India smells victory against Australia in first test

Tuesday, 26 February 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A battling, heroic half-century by Moises Henriques helped Australia at least delay defeat to India on day four of the first Test in Chennai.

At close of play, Australia was 9 for 232 - a lead of 40 runs - after looking a near-certainty for an innings defeat.

Brave Henriques’ 75 not out - fresh after his first half-century in the first innings - capped a superb debut that saw him and Nathan Lyon (12 not out) forge a 57-run partnership for the 10th wicket to erase the deficit and give India something to chase on day five.

After India captain MS Dhoni’s double century propelled the hosts to a mammoth 572 all out, Australia’s second innings lurched from bad to worse as it collapsed to 9 for 175 - at the time still trailing by 17 runs.

After losing partners Michael Clarke (31), Peter Siddle (2), Mitchell Starc (8) and James Pattinson (11), Henriques found a dogged partner in Lyon to force the match into a fifth day.

Henriques brought up his 50 with a big six off Harbhajan Singh (2 for 55) and continued the big hitting as he took to the spinners, chalking up six boundaries and two sixes.

But the debut all-rounder’s innings aside, Australia had no answer to India’s three-pronged spin attack of Ravichandran Ashwin (5 for 90), Ravindra Jadeja (2 for 68) and Harbhajan as the hosts exploited a tricky pitch to skittle the visitors’ innings.

India chose to bowl just the three spinners for the first 75 overs as the likes of pacemen Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar whiled away the hours on the boundary rope, but the tweakers had all the answers for much of the day’s play.