3rd Test: Ind v. Aus: Day 4: Match Goes Towards Draw!

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The day 4 of the game almost took the game towards draw, with little chance for either to team to win.

India lost a great opportunity to win the series when Ishanth Sharma dropped Michael Clark--the centurian, on 21. The drive to mid off in the bowling of Mishra was not properly judged by Ishanth Sharma and went through the gap of the hands just above the head level.

If Ishanth did not miss it, the match would have turned in India's favor. Clarke was dropped again by Laxman at mid-wicket. Clarke swept Sehwag, but the ball took the edge and went high in the air. Laxman would have taken 90 out of 100, and this catch was one among those 10%.

He was again dropped by Amit Mishra at deep mid wicket. By then, all the damages were done and he was finally out trying to hit Mishra over long off and was caught by Zaheer Khan. He saved the match for Australia.

Australia scored 577 giving India lead of 36 runs, which could have been more than 150.

Kumble injured his finger in the process and had to take 11 stiches to his fingers. He finished with 3 wickets.

Sehwag picked his first 5 wicket haul in test cricket when he dismissed watson. The ball spun from outside off stump which Watson tried to play backfoot and glance it to fine leg. He missed the ball and did not read the big turn which hit the leg stump. What a turn and wonderful dismissal to watch!

India were 43 or 2 at the end of the day with Sehwag once again falling for Lee and night watchman Ishanth Sharma giving simple lolly pop catch to silly mid off of a bouncer.

India has to score at least 250 to set a target of 290 for Australia for which India need to face at least 57 overs at the rateof 3.5 runs per over. This gives Australia 31 overs with almost 9.5 runs per over, an impossible chance.

Scoreboard at the end of Day 3:

India 1st Innings 613 for 7 declared in 161 overs (Sehwag 1, Gambhir 206, Dravid 11, Tendulkar 68, Laxman 200 not out, Ganguly 5, Dhoni 27, Kumble 45, Zaheer Khan 28 not out, Extras--22 (b 6, lb 8, w 2, nb 6), Lee 30-2-119-1, S Clark 33-9-69-0, Johnson 32-4-142-3, Watson 20-4-66-2, White 15-1-73-0, M Clarke 14-0-59-0, Katich 15-3-60-1, Ponting 2-0-11-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-5 (Sehwag, 2.1 ov), 2-27 (Dravid, 10.4 ov), 3-157 (Tendulkar, 51.5 ov), 4-435 (Gambhir, 123.6 ov), 5-444 (Ganguly, 126.2 ov), 6-481 (Dhoni, 133.4 ov), 7-579 (Kumble, 155.4 ov)

Australia 1st Innings 577 all out in 179.3 overs (Hayden 83, Katich 64, Ponting 87, Hussey 53, Michael Clarke 112, Watson 36, Haddin 17, White 44, Lee 8, Johnson 15, SR Clark 1 not out, Extras--57 (b 28, lb 17, w 2, nb 10), Zaheer Khan 23-5-86-0, I Sharma 25-5-84-0, Kumble 43.3-9-112-3, Mishra 47-12-144-2, Sehwag 40-9-104-5, Tendulkar 1-0-2-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-123 (Katich, 34.1 ov), 2-202 (Hayden, 57.2 ov), 3-284 (Ponting, 85.4 ov), 4-326 (Hussey, 101.6 ov), 5-399 (Watson, 122.1 ov), 6-426 (Haddin, 131.5 ov), 7-532 (White, 162.5 ov), 8-555 (Lee, 175.4 ov), 9-567 (Clarke, 178.1 ov), 10-577 (Johnson, 179.3 ov)

India 2nd Innings (lead by 36 runs) 43 for 2 in 13 overs (Gambhir 21 batting, Sehwag 16, I Sharma 1, Dravid 5 batting, Extras--0, Lee 1 wicket, SR Clark 1 wicket

Fall of Wickets: 1-29 (Sehwag, 8.2 overs), 2-34 (Sharma 9.1 overs)