The great Australian crash

India beats the unbeatable foe after Sydney nightmare

Indian teammates rush in to celebrate victory over Australia at the fall of the last wicket at the WACA in Perth, Australia. AP

India denied Australia a record 17th straight victory by dismissing them for 340 to win the third Test by 72 runs. Resuming on 65-2, chasing 413, the hosts did well to only lose Ricky Ponting (45) on the fourth morning.

But Mike Hussey (46), Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee fell to make it 243-7 at tea, while Anil Kumble had Michael Clarke (81) stumped. Mitchell Johnson (50no) shared 73 with Stuart Clark (32) but India persevered to cut their series deficit to 2-1.

It ended the home side's hopes of surpassing the 16 consecutive victories achieved by Steve Waugh's Aussies between 1999-2001.

The defeat was their first since the thriller at Trent Bridge against England in 2005, and their first on home soil since India beat them in Adelaide in 2003. And the tourists will now fancy their chances of completing their fightback in the finale at the same South Australia venue and emulate the series draw they achieved that time.

That is a remarkable prospect considering the acrimony and soul-searching which followed their controversial defeat in Sydney.
Australia were hoping the Waca pitch, which had shown signs of variable bounce and turn would hold up well in the baking heat. However, their chances suffered an early blow when captain Ponting was caught by Rahul Dravid at first slip off Ishant Sharma, and the middle order fell away after lunch. Hussey was trapped lbw by RP Singh and Symonds was leg-before to skipper Kumble although replays showed he had made contact with the bat.

An excellent win – Mahela

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardena described India’s third Test victory as –“An excellent win for India”.
Then commenting on the forthcoming tri-nation series against these two that Sri Lanka will also be part he said that “After the set backs in Sydney this game was played on a much better note and we are happy that we will be there in this atmosphere.” Then he also added that One-day International cricket is quite different from the established Test and both India and Australia will be using different combinations of players and we are looking forward to join in the fray”.

Part-time spinner Sehwag then did further damage by bowling Gilchrist round his legs for 15 and having Lee snapped up at silly mid-off by VVS Laxman.

While Clarke was at the crease the Aussies retained an outside chance of a stunning success.

BBC