Australia declared there second inning on 351/7 to set the Indians a mammothan target of 499 to win the first test at Melbourne. At the close of third days play Indians were 6/0 with Rahul Dravid batting on 3 runs of 30 balls faced and his partner Wasim Jaffer on 2 runs of 19 balls. Both openers negotiated the remaining eight overs of play to take their wicket intact while chasing huge target of 499 for victory. Earlier both Australian openers started from overnight score of 32 and put on another 51 runs before Mathew Hayden got out for well made 47 runs on the bowling of Harbhajan Singh. Second man to go for Australia was captain Ricky Ponting who fails in successive two innings of this test match when he caught by former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid at first slip on the bowling of Harbhajan Singh for 3 runs. Captain Anil Kumble got into the act to remove opener Phil Jaques who fell for his second straight half-century, before RP Singh struck to remove Michael Hussey (36) to stem the flow of runs. However Half-centuries from Michael Clarke (73 runs) and Phil Jaques (51 runs), and handy contributions from the rest of the batting order Andrew Symonds (44 runs), Adam Gilchrist (35 runs) and Brad Hogg (35 runs*) ensured Australia were firmly on top of this test match as they were declared there innings on 351/7. Now India needs another 493 runs in maximum 180 overs of play remaining in two days of test match to registered a famous win here at M.C.G but if Indian team wants to achieve this victory then there any of top two batsman (Sachin, Rahul, Ganguly & Laxman) have to play inning of their life to achieve this feet. Unlucky Moments of The day In third days of play Indian team found themselves unlucky, When Zaheer Khan bowled dangerous Andrew Symonds for 7 and all the Indian player start celebrating but it was not a ball of the match instead it was no ball. SO many times in Australian innings ball fell short of first slip or Wicket Keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and was ignored. A couple of overs later Zaheer over-stepped again and his loud lbw appeal was cut short by Billy Bowden's out-stretched arm. Anil Kumble did well to remain calm. |
