da 888： Plays of the day for the second day of the first Test between India and Australia
da dobrowin： Cricinfo staff10-Oct-2008
Michael Hussey hardly played a false shot during the majority of his innings, but it was an inside edge which helped him reach his second overseas century © AFP
Graze of the day
Ishant Sharma was the only bowler hustling the Australian batsmen during the morning session. His first over was a maiden to Shane Watson and, in his second, he swung the ball into the batsman’s pad to give the crowd their first reason to cheer. A ball later, Watson was slow in bringing his bat down on another inswinger. The crowd sighed at first, thinking it was another near-miss, but soon began to cheer as the Indians celebrated their first wicket. The ball had grazed Watson’s off stump and dislodged one bail.Fumble(s) of the day
There were no bloopers in the field yesterday and the first one this morning came from arguably the poorest fielder in the Indian team. Sourav Ganguly was fielding at mid-off and ran a few paces to his right to field a firm drive from Michael Hussey. The ball burst through his fingers and went between his legs towards the boundary. Ganguly chased but the gap between him and the ball grew steadily. In the next over, Haddin capitalised on the weakest link by pushing the ball towards mid-off. He began to run and a fumble from Ganguly ensured he didn’t even have to hurry.Deserved luck of the day
Hussey’s had to wait for so long to make the Test team that he deserves his share of luck. He had hardly played a false shot during the majority of his innings, picking off singles with precision and waiting patiently for the boundary ball. He resumed after lunch in the 90s and got from 96 to 100 by trying to drive Ishant Sharma through the off side. Instead the inside edge missed his stumps and went to the fine-leg boundary. It was his second overseas century – after the one in Bangladesh – and he celebrated with a leap, a few punches, and a hug.Record of the day
This is one figure Kumble won’t be proud of. When Haddin late-cut the fifth ball of the 112th over for two, it was the 56th time that Kumble had conceded 100 runs in a Test innings, leaving Muttiah Muralitharan’s 55 in second place. What made it worse for Kumble was that he toiled through 32 wicketless overs.First six of the day (match)
The ball had rolled over the boundary 40 times in the Australian innings but not once in 131 overs had it flown over it. Hussey began the 132nd over by rocking back and pulling Harbhajan fiercely to the midwicket boundary and, off the fifth, he cleared his front foot out of the way and slog-swept the ball into the stands at cow-corner.Clichéd desperate tactic of the day
Virender Sehwag has turned the ball more than either Harbhajan or Kumble on this pitch but he was used sparingly. Kumble gave him the final over before lunch, trying something different, after the others – Ishant being the exception – had hardly caused a flutter. Brad Haddin, however, was well set by then and played out the over comfortably. He even drove Sehwag against the turn to the cover boundary.Funny moment of the day
The number of security guards at the Chinnaswamy Stadium is so large that a couple of them took the liberty of an afternoon nap. They were spotted, however, by an eagle-eye cameraman and exposed on the big screen. The crowd, which has had little to cheer about so far, had a hearty laugh.Malfunctioning radar of the day
The Australians had posted a formidable total in their first innings. The Indian openers had spent the better part of two days in the field and had to contend with Brett Lee steaming in. His first two balls swung down the leg side. The third was so far down the leg side that Haddin had no chance in preventing four byes. The fourth had Haddin moving quickly to his right again as the ball slid past the leg stump. Lee bowled the fifth straighter and it swung on to the face of Gautam Gambhir’s bat as he played it through midwicket.
