New Delhi: Virender Sehwag may not put a value on his wicket. When he bats, he keeps the No. 3 batsman on his toes. But his team knows the value of his bowling, as he took three crucial wickets on a day leading spinner and captain Anil Kumble walked off the ground with a finger injury.
Australia were set for a hard grind to stay in the third Test at Ferozeshah Kotla here, after India's assault set them back by 613 runs during the first two days of the match. But the batsmen, led by Ricky Ponting's defiant 87 and Matthew Hayden's gritty 83, put up admirable resistance to close the third day on 338-4.
Though still needing 75 runs to avoid the follow-on, the Aussie batsmen saw off an eventful day's play that saw bees swarming the Kotla and Anil Kumble being taken to hospital with excruciating pain, giving Virender Sehwag an extended spell which brought him three wickets off viciously turning deliveries.
Australia did all the hard work to only allow India a wicket in each session, before Sehwag produced a peach to remove Michael Hussey three overs before stumps for a dogged 53.
But Australia could consider it a day of victories. The scores against their names would not have matched up to that of Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman, but all their partnerships showed determination written large on their faces. The batsmen blunted the pace attack, and negotiated the turning ball to great effect.
Australia needed a day like this to keep their chances in the series alive. On a day which was spiced up by Zaheer Khan striking Hayden with a bouncer with the second ball of the day, it provided little in terms of entertainment value evident on day one and two.
Hayden had declared his intentions to bounce back from his dry run with the bat, but curbed his aggression enormously, reminiscent of his double hundred in Chennai seven years ago. His intentions from Mohali didn't surface, which had a bearing on Australia's 320-run defeat, and put the sweep shot to good effect against some dangerously turning deliveries from the rough off Amit Mishra.
He survived a couple of edges but put them behind with bouts of his tamed aggression coming to the fore. But his reaction after his dismissal said it all. After a resolute 83, which included a partnership of 79 with his captain during the most threatening passage of play, Virender Sehwag forced him back in the crease, as the ball straightened enough to trap him in front of the stumps, although the height suggested the ball could have gone over the stumps.
With Kumble injured, India faced a spin handicap until Sehwag took a leaf out of Mishra's book, who was turning the ball square by then. Even Harbhajan Singh would have been ruing his injury on a wicket where Sehwag was giving nightmares.
Ponting, who has been battling for answers ever since his side landed in India, took it upon himself to lead Australia's defence against a Kotla surface increasingly turning spitefully. He countered Ishant Sharma with tremendous grit, and signs of his prowess against spin became evident as lunged forward to blunt the spin but didn't lose out on scoring opportunities.
But as was the case with Hayden, one lapse in concentration was enough, as a flighted off-spinner slipped between bat and pad as Ponting departed for 87.
Simon Katich has by far been the most consistent of performers in a team flooded with big names. But as his statistics indicated, it would have been imperative for Katich to go on for a bigger score, assuring his side of resistance on the face of an inconsistent batting order and the turning ball.
However, a peach off Amit Mishra, which turned in from a yard outside the off-stump, undid the left-hander as he gave him the charge only for the ball to go through his defence to uproot the middle stump for 64.
Indian
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