India achieved one of its most important victories at WACA in Perth. India beat Australia by 72 runs in the third Test match and gave themselves a chance to square this Test series in the next match.
Positive Decision & Good Batting Effort
Kumble won a good toss and rightly elected to bat without worrying about the hype over the WACA pitch. Indian top order responded well to his decision. Sehwag and Jaffer produced India’s best opening stand in this series. But they were not able to go further. Dravid and Sachin involved in a very important partnership and put India for a big total. But after the fall of ‘The Wall’ Indian batting collapsed and bundled out for 330.
Laxman’s Valuable Innings & Irfan-Sehwag All-round Show
Laxman played a valuable innings in the second outing under these circumstances. He played remarkably with the tail. Indeed he has become a specialist in playing along with the tail. Contribution of Indian tail especially RP Singh was very crucial.
Opening contribution from Sehwag in both the innings made life easier for the following batsmen. His two wickets in second innings were also important to the victory. Irfan Pathan dismissed the openers in both the innings and had opened the floodgates for other bowlers to exploit. His strength has been his ability to use the new ball very well. He contributed with the bat in both the innings. He rightly deserves the man of the match award.
David Vs Goliath
The real heroes of this Indian victory was the young pace attack. They kept formidable Australian batting lineup at bay. To win a Test match we need 20 wickets, which is what this bunch of young Turks did. To take wickets (pace bowlers) one need to swing the ball at reasonable pace; you not need a wayward bowling at 160kph. Yes agreed, express bowlers are very handy in unhelpful pitches. Indian pace bowlers need to carry this momentum to next match. What expected of them are consistent good performances.
The pattern of India’s recent Test victories has been: good partnerships by the top order batsmen and good bowling performances backed by determination to win = team effort.
SCORECARD: India vs Australia, III Test at Perth, 2007-08
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