October 12, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 12, 1429

BANGALORE, Oct 11: Tailender Harbhajan Singh proved India’s unlikely batting hero after Mitchell Johnson put Australia in charge of the first cricket Test here on Saturday.

Harbhajan smashed 54 as India, replying to Australia’s first innings total of 430, recovered from 155-5 to 313-8 by stumps on the third day at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Zaheer Khan chipped in with an unbeaten 35 during an eighth-wicket stand of 80 with Harbhajan as the last three Indian wickets plundered 158 runs after the famed top order had been decimated by Johnson.

The tall 26-year-old from Queensland claimed three wickets for 19 runs in the morning session to reduce India to 106-4 and left the hosts in danger of being asked to follow-on.

Harbhajan hit five boundaries before he was caught behind off Shane Watson just before stumps.

The four-pronged Australian pace attack of Johnson, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Watson prospered in their first Test appearance on Indian soil with sustained hostile spells.

The bowlers won a fascinating contest against India’s veteran batsmen on a dual-paced wicket where deliveries rose alarmingly or keep low at times.

Rahul ‘the Wall’ Dravid, who had a brick wall unveiled in his honour by the local cricket association before the match, made 51 and retiring former captain Saurav Ganguly scored 47.

Sachin Tendulkar, needing 77 runs to overtake retired West Indian Brian Lara as Test cricket’s highest run-scorer, was dismissed for just 13.

Dravid fell two balls after recording his 53rd Test half-century, trapped leg-before by Watson.

Left-handed Ganguly, who will retire from international cricket after the series, held fort for three hours before Johnson had him leg-before soon after tea for his fourth wicket.

“We're behind a little bit, but not far enough behind that we can't fight back,” Dravid said. “We could have batted a little bit better today and been in a bit better position to force a result on days four and five. Harbhajan and Zaheer batted really well and that brought us back into the game a little bit.”

Emerging fast bowler Johnson said the team would need to revise its strategy after Harbhajan and Zaheer scored freely when Australia was trying to end the innings.

“We were a bit aggressive,” he said. “With the new ball you can go for a lot of runs. We need to rethink our bowling with the new ball.”

India lost openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag in the first five overs after the hosts resumed at the overnight score of 68 without loss.

Gambhir was leg-before to Lee for 20, while Sehwag edged a wide ball from Johnson to lone slip Matthew Hayden after making 45.

Tendulkar, playing his first competitive match since the Test series in Sri Lanka in August due to a shoulder injury, was greeted by an ear-splitting roar from some 35,000 home fans.

He opened his account by slashing Lee to the point boundary, but was lucky to survive the next over when he was stranded down the wicket as Clarke’s throw narrowly missed the stumps.

Tendulkar had another escape before he had reached double figures, pushing a short ball from Johnson just out of the reach of debutant Cameron White at short point.

Johnson then released a slower off-cutter to Tendulkar, who pushed it to White at short cover. The crowd went silent and Tendulkar stood still until umpire Rudi Koertzen raised his finger.

Johnson added his third victim when he had Laxman caught behind without scoring.

Dravid was unhappy to be given out lbw by umpire Asad Rauf to Watson's off-cutter that he seemed to feel he had edged before it hit his pad. It was the bowler's third Test wicket – his first for three years – and he added a second when Harbhajan slashed an edge to Brad Haddin.

Dravid said India's slow bowlers held the key to restricting Australia to an achievable fourth-innings total.

'”It would be good to get a few more runs on the board and look to bowl good tight lines with the seamers and hope our spinners can get turn and bounce,”' he said. “We saw it with Clarke and White, hopefully we can get that too.”'

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 430 (M.E.K. Hussey 146, R.T. Ponting 123, S.M. Katich, 66; Zaheer Khan 5-91, I. Sharma 4-77).

INDIA (1st Innings, overnight 68-0):

G. Gambhir lbw b Lee 21

V. Sehwag c Hayden b Johnson 45

R. Dravid lbw b Watson 51

S.R. Tendulkar c White b Johnson 13

V.V.S. Laxman c Haddin b Johnson 0

S.C. Ganguly lbw b Johnson 47

M.S. Dhoni b Clarke 9

Harbhajan Singh c Haddin b Watson 54

Zaheer Khan not out 35

A. Kumble not out 0

EXTRAS (B-24, LB-9, NB-5) 38

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 101 overs) 313

FALL OF WKTS: 1-70, 2-76, 3-94, 4-106, 5-155, 6-195, 7-232, 8-312.

TO BAT: I. Sharma.

BOWLING (to-date): Lee 21-5-49-1 (1nb); Clark 17-3-58-0; Johnson 20-4-62-4; Watson 15-3-37-2 (3nb); White 13-2-39-0; Clarke 15-2-35-1.—Agencies