08 October 2004	Friday	22 Shaban 1425

BANGALORE, Oct 7: World champions Australia took charge of the first cricket Test against India after battering the hosts with both bat and ball on the second day here on Thursday.

Debutant Michael Clarke hit 151 and stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist smashed 104 off 109 balls as Australia took their overnight score of 316-5 to 474 before being all out midway through the post-lunch session.

The Indian batsmen caved in timidly against the fired-up rivals to be reduced to 150-6 by stumps at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Premier fast bowler Glenn McGrath grabbed two wickets in six balls to make the hosts 4-2 and then took a third in his second spell to return with three for 37.

India, still 125 runs away from avoiding the follow-on, face an uphill struggle over the remaining three days to prevent Australia from taking the lead in the four-match series.

"I can't predict if the Test will go the distance," said Gilchrist. "We still have four more wickets to take so we are not thinking of the follow-on yet. "The wicket is not really breaking up, it is quite hard. Maybe things will change in the next few days. There could be some reverse swing for the bowlers.

"The Indians have fought back in the past and are quite capable of doing so again, so we are not going ahead of ourselves this time," the Australian captain said. The tourists are aiming to win their first Test series on Indian soil since 1969-70 after losing 2-1 on each of the last two visits here in 1998 and 2001.

McGrath silenced some 25,000 home fans by trapping Aakash Chopra leg-before with the fourth delivery of the innings and then clean-bowled Rahul Dravid in his second over.

Virender Sehwag and captain Saurav Ganguly put on 83 for the third wicket before seamer Michael Kasprowicz removed both in the space of 11 runs. Sehwag (39) flicked a catch to Justin Langer at mid-wicket while Ganguly was snapped up by Gilchrist behind the stumps after making 45.

McGrath returned for his second spell to have Yuvraj Singh caught behind for five, before Shane Warne made his presence felt for the first time on the tour. The leg-spinner, five wickets behind Muttiah Muralitharan's world record of 532, turned one sharply to hit the off-stump and send the well-set Vangipurappu Laxman packing for 31.

At stumps, Parthiv Patel was unbeaten on 18 while Irfan Pathan was on one. Earlier, Gilchrist and Clarke smashed 167 in 165 minutes for the sixth wicket, scoring 107 runs in the two-hour morning session.

Clarke, who came in on Wednesday afternoon with his team struggling at 149-4, stayed at the wicket for close to six hours and hit 18 boundaries and four sixes. Left-handed Gilchrist, deputing for injured captain Ricky Ponting, showed why he is regarded the world's outstanding number seven batsman by blazing 13 fours and three sixes in his 11th Test century.

Gilchrist was dismissed in the final over before lunch when he was deceived in flight by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and offered a low return catch to the bowler. The captain's dismissal triggered a collapse as the last five wickets fell for 51 runs with Harbhajan finishing with his 12th five-wicket haul in 37 Tests.

Harbhajan, dubbed the 'Turbanator' by the Australian media after his 32-wicket haul in three Tests on the previous tour of India in 2001, took five for 146. Anil Kumble, who claimed his 400th wicket on Wednesday, failed to strike on the second day and returned with expensive figures of 3-157 from 39 overs.

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings, overnight 316-5):

J.L. Langer b Pathan 52

M.L. Hayden c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 26

S.M. Katich b Kumble 81

D.R. Martyn c Chopra b Kumble 3

D.S. Lehmann c Dravid b Kumble 17

M.J. Clarke c Patel b Zaheer 151

A.C. Gilchrist c and b Harbhajan 104

S.K. Warne c Dravid b Harbhajan 1

J.N. Gillespie not out 7

M.S. Kasprowicz c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 3

G.D. McGrath lbw b Harbhajan 0

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-15, W-1, NB-8) 29

TOTAL (all out, 120 overs) 474

FALL OF WKTS: 1-50, 2-124, 3-129, 4-149, 5-256, 6-423, 7-427, 8-471, 9-474.

BOWLING: Irfan Pathan 21-6-62-1 (1w); Zaheer Khan 22-2-60-1 (1nb); Harbhajan Singh 41-7-146-5; Kumble 39-4-157-3 (5nb); Sehwag 5-0-26-0 (1nb); Yuvraj Singh 2-0-3-0 (1nb).

INDIA (1st Innings):

A. Chopra lbw b McGrath 0

V. Sehwag c Langer b Kasprowicz 39

R. Dravid b McGrath 0

S.C. Ganguly c Gilchrist b Kasprowicz 45

V.V.S. Laxman b Warne 31

Yuvraj Singh c Gilchrist b McGrath 5

P.A. Patel not out 18

Irfan Pathan not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-5, NB-3) 11

TOTAL (for six wkts, 44 overs) 150

TO BAT: Harbhajan Singh, A. Kumble, Zaheer Khan.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-4, 3-87, 4-98, 5-124, 6-136.

BOWLING (to-date): McGrath 15-4-37-3 (1nb); Gillespie 8-2-41-0 (5w); Warne 14-1-46-1; Kasprowicz 7-1-23-2 (2nb). -Agencies