Test 2 @ Mohali – Dhoni shows the way!

India comprehensively outplayed Australia in the 2nd test at Mohali and has deservedly taken a 1-0 lead in the 4 match series. The victory by 320 runs is India's biggest run-margin of victory.

Day 1 itself saw history, with Sachin Tendulkar becoming the highest run scorer, and also crossing the 12,000 run mark in test cricket. He fell 12 runs short of what could have been his 40th test century. Sourav Ganguly on his part crossed 7000, and went on to make a century on the 2nd day.

But the real aggressive intent was shown by the stand-in captain Dhoni. The Aussies were hoping to trap him with the short-pitched ones. But, MS pulled his very first ball from Brett Lee to the square leg fence, and hooked the debutant Peter Siddle for a six shortly after. His smashing 92 (including 4 sixes) destroyed any Aussie hopes of bowling the Indians out for below 400 in the first innings.

The Aussie innings was put on the back foot almost immediately with Zaheer getting rid of Hayden for his 2nd duck of the series. Ponting went soon after to the fast improving Ishant Sharma. That lifted the curtains for the young leggie Amit Mishra to show his art and bamboozle the Aussies. Simon Katich was his first test wicket, and his googly from around the wicket to dismiss Clarke on the last ball of day 2 was a classic.

Another wicket that stood out for me was that of Brad Haddin, clean bowled by Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan pitching it just short of a driving length outside off stump, turning in, between bat and pad, and knocking back the off stump – an off spinner’s dream wicket. This was exactly the line that he should have adopted on day 4 of the 1st test, but he let Haddin and Watson off the hook by some senseless leg-stump bowling. At least he’s learnt his lesson.

The Aussies could never catch up, and India only increased the tempo of the match in their 2nd innings, scoring 314 off only 65 overs, at almost 5 runs per over. One felt that Dhoni might have delayed the declaration a little bit. However, the Aussies, showed a surprising and disappointing lack of determination and fight, and were bowled out after an hour’s play on the last day for just 191.

The defeat was utmost humiliation for the Aussies, who will welcome the week long break. They need it to recollect their ideas and try to draw up some plans to get back into the series. The performance of Brett Lee has been very disheartening, and his spat with Ricky Ponting on day 4 did not give out the best signals. Although the Aussies tried their best to not allow the media to inflate the incident, their attempts were quite unconvincing. One cannot imagine that the premier fast bowler would be kept out of the attack just because they were down on the over rate. One fears that there’s some discontent brewing in the Aussie camp. The absence of Stuart Clark is a big worry, and with the lack of a quality spinner, the Aussies desperately need him if they harbour any hopes of taking 20 Indian wickets to be able to win a test match.

From the Indian point of view, this was the ultimate team performance, with just about all 11 contributing to a memorable win. All credit the team, and especially of the captain, MS Dhoni. His leadership and tactics were exemplary and the enthusiasm that he generates among his comrades is just unbelievable. Dhoni deservedly won the Man of the Match award. He has that mystical ability to get the best out of his players. Perhaps Kapil Dev had that magic, which enabled him to lead a bunch of unheralded young men to victory in the 1983 World Cup.

A plea has to be made to Anil Kumble to graciously step aside at the first possible opportunity, and allow MS Dhoni to take Indian cricket ahead. We have already found a replacement in the spin department. Kumble has been a great servant of Indian cricket, but he must realize that his time is over. Hopefully Srikkanth and co. will not have the difficult task of using the axe.