The annoying fact of India’s growing inability in not wiping out the tail quickly ran on even today as Australia posted a very competitive first innings total of 343. The Robin Williams look-alike and possibly gay Stuart Clarke, entertained to lift Australia up to a strong position. The pitch today was even more interesting and seem to be deteriorating far quicker than perceived. Overnight, that tennis ball bounce has dipped a bit and the odd balls were keeping low and slow. The pitch becoming slower was expected but hell! This was almost like a typical Indian pitch! I was expecting that India would be around 270/7 when I turn on the TV late morning and then maybe the tail scramble to around 300 but India crumbled as Australia ate them for breakfast and lunch.

Rahul seems to have taken the role of seeing off the new ball too seriously to the point that he missed out the fact that it was important to also look for runs… singles, 2s, 3s. It was obvious to me yesterday that India has to run and earn many singles, 2s in this match and that they would be complacent on the running and strike rotation due to being so used to getting runs with boundaries. Strike rotation and stealing singles were non-existent at the top. 2-3 slips and predominantly packed off-side field had given them every opportunity to take simple but crucial runs.

Laxman looked good while he was there and was starting to milk the bowling the hard way, before he too was bogged down by some good Australian bowling. In any India-Australia series, both the teams acknowledge the fact that Laxman is the chosen one, the one that would destroy the Australian machines for the liberation of world cricket. True to the Matrix style, Laxman tried to bend backwards to dodge a bullet of a bouncer from Brett Lee to realize that the oracle was a quack and got out taking the bullet and ‘pooping’ the ball to slip.

Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly played quite well to take the Indian score away from humiliation. While the rest of the Aussie bowlers were blowing their pants away, they decided to take apart good ol’Hoggy for he doesn’t wear pants himself, you see.

Hoggy looked sweet… aw! He was like a bride-to-be. Nervous, a marriage photograph smile steaming with all the doubt the other singh threw at him on the non-existence of quality. After Sachin finished his mini-spanking and got out, he started bowling better… he bowled very well in fact. His flipper to Ganguly was a ball, which even a Shane warne would have been proud of. He beat the bat quite often and showed the world the number of variation deliveries he has in his pants… sorry boxing jocks. And when Harbhajan came on, he made him chase his own tail looking for the ball… ‘hey which way did that ball turn’. Clueless and frustrated he holed out. Later on in the evening, away from the cameras and in the darkness of the dressing room, people saw glimpses of Harbhajan on all four and hoggy on top ferociously shouting “ now who’s my bitch?”

Yuvraj and Dhoni made a fine pair… cliche intended. India folded at 196… if they had reached 250, it would have been somewhat comfortable to manage things around the next time… they had conceded too many to the Aussie tail and failed to reach a respectable total, thus find themselves in a tough position.

Last but not the least… Stuart Clarke was the hero of the day…batted well, bowled beautifully… liked him from the very day he first arrived on the test scene… He continues to impress with a stunning strike-rate, which all the hyped-up and highly overrated express fast bowlers around can chew their balls on. Lee was good as ever as in the recent past… Apart from the crucial Laxman scalp, he will be extra-happy to know that his bouncer will have Harbhajan with a sore nipple tonight.

Australia’s day… but it’s not over yet… no way! This match continues to remain interesting!

High points of the day:

Stuart Clarke’s impressive performance with the ball and his consistency in picking wickets.

Brett Lee may have lost some pace but can still bite big

On the same pitch, in 8 overs, Hayden and Jacques were going at 4 runs per over.

Hate to know what is coming.