Ganguly and Tendulkar give India the edge

India 311 for 5 (Tendulkar 88, Gambhir 67, Ganguly 54*) v Australia
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly added 142 for the fifth wicket © AFP

India's batsmen sandwiched a middle-order wobble in the afternoon with excellent batting during the first and third sessions to inch ahead of Australia on the first day in Mohali. A brief passage of play, during which India lost three wickets for 17 runs, threatened to undo the 104-run platform built in the morning but Sachin Tendulkar, who became Test cricket's highest run-scorer, and Sourav Ganguly ensured that the initiative wasn't lost by batting the majority of the final session.

Unlike the pitch in Bangalore, which had variable bounce from the start, the surface at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium was true. There was hardly any swing or movement off the pitch; the ball came on to the bat, and sped off it, allowing the batsmen to drive on the up or hit through the line. Australia's bowlers, who failed to bowl disciplined lines during the first session, were.more accurate - and successful - after lunch. At tea, given the outstanding batting conditions, Australia held the edge having reduced India to 174 for 4. Another wicket would have made it their day but they were blunted by Tendulkar and Ganguly, who scored at nearly four an over without any risks.

Tendulkar broke Brian Lara's record off the first ball after tea, steering Peter Siddle to third man, but, once the seemingly endless fireworks subsided, India needed a much more substantial contribution from him. It was Ganguly, however, who set the pace initially. He had taken 17 balls to get off the mark before tea but after the interval he hit the ball through gaps in the offside with precision, driving Shane Watson and Peter Siddle for three boundaries between point and cover. He milked that region for 41 of his runs and, apart from a stumping against Cameron White - Rudi Koertzen did not refer it to the third umpire - and a couple of uncertain wafts against the second new ball, his innings was calm.

Towards the end of the day, Tendulkar was batting so confidently that he despatched the first delivery with the second new ball, bowled by Siddle, through cover with a back foot drive. He tried to repeat the shot the next ball but inside edged the ball past his stumps. His third attempt to push the new ball through the offside 15 minutes before stumps landed in Matthew Hayden's hands at first slip and gave Siddle his maiden Test wicket. It ended a 142-run stand and helped even the balance between the teams.

Before that error in judgement, however, Tendulkar had scored runs all round the ground and wasn't tied down by any bowler. He was severe on Siddle, against whom he scored 29 off 20 balls, driving him twice past mid-on for four and steering him to the third-man boundary. He also scored at a strike-rate of above 75 against Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson, who was once again Australia's best bowler. When Ponting brought on Cameron White, Tendulkar attempted to unsettle the legspinner by charging down the pitch and lofting down the ground. He brought up his fifty - his 50th in Test cricket - and also became the first batsmen to score 12,000 Tests.

Those records were preceded by a spell in which Australia regained ground lost during the morning session; though their bowlers rectified mistakes made earlier in the day, the wickets were largely due to lapses by the batsmen.

Johnson was largely responsible for the fightback. He ended Virender Sehwag's charge in the morning, caught down the leg side, and dismissed Laxman in a similar manner after lunch. In between those wickets he contained Dravid by bowling full and wide with seven fielders on the off side, and induced an edge from Gambhir as he tried to drive another full delivery through cover. Australia picked up 3 for 17 and recovered from the rapid start made by Gambhir and Sehwag.

Gambhir was struck on the helmet by Siddle's first ball in international cricket but recovered to drive the ball through cover, a stroke that would become a feature of his innings. Sehwag ensured the run-rate stayed around six an over by piercing the infield frequently. He punished Siddle when the line was too straight, nudging him down to fine leg, and flicking to the square-leg boundary twice in succession.

The batsmen hit 10 boundaries in the first hour and raced to 63 in 13 overs. Having tried all his fast bowlers, Ricky Ponting gave the final over of the session to the left-arm spinner Michael Clarke. Gambhir took the opportunity to reach his half-century before lunch by stepping out to loft Clarke twice in a row over mid-on.

The Australians came out after the break with different lines of attack. Watson and Siddle restricted Gambhir's scoring by aiming short balls at his ribs. Johnson slanted deliveries full and wide outside off stump and asked the batsmen to drive with seven fielders on the off side. Dravid chased one and was beaten, after which he let several go. He eventually played on while trying to force Lee through the off side.

India had two new batsmen at the crease a short while before tea and had to begin from scratch. Tendulkar and Ganguly protected the innings from further damage

Ganguly rubs Australians the wrong way again

Melbourne: Intentionally or inadvertently, Sourav Ganguly continues to rub Australians the wrong way and the media here poured vitriol on the former India skipper, accusing him of indulging in delaying tactics to ensure the Bangalore Test ended in a draw.

The popular belief here is that Australia were destined to win the Bangalore Test but the existing light rule, coupled with Ganguly's delaying tactics, denied Ricky Ponting's men victory in the first of the four-match Test series.

A member of the National Nine News sports team took a potshot at anyone and everyone but was particularly harsh on Ganguly, whom he described as a "serial offender".

"Serial offender Sourav Ganguly firstly persuaded the umpires to go off. Then when play resumed, Ganguly made Australia's fielders and partner VVS Laxman wait an eternity because he'd apparently 'forgotten to put his thigh pad on'.

"Please! Can't you be timed out in this game?" he wrote.

According to him, the spectators were the obvious losers in the entire exercise.

"The players got something out of it. Pedantic officials got their moment of glory. But billions of fans and more importantly — the game itself — got nothing out of this farcical finish in Bangalore," he remarked.

Criticising umpire Asad Rauf and Rudy Koertzen, the writer said, "With the match in the balance, a crucial hour's play on the final day was lost, with not one, but two stoppages for bad light — when at times the sun was shining!

"Umpires strutted about like Emperor Penguins, holding out their light metres — a device that like performance enhancing drugs should be banned."

Ganguly to retire after Australia Tests

Sourav Ganguly has said he will retire after the upcoming Test series against Australia. His statement, a moment of unscripted drama at the end of a routine press conference in Bangalore, ends widespread speculation over his future.

"Just one last thing lads, before I leave, I just want to say that this is going to be my last series," Ganguly said after taking the last question of his press conference. "I've decided to quit. I told my team-mates before coming here. These four Test matches are going to be my last and hopefully we'll go on a winning note."

With that, he got up and walked out, offering no explanation for what led to the decision. Shortly after that Kris Srikkanth, the head of India's new selection panel, threw some light on it. "I think he's probably taken the right decision," Srikkanth said. "He had a good chat with me and my co-selector Narendra Hirwani. He wants a peaceful series without any troubles on his mind. As a player I can tell you that when you have an axe over your head it doesn't feel right."

India's selectors, headed by Srikkanth, picked Ganguly in a 15-man squad for the first two Tests against Australia despite his being overlooked for the Irani Cup match between the Rest of India and Delhi. Lacking top-quality match practice since the end of the Sri Lanka Tests, he was rushed to Chennai for an India 'A' match against New Zealand.

"To be honest I didn't expect to be picked for this series," Ganguly said. "But once I was chosen, I started preparing. Even when I was left out of the Rest of India squad, which was a bit of a surprise for me, I was still training with the Bengal boys."

Ganguly also dismissed speculation over a "voluntary retirement scheme" for the senior members of India's squad. "I don't think it's ever possible that anybody can offer you a VRS. You cannot do that to players like [Anil] Kumble, [Rahul] Dravid, [VVS] Laxman, me, Sachin [Tendulkar] or anyone.

"What is important is what you get to know from the board [BCCI] and as far as I, and some of the senior players, are concerned, we have not received any intimation from the board on anything."

Ganguly, 36, has scored 6888 runs in 109 Tests, with 15 hundreds. He played 49 Tests as captain, the most by an Indian. The 21 matches won during his tenure is also an Indian record, and his win percentage of over 40 is the highest for players who have captained India in more than one Test. Starting with a hundred on debut, Ganguly's Test average has never dipped below 40.

In 311 ODIs, he scored 11,363 runs at 41.02. He captained India in 147 ODIs. His last ODI was against Pakistan in Gwalior on November 15, 2007. He is one of only three players to complete the treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar being the others. Along with Tendulkar, he formed a prolific partnership at the top of the order, with 6609 runs at an average of nearly 50 per stand in 136 innings.

Since his recall in December 2006 and till the end of the home series against South Africa earlier this year, Ganguly scored 1571 runs at 50.67, including a maiden double-century. However, he managed only 96 runs in six innings during India's 2-1 series defeat in Sri Lanka this summer.