29 October 2004	Friday	14 Ramazan 1425

NAGPUR, Oct 28: World champions Australia marched boldly towards their first series win in India in 35 years after taking an imposing 415-run lead with seven wickets in hand in the third Test here on Thursday.

The tourists, who did not enforce the follow on despite leading India by 213 on the first innings, rode on an aggressive 99 from Simon Katich to reach 202-3 in their second knock by stumps on the third day.

Australia, who lead the four-match rubber 1-0, have two days to drive the final nail in India's coffin and seal a series victory for the first time on Indian soil since 1969.

Adam Gilchrist's men, who made 398 in their first innings, bowled India out for 185 and chose to bat a second time on the even-paced wicket which is still affording bounce and movement to the fast bowlers.

Australia also did not enforce the follow-on in the first Test at Bangalore, which they went on to win by 217 runs.

The decision to play it safe was probably influenced by the stunning turnaround in the Calcutta Test in 2001 when India beat the Australians despite being made to follow on 274 runs behind.

But India will face a herculean task to conjure up an encore when Gilchrist declares his second innings sometime on Friday, leaving the hosts at least five sessions to bat out for a draw.

"It is difficult, but not impossible," said Indian captain Rahul Dravid, standing in for the injured Sourav Ganguly.

"The wicket is okay, it is up to the batsmen to stand up and be counted."

India's frustration came to a boil after lunch when Dravid exchanged hot words with Justin Langer after an appeal for leg-before had been turned down against the left-hander.

Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar was forced to step in and cool tempers as the usually unflappable Dravid gesticulated angrily at Langer.

Langer, who batted dourly to make 30 off 119 deliveries, was shown the way to the pavilion by many Indian fielders when he lofted Murali Kartik to Venkatsai Laxman on the mid-wicket fence.

Langer's opening partner Matthew Hayden had been dismissed cheaply for nine, but Katich and Langer put on 80 for the second wicket.

Katich then added 72 for the third wicket with Damien Martyn before falling one run short of a second Test century when he played back to Kartik and was trapped leg-before.

At stumps, Martyn was unbeaten on 41 and Michael Clarke was on 10.

In the morning India lost their last five wickets for 39 after resuming their first innings on the overnight score of 146-5.

Fast bowler Jason Gillespie picked up three of those wickets with the second new ball to finish with five for 56, his eighth five-wicket haul in 57 Tests.

Glenn McGrath, who wrecked India's top order on Wednesday with 2-18 from 20 overs, added the wicket of Mohammad Kaif to end with 3-27 in his 100th Test match.

Kaif, 47 overnight, struck his second consecutive half-century in the series before edging a McGrath outswinger to Shane Warne at first slip after making 55.

"The beauty of this Australian side is that it does not matter who gets the wickets as long as we get them," said Gillespie.

"I am not going to speculate what sort of target we will set the Indians. We will just keep batting and see how it goes.

"The important thing is that we are in a strong position and hopefully we can go on and complete the job."

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st innings: 398 all out):

(Damien Martyn 114, Michael Clarke 91, Darren Lehmann 70; Zaheer Khan 4-95)

INDIA (1st innings, overnight 146-5):

A. Chopra c Warne b Gillespie 9

V. Sehwag c Gilchrist b McGrath 22

R. Dravid c Warne b McGrath 21

S. Tendulkar lbw b Gillespie 8

V. Laxman c Clarke b Warne 13

M. Kaif c Warne b McGrath 55

P. Patel c Hayden b Warne 20

A. Agarkar c Clarke b Gillespie 15

A. Kumble not out 7

M. Kartik c Clarke b Gillespie 3

Z. Khan b Gillespie 0

EXTRAS: (lb-10 nb-1 w-1) 12

TOTAL: (all out, 91.5 overs) 185

FALL OF WKTS: 1-31 2-34 3-49 4-75 5-103

6-150 7-173 8-178 9-181

BOWLING: McGrath 25-13-27-3 (nb-1); Gillespie 22.5-8-56-5 (w-1); Kasprowicz

21-4-45-0; Warne 23-8-47-2.

AUSTRALIA (2nd innings):

J. Langer c Laxman b Kartik 30

M. Hayden b Khan 9

S. Katich lbw b Kartik 99

D. Martyn not out 41

M. Clarke not out 10

EXTRAS: (lb-13) 13

TOTAL: (for three wkts, 73 overs) 202

TO BAT: D.Lehmann, A.Gilchrist, S.Warne, J.Gillespie, M.Kasprowicz, G.McGrath

FALL OF WKTS: 1-19 2-99 3-171

BOWLING (to date): Zaheer Khan 14-5-34-1; Ajit Agarkar 16-7-26-0; Anil Kumble

13-1-62-0; Sachin Tendulkar 8-1-11-0;

M. Kartik 21-5-50-2; Virendra Sehwag

1-0-6-0.- Agencies