Australia wrapped up a 298-run win over India to sweep the series 4-0 early on the final day of the fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

The end was swift with the Australians snapping up the final four wickets in an hour to dismiss India for 201 and inflict a fourth heavy defeat on the demoralised tourists.

It was India’s eighth consecutive away Test loss after a 4-0 series loss in England last year and the Indians have not won a series in Australia in 10 visits.

Australia’s dominance over India comes a year after their Ashes series humiliation at home to England and their significant improvement under new skipper Michael Clarke, who replaced Ricky Ponting.

Australia won by 122 runs in Melbourne, an innings and 68 runs in Sydney and an innings and 37 runs in Perth before their final Adelaide annihilation.

Australia’s bowlers, led by pacemen Ben Hilfenhaus (27 wickets) and Peter Siddle (23), dented the reputations of India’s decorated batting lineup with the eight-Test youngster Virat Kohli topping the side’s batting averages with 37.50.

Sachin Tendulkar, who failed to bring up his 100th international century, has now gone without a century for 25 Test and one-day innings. His last hundred (111) was in the World Cup last March.

Tendulkar finished the series with 287 runs at 35.87, but it was sorry reading for the other batting luminaries.

Test cricket’s second all-time highest run-scorer Rahul Dravid finished with 194 runs at 24.25, Virender Sehwag 198 at 24.75 and VVS Laxman just 155 at 19.37.

India were set an improbable 500-run target for victory in the Adelaide Test off 146 overs after Clarke’s second declaration of the match at 167 for five in their second innings shortly after Friday’s lunch.

The highest winning chase at the Adelaide Oval is Australia’s 315 against England in 1902, while India’s highest-ever run hunt was 406 against the West Indies in Trinidad in 1976.

But the beleaguered tourists never got close and crashed to 166 for six by stumps leaving the final day’s outcome as a formality under sunny skies.

Nightwatchman Ishant Sharma was out on the eighth ball of the last day, caught behind off Ryan Harris for two and he was followed in the next over by Wriddhiman Saha also caught behind off Siddle for three.

Zaheer Khan hit out lustily for three fours before he was caught by David Warner at short cover off Hilfenhaus for 15.

The final wicket came when Umesh Yadav (1) was caught behind by Haddin for spinner Nathan Lyon’s fourth wicket of the innings. Ravi Ashwin remained 15 not out.

Siddle was announced man-of-the-match for his six wickets.

Source: Times of India

Whitewash, clean sweep, shutout. Whatever you like to call it, Australia were on track for a 4-0 series victory over India by stumps on the fourth day in Adelaide. Four wickets stood between Michael Clarke’s men and the completion of a remarkable feat. India finished the day needing a further 334 for victory, but a comeback from Kapil Dev is more likely than one from India in this match.

At stumps India were 6 for 166, having been set a target of 500. To put that in perspective, the highest successful chase in all of Test history was 418 by West Indies in Antigua nine years ago. The best in Adelaide was the 315 that Joe Darling’s Australia chased down against England 110 years ago. In the past century, the highest Test chase in Adelaide was less than half of what India required in this innings.

Ishant Sharma was at the crease on 2 and Wriddhiman Saha was yet to score when India walked off, any minuscule hope they had having disappeared along with VVS Laxman and Virat Kohli in the dying stages. Laxman and Kohli had steadied, relatively speaking, with a 52-run partnership when Laxman fell victim to his own wristy tendencies.

Clarke set a leg slip, a short leg and a short catching midwicket for Laxman facing the offspin of Nathan Lyon, and on 35 the batsman complied with a flick straight into the hands of Shaun Marsh at short midwicket. The ball had rocketed off the bat but Marsh’s reflexes were good enough, and Laxman was left to wonder if it would be his final act in Test cricket.

But even more remarkable was Kohli’s departure. India had sent in Ishant as a nightwatchman, traditionally a position that requires a lower-order batsman to maintain the strike and protect the specialist. Instead, Kohli wanted so desperately to face the last over of the day that he pushed the final ball of the penultimate over wide of mid-on and raced off for a risky single.

The ball was collected by Ben Hilfenhaus, whose momentum was carrying him away from the stumps, but his fast throw hit the stumps and Kohli was run-out for 22. It was a wonderful piece of work from Hilfenhaus, hardly the nimblest of Australia’s fielders, and as Kohli walked off he thumped his fist on his own helmet in frustration at his ill-judged run.

Already Australia had seen the backs of Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. It was the wicket of Tendulkar that really got the hosts going, as it left India at 4 for 110 and ensured that despite Tendulkar’s greatness, he had had no serious impact on the series, finishing with 287 runs at an average of 35.87.

Tendulkar was caught for 13 at short leg when he inside edged onto his leg off Lyon and the ball bobbed up to Ed Cowan. Tendulkar walked off to a standing ovation, but at least Australian fans will see him bat again, during the one-day series. Another all-time great, Dravid, almost certainly walked off an Australian ground for the last time a short while earlier.

On 25, Dravid’s thick edge off the bowling of Ryan Harris was snapped up by Michael Hussey at gully. Australia were making good progress after Sehwag gave Indian fans a brief glimmer of hope with a brisk half-century. He was so aggressive to anything wide of off stump that 54 of his 62 runs came through the off side, including all 12 of his boundaries, as he gave little regard to the risk of being caught.

Eventually his downfall came when he miscued an attempted slog off a Nathan Lyon full toss and was caught at cover. Already India had lost Gambhir, who will finish the series with a disappointing average of 22.83 after he pushed at a Harris delivery and was caught behind for 3.

India had come to the crease after Clarke allowed his own batsmen to play for three overs after lunch in order to set the target of 500, before he declared with Australia on 5 for 167. Ricky Ponting finished unbeaten on 60 and Brad Haddin was on 11.

As Homer Simpson once pointed out after observing that it was time to play the waiting game, “the waiting game sucks. Let’s play Hungry Hungry Hippos!” Such was the case in the first session as Australia accumulated more and more runs without any sense of urgency, despite already having ample to defend, with both teams waiting patiently for Clarke’s declaration.

Australia added 104 in the first session for the loss of two wickets. Clarke had just started to lift his tempo against the spin of R Ashwin when he feathered a catch behind for 37 off Umesh Yadav, and Hussey was adjudged lbw to Ishant Sharma for 15.

As the innings moved on, India’s batsmen could see that some runs remained in the pitch but the surface was only going to become more difficult, perhaps another reason why Clarke delayed his declaration. Whatever the case, India knew they would have to completely rewrite history in order to escape with a victory.

By stumps, any slim hopes they had were gone.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo.

With a lead of 382 runs, Australia were still calling the shots despite R Ashwin and Zaheer Khan took three wickets in three overs on the third day of the fourth and final Test at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide on Thursday.

Ricky Ponting and captain Michael Clarke took the Australian second innings to 50/3 after losing three wickets in three overs.

R Ashwin gave India the first breakthrough when he dismissed David Warner by making him play across the line to a delivery but the opener ended up giving a simple catch to Ashwin.

Zaheer Khan struck in the next over when he trapped Shaun Marsh plumb in front of the wicket for a duck.

Ashwin then took his second wicket in the next over when he trapped Ed Cowan plumb in front of the wicket.

Earlier, India were bundled out for 272 runs in their first innings but with a lead of 332 runs, Australia did not enforce a follow-on.

The Indian innings ended when Virat Kohli (116) was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by Ben Hilfenhaus, who in his previous over had clean bowled Ishant Sharma.

Kohli’s hundred is the first century by an Indian batsman in this series.

Peter Siddle registered his fifth five-wicket haul as he dismissed R Ashwin and Zaheer Khan off successive deliveries.

Ryan Harris clean bowled Wriddhiman Saha to reduce India to 225/6 at tea.

Saha (35) played well to add 114 runs with Virat Kohli for the sixth wicket.

This is only the third hundred-run partnership for India in this series.

Kohli hit his fourth half-century, his second of the series, to lend some respectability to the Indian total.

Kohli and Saha played well after resuming the Indian first innings after lunch.

Trailing Australia by 482 runs, India were struggling at 122/5 at lunch.

Nathan Lyon had VVS Laxman (18) caught behind by Brad Haddin as India lost half of their side with just over hundred runs on the board.

It was a good length delivery from Lyon that did the trick. The ball was just a bit short outside off and shaped in slightly after pitching. Laxman remained on the back foot and tried to run it down to third man, but failed to do it cleanly and nicked it into the gloves of Haddin.

Peter Siddle gave Australia crucial breakthrough as he first got rid of Sachin Tendulkar and then Gautam Gambhir in a span of just nine runs. India lost their four wickets inside 90 runs.

Siddle banged in a bouncer to Gambhir who couldn’t negotiate and the ball just popped up in the air at gully where Michael Hussey held on a great diving catch to seal Gambhir’s fate.

Gambhir contributed 34 runs that came off in 94 balls with the help of four boundaries.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who resumed India’s battle alongwith Gautam Gambhir to save the fourth Test on Day 3, could not do much despite being in good touch.

Tendulkar, who scored only 25, started of well but edged Siddle’s full-length delivery which went to second slip where Ricky Ponting grabbed a fine low catch to send Tendulkar back to the pavilion. India lost their third wicket at the score of 78.

On Day 2, India lost two early wickets in their first essay in the form of Virender Sehwag (18) and Rahul Dravid (1) after Australia rode on double centuries by skipper Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting to declare at a mammoth 604/7 on Day 2.

India were at a shaky 61/2 in reply from the 21 overs possible bowled by Australia on the second day of the fourth Test.

Gautam Gambhir (30*) and Sachin Tendulkar (12*) were at the crease with India had still 543 runs in arrears.

Clarke, resuming on 140, made 210 and was out immediately after lunch when a Umesh Yadav delivery flicked his pads and crashed on to his stumps.

Ponting departed much later for 221 when he pulled Zaheer Khan firmly but straight to Sachin Tendulkar at deep mid-wicket.

The two put on 386 runs for the fourth wicket which is the second best ever by an Australian pair. Sir Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford put on 388 runs together against England at Headingley in 1934.

Replying to Australia’s monumental effort, Sehwag (18) and Dravid (1) were the two early blows India suffered in their innings and neither the pitch nor the deliveries merited their dismissals.

The first ball of Peter Siddle was a low full toss on Sehwag’s leg stump. Sehwag aimed to play it on the onside but closed the face of his bat too early.

He thus miscued on the right of the bowler who somehow stuck his right hand out and caught it splendidly while still in his follow through.

Sehwag already had a slice of luck in his favour when he was dropped by Ed Cowan on five at the total 13 for no loss.

The opener had aimed to flick Hilfenhaus off his pads and the ball had gone in the air, low to Cowan’s left at mid-wicket but the fielder floored the chance.

Earlier Australia, resuming at the overnight score of 335/3, batted till half an hour after tea before declaring their first innings on 604/7. In all they played 67 overs on the second day.

It was a Ponting-Clarke show yet again as they improved upon the best-ever partnership at Adelaide Oval which belonged to Graeme Pollock and Eddie Barlow of South Africa – stand of 341 runs managed during the 1963-64 series.

Source: Times of India

Michael Clarke entered this Test with a whitewash on his mind. After two days, he could hardly have hoped for Australia to be in a stronger position to push for it. A day that started with Clarke and Ricky Ponting both bringing up double-centuries and producing the highest Test partnership ever recorded at the Adelaide Oval ended with India two wickets down, and still 543 runs in arrears.

Of course, Australia lost three top-order men in the first session of the match and it didn’t hurt them, but after nearly 11 hours of roasting in the field, India’s batsmen must find some energy on the third day to match Australia. At stumps, Sachin Tendulkar was on 12 and Gautam Gambhir had reached 30, with India on 2 for 61, and on the best batting pitch of the tour India needed someone to bring up the team’s first century of the series.

Already they had lost Virender Sehwag, who was brilliantly caught by Peter Siddle off his own bowling on 18. Flat-footed and stuck to the crease, Sehwag toe-edged a ball high to the right of Siddle, who thrust his hand up and pulled in one of the best catches of the summer, and nobody was happier than Ed Cowan, the man who dropped a regulation chance at midwicket when Sehwag had 5.

India were 2 for 31 when Rahul Dravid (1) was bowled for the sixth time in the series, the victim of a strange occurrence when a Ben Hilfenhaus delivery ricocheted off his elbow and down on to the stumps. The Australians hadn’t found much swing in the hot Adelaide conditions, but the two breakthroughs gave them a strong start after the outstanding work of their own batsmen.

By pushing the total to 7 for 604 before Clarke declared the innings closed, Australia gave themselves a chance of a third innings victory in the series, something they haven’t achieved in more than 60 years. India haven’t lost three Tests in a series by an innings in more than 50 years. There’s plenty of cricket to be played before such a scenario becomes a realistic possibility, but the groundwork had been laid.

The 386-run partnership between Ponting and Clarke was the fourth-highest of all time for Australia in Test cricket, and all three of the stands above them on the list featured Don Bradman. Clarke became the third player in Test history, after Bradman and Wally Hammond, to score a triple-hundred and a double-century in the same series.

For the sixth time in the series Australia batted through an entire session, this time the first of the day, without losing a wicket. The runs flowed freely as India wilted. Clarke and Ponting went to lunch already having compiled the highest partnership ever recorded in an Adelaide Test, beating the previous record of 341 set by South Africa’s Eddie Barlow and Graeme Pollock in 1963-64. By then, Clarke had his double-ton and Ponting was within touching distance of his.

Clarke brought up his with a clip for two through midwicket off R Ashwin and celebrated another monstrous innings in the series: after his unbeaten 329 in Sydney, he finished this innings with 557 runs already in 2012. All through 2011, he managed 618. He didn’t add to his score after lunch; on 210, Clarke was bowled by Umesh Yadav, who kept at the batsmen, despite leaking runs.

Ponting was on 199 when Clarke departed, and his sixth Test double-century came with a strong front-foot pull to the boundary off Yadav. For a while, it looked like Ponting would go on to register his highest Test score, which stood at 257, but eventually the pull brought him undone when he picked out the deep midwicket, Sachin Tendulkar, who took a well-judged catch jumping to his left.

Already India had removed Michael Hussey for 25 with a very sharp piece of work from Gambhir at silly point. Hussey pushed the ball and took off anticipating a single, but Gambhir was good enough to collect the ball cleanly and aware enough to flick it onto the stumps, catching Hussey short.

It was an example of how India needed to field; half-chances had to be grabbed. There weren’t always. Ponting was put down on 215 when VVS Laxman at midwicket grassed a chance off the bowling of Ashwin and Ishant Sharma had missed the chance for a return catch when Ponting had 186, the ball struck back at a catchable pace but the bowler not alert enough to get his hands to it.

In the end, India picked up a few wickets, including one off a good carrom ball from Ashwin that kissed the edge of Peter Siddle’s bat and was taken by Wriddhiman Saha – his first Test catch. By that stage, India had taken 3 for 13, but Brad Haddin (42 not out) and Ryan Harris (35 not out) refused to make life easy for India and batted through until the declaration came after tea.

For India, it was another dreadful day. The film critic Leonard Maltin’s entire review of Police Academy 4 was: “More of the same, only worse”. It could also have been said of India in the field, particularly in the morning. The bowling was too often insipid, and Sehwag’s captaincy uninspiring and conservative.

At times, he did not appear to think taking a wicket was that important. Ashwin was given fields that encouraged him to bowl straight, and both Clarke and Ponting picked off the runs with ease. Ashwin finished with an unwanted record of his own, his 3 for 194 the most expensive bowling analysis ever recorded in an Adelaide Test, but he had his captain to thank – or blame – for much of that.

By stumps, it was all down to India’s batsmen. The pitch had plenty of runs in it. India just needed their batsmen to find them.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo.

Another day, another venue but the same sordid tale for India yet again as Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting piled on the agony for the hapless tourists on the first day at the Adelaide Oval. At stumps, Australia were 335 for 3, with captain Michael Clarke unbeaten on 140 and Ricky Ponting 137 not out.

The day had started on a bright note for India after Clarke won the toss and elected to bat, but as has been the story of the nightmarish tour Down Under, the Australia skipper and Ponting dominated the clueless Indian bowling attack and they were also helped by misfields and dropped catches. Ponting and Clarke came together with the score at 84 for 3 towards the end of the first session, but then batted through the rest of the day to put Australia in the pole position.

Good start for India

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan gave India the ideal start when he trapped the swashbuckling southpaw David Warner plumb in front in the seventh over of the match. Warner, who had smashed a 69-ball 100 enroute to his brilliant 180 in the third Test, struggled against Ashwin during his 23-ball 8 before Zaheer nipped in a good length delivery from outside the off stump and umpire Aleem Dar ruled in the bowler’s favour after some thought.

Virender Sehwag, India’s stand-in captain for this Test in place of the banned MS Dhoni, then made an inspired bowling change as he introduced R Ashwin into the attack as early as the fourth over after Umesh Yadav bowled a shocker in his first over as he leaked 12 runs. Ashwin started off with a couple of maiden overs to Warner before he got the woefully out-of-form Shaun Marsh to play down the wrong line only to have his stumps pegged back. Marsh has scored only 17 runs in the series so far, and at least his short-term Test career is now in serious danger of coming to an abrupt halt.

Meanwhile, Australia’s other opening batsman, Ed Cowan got the hosts’ innings back on track as he added 53 runs for the third wicket with Ponting. Cowan was looking comfortable in the middle before he was undone by a flighted delivery from Ashwin and his attempted cover drive was well caught by VVS Laxman at short cover just before lunch. This was to be the last success India would have for the rest of the day as the bowlers’ failed to drive home the advantage in the second and third sessions.

The Ponting and Clarke show

Ponting got into his groove pretty early in his innings thanks to some sloppy bowling from Umesh Yadav, who had a nightmare of a day and conceded 87 runs in his 12 overs. The former Australia captain hardly looked like a batsman who was batting to save his career at the start of the series as he was hardly troubled and was also at his fluent best as he also showed a fair bit of aggressive intent. Clarke also got his eye in quickly as he and Ponting brought up their 50-run partnership at a fast clip. As well as the pair batted, they were helped by some inept bowling from India’s pace bowlers, especially Yadav, as well as some strange field placements and shoddy fielding.

Dravid put down a chance off Clarke when he was on 50 off Ishant Sharma’s bowling and then Laxman failed to hold on to a tough catch in the slips towards the end of the day’s play. The fortunate batsman was Clarke again while the unlucky bowler was Ishant.

Apart from those two chances, opportunites were hard to come by for India to break the Ponting-Clarke partnership as the pair put an encore performance of their 288-run partnership in Sydney as they blunted the Indian attack while mixing caution with aggression. Ponting and Clarke also ran hard and brilliantly between the wickets on a sweltering day in Adelaide as they piled on the runs and made India chase leather all over the park.

During his unbeaten century, his 41st in Tests, Ponting became only the third batsman after India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to cross the 13,000-run landmark. He also beat former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd’s record for scoring the most Test runs against India, and looks set to make merry again at the Adelaide Oval, which has been a happy hunting ground for him. Ponting reached his century with a boundary through point and gully off Zaheer in the 164th ball he faced. Clarke, who was the more aggressive of the pair, scored his century off 134 balls.

India’s bowlers and fielders lacked intensity and the will to fight in the second and third sessions, and were paid to pay dearly for it by Ponting and Clarke, who made merry yet again. A 4-0 whitewash seems to be on the cards, and it can only be averted if India put in a much better show for the remainder of the match.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Australia’s fast bowlers completed an innings-and-37-run destruction of India minutes after lunch on day three of the third Test, snatching the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the most emphatic style imaginable. Ryan Harris split a stubborn stand between Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid before Peter Siddle nicked out MS Dhoni in the shadows of the interval, and Ben Hilfenhaus razed the tail with three wickets in five balls on resumption.

Siddle found Kohli’s outside edge to complete proceedings, heralding the start of rich celebrations for the hosts following victory over opponents who never came to terms with the challenges posed by Australia’s bowlers and conditions. The performance of the match was by a home batsman however, and it was a measure of the Man-of-the-Match David Warner’s 180 that India’s batsmen fell short of his individual tally in each innings.

His efforts gave the pace ensemble a chance to squeeze India, and all the bowlers contributed in another strikingly even performance. Harris will bowl far worse and claim five wickets rather than the one he plucked in the second innings, while Siddle and Hilfenhaus maintained their outstanding marriage of pressure and late movement. Mitchell Starc, of course, had made two critical breaks on the second evening.

Dravid and Kohli provided the staunchest Indian batting resistance of the match in a union of 84, but were never completely in control against Harris, who deservedly found a way past Dravid towards the end of an exacting spell. Siddle’s dismissal of Dhoni was a familiar sight, the captain’s edge snapped up by Ricky Ponting in the cordon.

Kohli’s innings was a beacon of hope for India’s future, demonstrating strong technique and a stronger mind to cope with Australia’s bowling that did not flag in considerable heat. Following up a similarly composed 44 in the first innings, it may warrant a promotion in the batting order for Adelaide.

Resuming at 4 for 88, still 120 short of going into credit, Dravid and Kohli had plenty of testing moments in the opening overs. Harris’ first two deliveries of the day did everything but bowl Dravid, angling in and seaming away, while at the other end Hilfenhaus swung the ball tantalisingly away with the help of a south-westerly breeze.

Kohli was the more assured of the batting duo, collecting his runs quietly with ones and twos, reining in his most aggressive tendencies in a struggle for survival against bowling that offered precious little latitude.

Harris, in particular, posed question after question, taking advantage of a crack on a length at the Lillee-Marsh Stand end to bring the ball sharply back into Kohli and Dravid. Dravid was late to react to some subtle inswing, the ball swerving between bat and pad to send leg stump cartwheeling. Dravid shuffled off, bowled five times in six innings during the series.

Dhoni’s technique has been found similarly wanting, and once again he would edge tamely into the cordon. Siddle’s delivery was full, fast and swinging, and Ponting’s hands at second slip were alert and safe. Nevertheless, the dismissal was another grim reflection on the batting of Dhoni, who has always struggled to replicate his subcontinental run-scoring on foreign shores.

Lunch came and went, Kohli still harbouring the desire to reach a century. But Hilfenhaus was not in a mood to countenance charity. Bashing the ball in short of a length, he had Vinay Kumar and Zaheer Khan fencing to Michael Clarke at slip in consecutive balls, and while Ishant Sharma survived the hat-trick delivery, he fended his third straight to Ed Cowan at short leg.

Umesh Yadav survived one ball to give Kohli the strike, but Siddle probed the perfect line and length once more to coax a touch behind and seal a series that has been more lopsided than anyone can have imagined.

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Despite the Umesh-led fightback, Australia are on the brink of a series win with India’s top-order collapsing again.

Umesh Yadav’s first Test fiver briefly raised hopes of an Indian comeback in the Perth Test before their batsmen succumbed to their usual problems against Australia’s quality pace bowling.

On Day 2, India were 88-4, still trailing by 120 runs. Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli showed temperance against Australia’s incisive attack in adding 37 runs for the fifth wicket.

Earlier in the day, David Warner made 180 (159b) after being dropped on 126 by Kohli at first slip. Warner, batting with Friday’s aggression, played and missed a lot (particularly against Zaheer Khan), and added 214 for the opening wicket with Ed Cowan (74).

UMESH TRIGGERS COLLAPSE

Umesh, who had watched Australia cruise past 200 in the first hour today, triggered Australia’s collapse after the drinks break.

Both Australian openers got off to a relatively slow start in the morning. Vinay Kumar delivered a nasty blow to Warner’s elbow but the strong fellow carried on. He had received a painful one on his helmet yesterday form Umesh too.

His figures read 50-0 in seven overs yesterday; today he had 5-43 in 10. In his first spell, he dismissed Cowan, Shaun Marsh and Ricky Ponting. He bowled Cowan in his first over, bowling around the wicket. It was India’s first wicket having conceded 548 runs since Ponting’s dismissal in Sydney.

He dismissed Marsh with a beautiful delivery angled across the left-hander. Marsh, with scores of 0, 3 and 0 in the series so far, never looked comfortable and it was no surprise when he edged one to VVS Laxman at the second slip. In his next over, he bowled Ponting with a full, fast, in-swinging ball.

The ever-smiling rookie pacer from Vidarbha has operated with the cunning of a veteran on the tour of Australia, impressing even hard-nosed analysts of the game such as Ian Chappell and Tom Moody.

Zaheer had some luck in the noon session when Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin finally edged his probing deliveries to MS Dhoni. Australia, 214-0 after the first hour, lost their last 10 wickets for 155 just before tea.

Amidst all this, Warner tormented India with his power hitting. His 150 came up off just 128 balls. After 20 fours, he fell going for his sixth six against Ishant Sharma, getting caught by Umesh running back from mid-on.

BATSMEN FAIL INDIA AGAIN

The same old clichéd script played itself out yet again as India batted in the evening. Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle removed the openers in consecutive overs. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman soon followed.

Starc, one of the two changes in the Australian side, struck in his first over. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had binned the glamour shots and airy wafts for a hard-earned partnership of 24 in 10 overs.

Starc removed Gambhir with a sharp, fast bouncer. In shooting parlance, it would have been a headshot. Gambhir knocked an easy catch to gully off his bat’s handle.

Sehwag, displaying atypical caution in scoring 10 off 28 balls, was finally put out of his misery by another rising delivery from Siddle, gloving it to Haddin.

Tendulkar fell LBW for the second time in the game playing across the line to an in-swinging ball, this time from Starc. As umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave him out, Tendulkar displayed a great deal of annoyance as he walked off. Replays showed it was a marginal decision.

Laxman’s Test career moved a step closer to its end as the hero of many famous fight-backs edged Ben Hilfenhaus to the slips on zero. India have lost six Tests abroad on the trot. The seventh is a few hours away.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

David Warner smote a magnificently brazen century to rush Australia to 0 for 149 after their quartet of fast bowlers dismantled India for 161 in dishearteningly familiar scenes for the visitors on day one of the third Test at the WACA ground.

In what was the joint fourth-fastest century in Tests, Warner utterly demoralised India in the company of the relatively obdurate but still free-scoring Ed Cowan. Warner was momentarily stopped by a blow to the head from Umesh Yadav, but recovered to clout his next two deliveries to the fence and moved from 95 to 101 with a rasping club over wide long-on from the bowling of the debutant Vinay Kumar. Unbeaten at the close, he did not give a chance.

The match is now streaking away from the tourists, who had placed themselves in a position of peril with another abject batting display. Sent in to bat by Michael Clarke on a pitch promising early movement in addition to its customary bounce and pace, India were 4 for 63 at lunch, and subsided not long after tea to undo the grafting of Virat Kohli and VVS Laxman, who added 68 in the afternoon to momentarily blunt the hosts.

That partnership aside, India once again failed to cope with the swing, seam and disciplined line of the home attack, comprising Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc. Upon his dismissal of Laxman, Siddle sank to his haunches, in a sign of how much a hot day in Perth had drained Australia’s bowlers despite their regular wickets, and he did not re-emerge after tea.

Hilfenhaus removed Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at either end of the morning session before helping to round up the tail, while Siddle accounted for Rahul Dravid, bowled for the fourth time in five innings. Harris was sturdy in his first Test appearance since November last year, and had the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar to show for it. Starc nabbed two of the last four wickets.

Warner and Cowan began not long after tea, intent on building their most substantial opening stand together. There were a few nervy moments early as Zaheer Khan gained some early swing, and Cowan edged centimetres short of Tendulkar at first slip.

However Warner was striking the ball crisply, and he was given added impetus when Ishant Sharma chanced a few jibes. Warner responded with fighting words and a flailing bat, in what soon became a rare exhibition of unbridled batting aggression.

He drove Zaheer through mid off, pulled Yadav wide of mid on, and greeted Vinay’s entry to Test cricket with the most impudent straight six. Warner would save his most telling blow for Ishant, who delivered a length ball only to watch it sail back over his head and rows back into the crowd.

Cowan was moving along quite swiftly himself, driving and pulling with good sense, and together he and Warner looked the most perfect of contrasts. In the space of 17 overs Warner had sprinted to 80, on what now looked the most friendly of pitches.

Warner’s eagerness to attack brought him one moment’s discomfort when he was too swiftly through a hook at Yadav and suffered a blow to the side of the head and helmet. After gathering himself and calling for new headgear, he spanked the next two balls to the boundary – there was toughness to go with the terrorising of India’s bowlers.

His century duly and deservedly arrived before the close, and a sell-out crowd rose unanimously to salute two hours of awe-inspiring destruction.

India’s openers fared very differently. They were confronted by a pitch that looked green but was already beginning to show evidence of cracking, which suggested it was not as moist as it appeared. Nonetheless there was still plenty of swing, seam and bounce on offer to Australia’s bowlers, requiring astute judgment of line and length.

Sehwag had been at the centre of plenty of pre-match bluster surrounding his natural method, and the batsman looked tentative in his brief stay. Sehwag only faced four balls, the last of which was a beautifully pitched Hilfenhaus away swinger that flicked the edge and was well held by Ricky Ponting in the cordon.

Dravid walked to the wicket having been bowled in three out of four innings, and played at more than he might otherwise have done to avoid a repeat. He struggled for timing, however, and was so intent on defence that when Siddle delivered a leg side ball of full length, Dravid’s unnecessarily conservative posture turned it into a yorker that clattered into middle stump via the pads.

Tendulkar drew applause for a trio of straight drives from Siddle that recalled his sparkling 114 at the ground in 1992, but was not in total command. Harris was rewarded for two unstinting spells before lunch when he seamed one back to pin Tendulkar in front of the stumps.

Next over Hilfenhaus ended Gambhir’s stony-faced occupation, whizzing an offcutter across the left-hand batsman to prompt a push away from the body and an edge through to Brad Haddin. Gambhir admonished himself for succumbing to a nick for the fifth time in as many innings, the victim of another intelligent display of full, fast bowling from Australia.

Laxman and Kohli were more or less India’s last hope of a substantial total, and their batting in the first hour of the afternoon was suitably grave. Starc, Hilfenhaus, Harris and Siddle continued to bowl well, but neither batsman offered quite so much in the way of probing bats that their predecessors had done. The ball grew older, the pitch settled under the sun, and the batsmen grew a little more comfortable.

The stand was gathering strength and tea was less than 10 minutes away when Siddle made a critical break. Bowling full and swinging wider, he tempted Kohli to press too eagerly forward, and the low chance was held by Warner at point. In Siddle’s next over Laxman pushed firmly at a length delivery and offered a catch to Clarke at first slip.

Starc had been threatening to bowl the perfect inswinger for most of the day, and it was Vinay Kumar who received it to be palpably lbw. MS Dhoni played an ordinary stroke at Hilfenhaus to be caught in the slips, though Zaheer’s ugly smear at the same bowler was arguably worse. Ishant edged Starc behind to complete what had become a procession – the last six wickets falling for 30.

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

A hapless India faced the prospect of another humiliating defeat as Australia rode on skipper Michael Clarke’s maiden triple hundred and Michael Hussey’s 150 to score a mammoth first innings total of 659/4 declared and take complete command of the second Test on Thursday.

At stumps on the third day, India were trailing by 354 runs after losing a couple of wickets at the Sydney Cricket Ground. India face the daunting task of batting out two full days, which raises the possibility of an innings defeat in the match.

Opener Virender Sehwag (4) and an uncertain Rahul Dravid (29) were cooling their heels in the pavilion, leaving Gautam Gambhir (68) and Sachin Tendulkar (8) to fight. The visitors were 114/2 in their second dig in the 41 overs and nearly half the day of batting they got.

Gambhir has so far batted for three hours and struck nine fours off 124 balls. Tendulkar’s grim 8 was made in over an hour’s batting and he faced 42 balls.

Earlier, Australia continued their firm grip on the match by stretching their overnight score of 482/4 to 659 an hour after lunch without losing a single wicket.

Michael Hussey, overnight 55, remained unbeaten on 150 but the glory of the day belonged to Clarke who was left unconquered on 329, the highest score ever made at the SCG, which is hosting its 100th Test.

Hussey reached his century before lunch but Clarke had to wait till resumption to get to his triple century. The Australian captain, overnight 251, was slow to get off the blocks and had added only 42 runs by lunch as only 13 runs came off his bat in the first hour.

Still, Australia were past 500 runs in the first hour, a feat they had done nearly 22 months and 17 Tests ago — against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton in March 2010.

All along, landmarks kept falling like nine pins against Clarke’s name. When he had added seven runs to his overnight total, he overtook Ricky Ponting as the highest scorer ever against India. Ponting had made 257 in the 1999-2000 Test at Melbourne.

Clarke swept off-spinner Ashwin to square leg fence through a packed onside field to move to 280 which took him past 277 that West Indian legend Brian Lara made at this venue in a 1992-93 series.

Clarke stroked Ishant Sharma through the covers to become the highest scorer at the SCG, going past the 287 which R E Foster of England made in a 1903-04 series just a few minutes before the lunch interval.

Clarke cut another four in the same over, dangerously close to VVS Laxman at slips, to move to within seven runs of his triple century.

Hussey had reached his own hundred, his 16th in his 68th Test, and was unbeaten on 111 at lunch.

The pair raised the 200 for the stand when Hussey back cut Umesh Yadav crisply past the point boundary. It took 206 minutes and 307 balls for the 200-run stand.

By lunch, the two had put on 258 runs for the fifth wicket and the score read 583/4.

On resumption, Clarke reached the all-important landmark when he clipped Ishant Sharma to midwicket fence.

The two were still going strong when the declaration arrived as soon as Hussey reached his 150. Clarke was unbeaten on 329 at the other end and Australia had stretched their lead to 468 runs.

Clarke’s score is the fourth highest score by an Australian in Test cricket, behind Matthew Hayden (380), Sir Donald Bradman (334) and Mark Taylor (334).

This was the 25th instance of a triple century in Test cricket. Only Bradman, Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle are the four batsmen who have hit triple century twice in Tests.

That makes Clarke only the 21st batsman in game’s annals to crack the code of a triple century.

For records, this is after 95 Tests that an Australian has thrashed a triple century. Matthew Hayden was the last one to do so — a total of 380 against Zimbabwe at WACA, Perth in 2003.

In all, Clarke batted for 617 minutes and hit 39 fours and a six from 468 balls. Hussey batted for 312 minutes and 253 balls and smashed 16 fours and a six.

India began on a familiar dismal note when Sehwag cut an ordinary delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus to point where David Warner took a wonderful acrobatic catch.

But Gambhir was looking in fine nick as he hit a few glorious strokes in his 39 before tea. In the very first over itself, bowled by James Pattinson, he thrashed two cuts through point for boundaries.

He then twice drove Peter Siddle in succession to cover boundary. It was followed by a straight drive off Siddle which he executed with utmost aplomb.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, in his second over, the final one before tea, was hit for two fours by Gambhir — both slammed through the cover region as India took tea at 53/1.

Gambhir duly reached his half-century in the final session, having taken only 54 balls and hitting eight fours.

Dravid, at the other end, hit a few fine strokes on either side of the wicket but he did appear a man with more than one worry in his head.

The veteran batsman once dangerously inside edged a delivery past his stumps for four and then fell prey in now all too characteristic fashion in this series.

Dravid came forward to an off-cutter from Hilfenhaus and left a little gap between his bat and pad. It was enough for the ball to sneak through and hit the top of the middle stump.

Dravid batted for 102 minutes and 73 balls for his 29 runs and hit six fours. He put on 72 runs for the second wicket with Gambhir.

Gambhir and Tendulkar dropped anchor and were just intent to see through the day. Overs after overs passed without a run being added to the total.

Gambhir took a run after being run-less for 34 balls and Tendulkar went past his three runs through a streaky four only after defending 51 deliveries.

In the dying minutes of the game, Gambhir received a chance when he edged an easy catch towards the wicketkeeper but Brad Haddin just couldn’t lay his hands to the edge. James Pattinson was the aggrieved bowler for Australia.

Source: Times of India

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting have prior form in shattering Indian spirits at the SCG. Four years ago, they conspired to steal victory during a mad quarter hour late on the fifth day, when Clarke was handed the ball by the captain Ponting and took three wickets in an over. This year, they tortured India more slowly, with a partnership that lasted the best part of six hours and all but ensured Australia could not lose the Test.

Of course, since Kolkata in 2001, nothing has ever been truly certain in Tests between these two countries. But the drought-breaking century from Ponting – his first in nearly two years – and Clarke’s maiden Test double-hundred steered Australia into the kind of position from which it would take a Kolkata-like comeback to rescue India. They would need something very, very special.

The Sydney crowd had already witnessed the exceptional, from Clarke and Ponting. By stumps, Clarke was unbeaten on 251, having batted through the day, and it was not out of the question that he could become the first man to score a Test triple-century at the SCG. Michael Hussey had chipped in with 55 not out and Australia’s lead had ballooned to 291, with six wickets in hand.

Clarke’s innings was mature and mesmerising, but it was Ponting’s hundred that had really brought the crowd to life. Ponting had been starved of a Test century in his past 33 innings, and for the first time since the early days of his career had faced pressure to justify his place in the side. At no stage during his slump did he give up. It was somehow appropriate for a man who had fought so hard over the past few months that he was dirty and dishevelled when his hundred arrived.

The milestone came via a quick single, a poorly-judged one too, for a direct hit from Zaheer Khan at mid-on would have had Ponting run out for 99. He dived to make the crease and climbed up off the ground – the most fitting metaphor imaginable – with helmet askew and dirt all down his shirt and trousers. It was a sight that brought smiles from Clarke and even the umpire Ian Gould, and importantly from Ponting himself.

Amid all the debate over his form and his position in the side in recent months, Ponting had maintained that he was batting well. In this innings, he was. There were several classic Ponting pulls and his flicks through the leg side were a feature of his game. To some degree, he eschewed the typical Ponting back-foot drives through the off side, though that in part came down to the lines India bowled.

It was not until the second new ball arrived that Ponting departed, caught at point for 134 when he drove Ishant Sharma. Ponting walked off to a standing ovation, having joined his catcher, Sachin Tendulkar, and Jacques Kallis as the only men to have scored 40 Test centuries. His 288-run stand with Clarke, the highest fourth-wicket partnership ever compiled against India in Test cricket, had demoralised the visitors.

More was to come from Clarke, who had brought up his 18th Test century, and his fourth in his past 11 innings, with a perfectly placed cover-drive for four in the last over before lunch. His double-century arrived from his 284th delivery with a flick through square leg off Zaheer, and it brought a kiss of the helmet and a tear to the eye of Clarke, who is in his first home summer as Australia’s full-time captain.

Clarke scored his runs all around the ground, with cover-drives, off-drives, clips off the pads, pulls, cuts, lofts over the infield against spin – perhaps the only thing he didn’t attempt was a reverse-sweep. He was seeing the ball so well that he was able to walk across his stumps and down the pitch to turn good balls from the fast men into opportunities to score through the leg side. By stumps, he had the best score by an Australia batsman in an SCG Test, and needed 37 more to beat Tip Foster’s record for all-comers.

To cap it all off for Australia, Hussey joined in late in the day with some quick runs, including two consecutive fours followed by a six off R Ashwin. It was an immensely disheartening day for India, who could manage only one wicket throughout the day after 13 had fallen on the opening day. There were no-balls from the part-time offspinner Virender Sehwag, strange field placements from MS Dhoni and a general lack of spark, which was to be expected by the end of a long, hot day in the field.

In the first couple of overs of the morning, Dhoni had a man back at deep square leg when he needed to be on the attack, and later he removed all of his slips while Umesh Yadav was bowling, seemingly a concession that all he could do was try to slow the run scoring of Ponting and Clarke rather than try to get them out.

He can be rest assured that Clarke won’t be as defensive in the field when he gets his chance. Unfortunately for Dhoni, that might be a while off yet.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo