New Delhi: The Australian batting collapsed yet again, this time on a crumbling Ferozeshah Kotla wicket here, and the visitors ended the opening day yesterday of the fourth and last cricket Test at a scratchy 231 for eight.
Australia had to rely, as they did more than once in the series, on their tail-enders to bail them out. From a precarious 153 for seven, they carried their first innings to a respectable score.
Steven Smith (46) and No.9 Peter Siddle (47 batting) batted grittily on a pitch on which their top-order batsmen looked clueless against India’s spinners.
Siddle saved Australia from getting bowled out for less than 200 runs. He first stuck it out with Smith to add 53 runs and then farmed the bowling as he added 42 for the unfinished ninth-wicket partnership with James Pattinson (11).
After a double-strike by pacer Ishant Sharma (2/35) in the first session, Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (4/40) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/34) left the Australia innings in shambles as the visitors lost five wickets for 30 runs in the second session before recovering to add 78 in the last post-tea session, thanks to Smith and Siddle.
Smith mixed caution with aggression. He was not afraid to use his feet to smother the spin and twice even lofted left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for huge sixes. Smith was the last wicket to fall in the day with debutant Ajinkya Rahane taking a sharp catch at forward short-leg off Ashwin.
The visitors won their fourth straight toss after losing their skipper Michael Clarke to a chronic back problem and the 44th Australian captain Watson had little hesitation in opting to bat. What followed was more or less what happened during the entire series.
David Warner lasted four deliveries before he fell for a duck, caught at second slip by Virat Kohli slashing at Ishant.
Phil Hughes (45) scored briskly, hitting 10 fours, and just when he looked good for a big score Ishant softened him up with a short-pitched delivery that crashed into the grill of his helmet. He laughed it off, but two balls later was on his way back, playing on. IANS
