India Wrap Up Huge Innings Victory Over Australia

India Wrap Up Huge Innings Victory Over Australia

Ravichandran Ashwin ended the match with six wickets after his five-wicket in haul in Australia's second innings

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India 503 (Pujara 204, Vijay 167) beat
Australia 237-9d. & 131 by an inns. & 135 runs
Second Test, Hyderabad
Scorecard | Quotes | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Report by Chetan Narula in Hyderabad

India needed just 35 overs on the fourth day of the second Test against Australia in Hyderabad to wrap up an innings-and-135-run victory.

It was their sixth highest innings victory, a first against a side that declared its first innings, put them into a 2-0 series lead and moved Mahendra Singh Dhoni ahead of Sourav Ganguly in terms of Test wins as captain.

Australia were bowled out for a meagre 131, adding just 57 runs for their final eight wickets after resuming on 74 for two.

Ed Cowan top scored with 44 as one of only four players to reach double figures as Ravichandran Ashwin (5-63) and Ravindra Jadeja (3-33) spun Australia to a crushing defeat.

In fact it was a very worrying sign that none of their batsmen showed the patience or resilience to stay at the wicket, combined with their awful shot selection leading to this disastrous collapse. Australia were bowled out in just 67 overs in their second innings.

Ishant Sharma (1-5) provided the first breakthrough of the day as Shane Watson (9) edged him down the leg side. It started a slide that couldn’t be stopped as the new batsmen struggled to come to terms with the spin and bounce of the wicket.

Michael Clarke (16) started off with a six off Jadeja but was bowled by the left-arm spinner by a peach of a delivery that broke through his defences.

The skipper’s departure meant that all the fight went out of the tourists and it was left to Cowan to linger on at the crease, but Jadeja got him too, caught at slip by Virender Sehwag after bouncing off Mahendra Singh Dhoni's pads, and then ran out Moises Henriques for a duck to complete the misery for the Aussie middle order.

Ashwin then got into the act and removed Glenn Maxwell (8), out LBW, and Matthew Wade (10), caught at first slip. In between Jadeja got his third scalp, also having Peter Siddle (4) caught by Sehwag, who seemed to be enjoying a busy catching day.

Wade was Ashwin's fourth victim and the ninth wicket to fall overall, with the score at 130, and therefore the umpires decided to extend the first session by 30 minutes. However, the extra time was hardly needed as James Pattinson was out LBW shortly afterwards, for a duck, and Australia crashed to an innings defeat after declaring their first innings, the first time that this has happened in Test cricket history.

The third Test will be played in Mohali from March 14.

Select quotes from the day

Michael Clarke: "This performance is just not acceptable. This is not the standard we have come to expect from Australian cricket. The team has let themselves down, and their fans who were watching on TV or flew in to see them play. We have to work hard and learn from our mistakes, and display them in the middle, which we obviously didn't.

"The pitch was good to play on and we won the toss, making use of perfect batting conditions. But there is no excuse for 237 runs in the first innings and that hurts more than the second innings failure.

"We need to work hard in the next eight-nine days before third Test and I have no choice but to come higher up in the batting order."

MS Dhoni: "Cricket is like that. Against England the runs weren’t coming and nothing was working out. But things are falling into place now. The five bowler theory is working very well for us. The pitch played out well, had something in it for everyone. This works best when toss isn’t a crucial factor.

"Harbhajan Singh has bowled well in the last two Tests. We have to see how much pressure there is on him during this comeback. He didn't do well in the England series but he has been getting better with each match. Also, we don’t have many Test matches before South Africa series, so we will see what we can do about the openers’ situation."

© Cricket World 2013