Hayden dominates day one
Matthew Hayden continued from where he had left off in the 2001 series, muscling his way to 67, as the Australians gained some valuable batting practice on the first day of their tour opener in Mumbai
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Matthew Hayden continued from where he had left off in the 2001 series, muscling his way to 67, as the Australians gained some valuable batting practice on the first day of their tour opener in Mumbai. After overnight showers had delayed play by more than four hours, all the batsmen in the Australian top order used the chance to get into their groove. Mumbai did manage to pick up three wickets in the final session, and the Australians finished on 159 for 3.
Hayden was like a bulldog on a leash - always threatening, and at times ferocious. He took an excessively long time preparing himself to face the first delivery, with Ramesh Powar surprisingly sharing the new ball, as he cleared huge amounts of dust from the pitch, squatted several times and checked the field placement twice. Powar got away unscathed in his first spell but suffered when he returned in the 11th over, being clattered for 16 runs, including a six that crashed into the sight-screen.
Ajit Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi were also carted around - one four off Salvi was close to the mid-off fielder, but it screamed past so fast that he didn't move. The only bowler who he wasn't taken apart by Hayden was Sairaj Bahutule, the legspinner. Though Hayden lofted him over long-off for six, and came down the track almost every ball, Bahutule induced a few iffy moments. He finally got his wicket in the 33rd over, as Hayden converted a full-length ball into a low full-toss and patted it back to give Bahutule a simple return catch (108 for 2).
Hayden and Justin Langer had given Australia a confident start, and added 69 in the ninety minutes before the tea-break. Langer's innings was characterised by a number of balls that he drove straight to the fielders. He preferred to rotate the strike and watch the show at the other end, but just before the tea break he capitalised on some wayward bowling, and helped himself to a few fours as well. However, he fell to the second ball after the break as he tried to drive Agarkar through the off side, but edged through to Vinayak Samant, the wicketkeeper (69 for 1).
Simon Katich (30) was promoted to No. 3, which is where he will probably bat in the first Test, and milked the bowling around in his 80-ball innings. He survived a run-out chance when he was on 3 as he danced down the track and played a shot straight to the short-leg fielder, who failed to hit the stumps with a return throw. Damien Martyn (28 not out) then gave a sneak preview of his silken touch, and there was a gentler ending to the day's play after Hayden had torn everyone apart earlier.
Due to heavy showers last night, the first half of the day was spent waiting for the field to dry up. Polly Umrigar, the chief curator, was in the centre of all the action, enthusiastically handing out instructions to the ground staff while constantly muttering: "It's all OK". Fittingly, it was Umrigar who walked out to the toss with Ian Johnson way back in October 1956, when Australia played their first-ever Test match on Indian soil.