AUS vs IND: 2nd Test, Day 1, LIVE - India take four wickets soon after lunch!
AUS, 191-6, 46th Over: - An excellent 50 partnership (53 off 64 balls) is reached with Hogg hitting Kumble for FOUR. He then adds another FOUR to reach 35 off 40 balls, equalling his test best. The Aussie spinner has four first-class centuries to his name, so the ability he is showing shouldn't be too much of a surprise.
AUS, 183-6, 45th Over: - Hogg spanks Sharma through the covers for yet another FOUR. These two are looking well-set at the crease for Australia.
AUS, 178-6, 44th Over: - Symonds cuts and then pulls Kumble for two FOURS.
AUS, 169-6, 43rd Over: - Symonds half-volleys a cover drive for FOUR off Sharma.
AUS, 165-6, 42nd Over: - Hogg cuts Harbhajan for FOUR off the back foot.
AUS, 154-6, 39th Over: - Hogg drives RP Singh for FOUR off the back foot.
AUS, 148-6, 38th Over: - After two maidens Symonds realises that's not the way he likes to play and - with Hogg - hits 13 off Harbhajan's over, including one FOUR swept to square-leg.
AUS, 135-6, 35th Over: - RP Singh bags his fourth! Great display of seam bowling! Gilchrist is the man gone, caught in the slips yest again by Tendulkar, for seven off eight balls. Brad Hogg is the new man in. Tendulkar has three catches at first slip today, all of RP Singh!
AUS, 133-5, 34th Over: - Gilchrist also plays his own game and cuts Harbhajan for FOUR.
AUS, 127-5, 33rd Over: - Symonds cuts RP Singh for FOUR. Whatever the score, he just plays his natural game.
AUS, 123-5, 32nd Over WICKET!: - This is great for the neutral and for the series! Harbhajan traps Clarke plumb LBW (for only one, off four balls), not playing a shot. What a silly piece of batting, as the Aussie completely misread the delivery. For the third consecutive over, India pick up an wicket! Game on! The series is alive again! What drama! Three wickets lost in twelve balls for just two runs!
AUS, 119-4, 31st Over WICKET!: - RP Singh picks up his third wicket and once again shows the form he displayed in England! Tendulkar picks up his 97th test catch. Hussey is the man out, edging to slip for 41 off 79 balls. In comes Andrew Symonds. Two new batsmen at the crease. What did India have for lunch?
AUS, 119-3, 30th Over WICKET!: - For the seventh time in his career Ponting is dismissed by Harbhajan for 55 off 69 balls! The LBW is a terrible decision as he gets a huge inside edge, but justice is done because he should have been given out on 17. Nonetheless to say Ponting is livid would be an understatement and may face the match referee for his death-stare. Clarke comes in with a test average of just under 47.
AUS, 118-2, 29th Over: - Suddenly, out of nowhere Ponting lets loose! He cracks three FOURS as part of 14 off RP Singh's over, and in doing so reaches his 50 (51 off 66 balls).
LUNCH
AUS, 95-2, 25th Over: - Lunch is taken as Australia recover well after a good start for India. Both batsmen are in their 30s. The partnership is 68. How costly will Dhoni's missed stumping of Ponting be?
AUS, 92-2, 24th Over: - Ponting picks up another FOUR - this time off Harbhajan. One more over before lunch.
AUS, 87-2, 23rd Over: - Hussey drives the India captain's first ball for FOUR through mid-off.
AUS, 82-2, 22nd Over MISSED STUMPING!: - It was a tough chance but the sort Dhoni cannot fail to take, when it's the Aussie captain at the crease. Harbhajan had enticed Ponting out of his crease, and drifted the ball down leg, bouncing more than the Indian keeper had expected. Kumble comes on soon before lunch.
AUS, 80-2, 21st Over: - Ponting looks very sharp today. He drives and then pulls Sharma for two fantastic FOURS. The 50 partnership (51 off 72 balls) is up as the Aussies look to recover from their early losses.
AUS, 68-2, 19th Over: - Ponting smashes a Sharma no-ball for FOUR through the covers and now Harbhajan Singh will replace Ganguly to bring spin into the attack for the first time in the match.
AUS, 55-2, 17th Over: - Hussey edges Sharma for FOUR to bring up 50 for Australia.
AUS, 45-2, 14th Over: - An over after the standard mid-session drinks break is taken, Ganguly somehow has an appeal for caught behind turned down. Ponting definitely edged it! Sharma is to replace RP Singh.
AUS, 42-2, 11th Over: - Hussey, who scored over 15,300 first class runs before being given his test debut, creams RP Singh for FOUR through the covers. Ganguly will now come on to replace Sharma.
AUS, 34-2, 9th Over WICKET!: - Tendulkar pics up a very good catch at first slip to dismiss Hayden, who edged and gave RP Singh his second wicket - out for 13 off 26 balls. Hussey comes in and immediately picks up three, before Ponting imperiously cover-drives a FOUR.
AUS, 27-1, 8th Over: - Hayden drives Sharma through mid-on for FOUR.
AUS, 22-1, 7th Over: - Ponting drives RP Singh through the covers for FOUR courtesy of fielder Yuvraj's foot hitting the boundary rope.
AUS, 16-1, 6th Over: - Hayden middles a straight drive for FOUR off Sharma.
AUS, 5-1, 4th Over: - Hayden is off the mark, picking up two off Sharma, who previously bowled a wide, when trying a bouncer.
AUS, 2-1, 3rd Over WICKET!: - Phil Jaques' six 50s on the trot comes to an end, as RP Singh finds extra bounce, and Jaques' top edge as he attempts to cut, out for a nine-ball duck. Dhoni takes an easy catch behind the stumps. Ponting is in, and runs two to get the Aussies off the mark.
AUS, 0-0, 2nd Over: - Teenager Ishant Sharma - 6'5" tall and still growing - opens up with a maiden to Matthew Hayden as Australia begin watchfully. The youngster's nicname is Lamba.
AUS 1ST INNINGS, 0-0, 1st Over: - RP Singh opens up to Phil Jaques with a maiden.
The Toss:
Australia won the toss and Ricky Ponting chose to bat, as he did in the first test - again looking to take the game to the visitors. The average score for team's batting first at this ground is 419. It is a big advantage to win the toss.
Pitch Report:
The pitch is looking good. It is mostly dry, but has a little moisture and grass on the surface, though should be a decent batting wicket. It's a rock hard surface so the ball should carry more than at the MCG. Based on the sunny conditions which normally favour batsmen on day one, India may now regret going into the match with two spinners. The outfield is shorter than at Melbourne so fours should be easier to come by.
Team news:
AUSTRALIA
Australia unsurprisingly name an unchanged team, with a varied pace attack combing with a long batting line-up:
1 Phil Jaques, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Stuart Clark.
INDIA
Zaheer Khan has failed to recover from his heel injury and is replaced by 19-year old Ishant Sharma. Tendulkar has recovered from an allergy and Ganguly from the flu. There is for some reason still no Sehwag!
1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 RP Singh.
Umpires MR Benson (England) and SA Bucknor (West Indies)
TV umpire BNJ Oxenford
Match referee MJ Procter (South Africa)
Reserve umpire RJ Tucker
Pre-match:
Happy New Year and welcome to LIVE UPDATES of the first day's play of the second Test between Australia and India at the SCG in Sydney.
Australia look to equal the world-record by winning their sixteenth consecutive test. Victory in Sydney would see the hosts match the feat of Steve Waugh's side of 1999-2001.
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