in my opinion is against the philosophy--Try till the last ball is bowled! Anyway, giants of cricket have decided to call it a draw before the actual end of the match.
I would say, the star of the Indian 2nd Innings is Tendulkar for the way he played and tackled the good bowling attack especially in a pitch with lot of cracks and uneven bounce. His 49 came off 126 balls with 4 fours. Only once he played a dangerous shot which went above slip and Haddin's head. He played out 21 overs himself and Laxman played almost 24 overs for his 42. Gambhir (81 balls) and Ganguly (68) balls played almost 25 overs.
Man of the match was rightly given to Zaheer Khan for his 6 wickets in the match and for a match saving 57 not out in the first innings. I think he has opened a new controversy, rather I would say, he has sledged Aussies and provoked their ego to come out. He said,
Test: 1st Test
Venue: Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Dates: October 9-13, 2008
Teams: India and Australia
Hosts: India
Captains: Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting
Toss: Australia
Match Result: Match Drawn
Series Result: 0-0
Man of the Match: Zaheer Khan (India)
Score at the end of Day 5:
Australia 1st Innings 430 all out in 149.5 overs (ML Hayden 0, SM Katich 66, RT Ponting 123, MEK Hussye 146, MJ Clarke 11, SR Watson 2, BJ Haddin 33, CL White 6, B Lee 27, MG Johnson 1, SR Clark 0 not out, Extras--15 (lb 11, w 1, nb 3), Z Khan 29.-4-91-5, I Sharma 30-7-77-4, Harbhajan Singh 41-8-103-1, A Kumble 43-6-129-0, V Sehwag 6-0-19-0)
Fall of Wickets: 1-0 (Hayden, 0.3 ov), 2-166 (Katich, 54.4 ov), 3-226 (Ponting, 78.4 ov), 4-254 (Clarke, 89.2 ov), 5-259 (Watson, 92.3 ov), 6-350 (Haddin, 122.6 ov), 7-362 (White, 126.5 ov), 8-421 (Lee, 147.5 ov), 9-429 (Johnson, 149.1 ov), 10-430 (Hussey, 149.5 ov)
India 1st Innings 360 all out in 119 overs (G Gambhir 21, V Sehwag 45, R Dravid 51, SR Tendulkar 13, VVS Laxman 0, SC Ganguly 47, MS Dhoni 9, Harbhajan Singh 54, Zaheer Khan 57 not out, A Kumble 5, I Sharma 6, Extras--52 (b 23, lb 23, nb 6), B Lee 26-6-64-1, S Clark 17-3-58-0, M Johnson 27-4-70-4, S Watson 19-4-45-3, White 13-2-39-0, M Clarke 17-3-38-2)
Fall of Wickets: 1-70 (Gambhir, 19.2 ov), 2-76 (Sehwag, 22.6 ov), 3-94 (Tendulkar, 28.4 ov), 4-106 (Laxman, 32.6 ov), 5-155 (Dravid, 49.5 ov), 6-195 (Dhoni, 65.4 ov), 7-232 (Ganguly, 77.3 ov), 8-312 (Harbhajan Singh, 99.3 ov), 9-343 (Kumble, 111.6 ov), 10-360 (Sharma, 118.6)
Australia 2nd Innings (70 runs lead) 193 for 5 in 68 overs (Hayden 13, Katich 34, Ponting 17, Mike Hussey 31, Micheal Clarke 6, Watson 41, Haddin 35 not out, White 18 not out, Extras--33 (b 13, lb 10, w 6, nb 4), Z Khan 17-4-46-1, I Sharma 14-3-40-3, Harbhajan Singh 27-5-76-2, V Sehwag 7-1-12-0, A Kumble 8-0-31-0)
Fall of Wickets: 1-21 (Hayden, 12.2 ov), 2-49 (Ponting, 22.2 ov), 3-99 (Katich, 44.3 ov), 4-115 (Clarke, 47.5 ov), 5-128 (Hussey, 50.5 ov), 6-203 (Watson, 69.2)
India 2nd Innings (target 299 runs in 83 overs) 177 for 4 in 73 overs (Gambhir 29, Sehwag 6, Dravid 5, Tendulkar 49, Laxman 42 not out, Ganguly 26 not out, Extras--20 (b 16, lb 3, nb 1), Lee 11-3-26-1, S Clark 11-6-12-1, Watson 5-2-8-0, Johnson 8-3-23-1, M Clarke 20-7-40-0, White 18-4-49-1)
Click here to read Day 1 Report
Click here to read Day 2 Report
Click here to read Day 3 Report
Click here to read Day 4 Report
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