As it happened: Warner shows Sehwag how it's done

1528 IST: Australia 149-0 after 23 overs E Cowan 40 (58), D Warner 104 (80) Australia trail by just 12 runs. Warner got his century in a session. India were all out for 161. It was a crazy day of Test cricket and at the end of it, India are clearly second best. They better give Test cricket a serious thought or they should stop playing it. This isn’t the kind of cricket that you expect the best 11 players in the country to play and certainly not the kind of batting that the world’s best, most experienced batting line-up does. Warner showed them the way to play. Back yourself and your instincts and go for broke. India, in comparison, were meek. The meek may inherit the earth but this Test they shall lose. 1516 IST: Australia 146-0 after 20 overs E Cowan 38 (49), D Warner 103 (71) Warner starts the over on 91. Looks to get his hundred… so what does he do, hit a four off the first balls, plays two dot balls and then smashes a six. That’s a 100 in a session and it took Warner just 69 balls – the fourth fastest Test century ever. Classy yet scary. Warner was hit on the helmet by Yadav just a few overs back but he got up and just kept playing his shots. India have run out of ideas. Well, they would like to run off the pitch too. [caption id=“attachment_181310” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Warner scored the fourth fastest ton in Test history. Getty Images”] [/caption] 1448 IST: Australia 113-0 after 15 overs E Cowan 33 (34), D Warner 79 (55) The crowd is enjoying itself, the Aussie players are too. The Indians, on the other hand, have been destroyed so spectacularly that they probably won’t find their feet for a while again. Give IPL a miss people or perhaps you’d prefer getting lost in the madness. At least, you might find your confidence again. Warner has been brutal. Off twitter, @rameshsrivats: Trring trring | Bhajji: Hello. | Yuvi: Oy, match dekh raha hai? | Bhajji: Haan. Hahaha. | Yuvi: Hahahaha | Bhajji: Hahaha | Yuvi: Okay bye. 1417 IST: Australia 66-0 after 10 overs E Cowan 17 (25), D Warner 45 (34) After the collapse, comes the carnage. India’s bowlers are being carted all over the park, without any mercy. This is utter humiliation. It this doesn’t get BCCI to review India’s cricketing structure, nothing ever will 1403 IST: Australia 51-0 after 7 overs E Cowan 17 (19), D Warner 31 (23) Australia’s openers are hammering this Indian attack into the ground. This is getting pretty embarrassing. An on-driven six the highlight of this five-over period but Warner looking like he is in a really rich vein of form. This is dangerous. If he gets away, India’s total will have been overhauled before the day is through. Nasty. 1338 IST: Australia 10-0 after 2 overs E Cowan 2 (6), D Warner 6 (6) Zaheer Khan comes out and all the bravado he was showing before the match would have now melted away. In fact, he shouldn’t even be thinking of that. India need to attack now. They cannot afford to fall back and defend. They cannot have a deep point as Dhoni has had so often in this series. At least, go down all guns blazing. Do your fans some justice. 1323 IST: India 161 all out after 60.2 overs I Sharma c Haddin b Starc 3 (8b) That was so easy. Another wicket gone behind the wicket. This is pretty hopeless. Ishant didn’t even know what hit him. The batsmen have failed. Now, is it time for the bowlers to follow suit? Or will they give India a glimmer of hope? Off twitter, @nielsen514 (Tim Nielsen): You can say what u like but India’s unwillingness to play Test Cticket away from home for last 3 years is coming home to roost! [caption id=“attachment_181138” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Dhoni failed with the bat once again. Getty Images”] [/caption] 1322 IST: India 157-9 after 59.2 overs Z Khan c Clarke b Hilfenhaus 2 (11b) The Indian team has left us speechless. Zaheer goes for a slog, and goes hard and gets the edge. Clarke catches well. Clear lack of application, technique and heart. 1309 IST: India 152-8 after 57.2 overs MS Dhoni c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 12 (22b, 2x4) Ball outside the off-stump, Dhoni pokes at it with no particular shot in mind. The edge goes straight to Ponting at second slip.. catching practice. It was a poor, poor shot. 1305 IST: India 152-7 after 56.1 overs R Vinay Kumar lbw b Starc 5 (4b, 1x4) Second over of the third session and Australia have another wicket. Vinay Kumar falls to Starc… 200 is now looking to be very difficult. Dhoni needs to play a captain’s knock here… he needs to inspire; to lead from the front. 1242 IST: India 144-6 after 55 overs M Dhoni 4 (14), V Kumar 5 (3) And that’s tea. India 144-6… a fair reflection of how India have played. They’ve shown some fight and then given it up. This is pretty brutal and sad read. It’s also a sign that the Indian cricket is badly in need of a review. They need to set things right… they at least need to start trying. 1230 IST: India 138-6 after 52.5 overs VVS Laxman c Clarke b Siddle 31 (86b 5x4) Another start. Another give away. This is just not good enough from the Indian batsmen. India’s senior batsmen are showing that perhaps they don’t have a stomach for a fight. In the first session of this Test, Australia struck back towards the end and once again, they’ve done the same. Sad, sad situation. Can we just surrender and come back? Australia are really partying now… the curator is officially Nostradamus. Beer and party.. the match in his mind was won. 1221 IST: India 131-5 after 50.5 overs V Kohli c Warner b Siddle 44 (81b, 6x4) The breakthrough that Australia needed. Once again, an Indian batsman has given his wicket away after getting set. This just doesn’t cut it. This wicket tends to settle down after the first day, so Australia will have the best time to bat once again. Kohli was looking so good but then he pushed uppishly and Warner took an easy catch. Dhoni walks in next and it’s a critical innings for him too. 1159 IST: India 124-4 after 48 overs VVS Laxman 22 (66), V Kohli 42 (76) It’s turned out to be a good Test wicket – so much for the grass. The Indian top order must be ruing the mistakes in the first session. Kohli and VVS making it look easy now. Australia have also settled in for the long haul – they’re playing the waiting game for now. 1141 IST: India 104-4 after 43 overs VVS Laxman 10 (50), V Kohli 35 (65) Laxman was almost caught out by Hussey at gully. The fielder wasn’t quite sure but the third umpire was. Thankfully for India, he ruled in favour of the batsman. But the veteran is stuck a little bit. On the other hand, Kohli is looking very good – striking the ball well and calling for the quick singles. 1116 IST: India 90-4 after 38 overs VVS Laxman 9 (34), V Kohli 22 (46) It seems like a slow crawl but this is actually a very interesting phase of the game. India are showing some grunt, they are not on the counter-attack but they are trying to fight in whatever way possible. Given what we’ve seen on this tour so far, this is welcome. But another wicket and suddenly, this innings might end quickly. With Ashwin not there in the squad, there is a long tail. 1055 IST: India 77-4 after 33 overs VVS Laxman 5 (22), V Kohli 13 (30) This session – 5 overs, 4 runs. India have gone into a shell. They are trying to ride this out. But they need to score some runs too. Their approach is pretty crazy at this point. 1000 IST: India 73-4 after 28 overs VVS Laxman 4 (11), V Kohli 10 (11) And that’s lunch. The story of the session: 28 overs, 73 runs, 4 wickets. Good bowling by the Aussies on the wicket that isn’t as bad as it was being made out to be. And once again, India seem burdened by something that’s surely more than just cricket. It’s a simple game, they tell us but India makes it so difficult that it’s almost scary. Hilfenhaus was once again the pick of the bowlers, he got the ball to swing and showed that the outswinger will get you wickets in all conditions. His figures for the session are 10-1-25-2. Off twitter, @mohanstatsman: This is the first time in Test cricket India has gone with four pacemen (none of them all-rounders)! And some more stats, courtesy @rgcricket: Ind batsmen’s avg in last 7 away Tests- RD (52.9),SRT (39.5),MSD (30.8),VVS (21.4),Gauty (21.0),Viru (16.5) & Virat (13.2) 0952 IST: India 63-4 after 25.1 overs G Gambhir c Haddin b Hilfenhaus 31 (82b, 3x4) Another wicket. Another bad shot. The best ball of the morning was the one bowled to Sehwag. Other than that… the batsman’s fault. Gambhir had done the hard work and now he’s given it away. Hilfenhaus continues to have the series of his life. The ball was just outside the off-stump and Gambhir could have left it alone but he poked at it and Haddin took an easy catch. Kohli in next. Make or break for him. [caption id=“attachment_180799” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Dravid was yorked by Siddle. Getty Images”] [/caption] 0944 IST: India 59-3 after 24.1 overs S Tendulkar lbw b Harris 15 (25b, 3x4) The big man is walking back to the pavilion after being trapped lbw by Harris. Huge wicket for Australia because it means that unless India bat out of their skins, they are already in big hole. Ball would have crashed into middle and leg and Sachin was trying to play across the line. Off twitter, @cricketwallah: is this a new Test we are seeing or a rerun of the previous one? 0933 IST: India 54-2 after 23 overs G Gambhir 27 (56), S Tendulkar 14 (23) It would seem that India have weathered the storm. But this is the toughest period for Tendulkar. The short session just before the end of a session when he decides to shut shop and play for time. This is anything but easy, but the batsmen have shown that there are no demons in this pitch. Rather it seems like the wicket where one can play shots after getting set. Expect that and more. 0914 IST: India 48-2 after 18 overs G Gambhir 24 (56), S Tendulkar 12 (13) At the risk of jinxing it, Tendulkar is once again looking good. Three sublime boundaries off his bat and India are looking settled. Gambhir looking more assured, the 83 in Sydney did him good. And Tendulkar presenting a full face of the bat too. 0854 IST: India 32-2 after 13.2 overs R Dravid b Siddle 9 (35b, 1x4) Dravid’s tortured run comes to an end. Beaten for pace and surprised by the length. On a wicket that’s all bounce and pace, Siddle went with the yorker and it worked. Dravid had played and missed a lot in his innings and his only four was an edge over point. This just looked like it was waiting to happen. On twitter, @sidvee: Dravid bowled again. This is surely his way of rebelling against his stupid nickname 0829 IST: India 11-1 after 8 overs G Gambhir 9 (32), R Dravid 1 (12) Both batsmen are playing and missing a lot outside the stump. They don’t seem to be quite of how much movement there is in the wicket. The bounce is good and the commentators reckon that it will get quicker as it dries up a bit. Dravid has played and missed around 4 times in the last two overs. This is a tough, tough session. On twitter, @cricketaakash: Having said that, that’s Sehwag’s longest stride on most days. Rahul’s play n miss has a lot to do with him getting bowled so often lately! [caption id=“attachment_180703” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Another duck for Sehwag. Getty Images”] [/caption] 0812 IST: India 4-1 after 3.2 overs V Sehwag c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 0 (4b) First ball was left alone by Sehwag, the second one pitched in line with the off-stump and moving away. Sehwag pushed at it and the edge flew to Ponting at second slip. This was half and half again – not fully forward and the face of his bat was open. India is trouble already. Meanwhile, not a huge amount of movement or demons in the wicket so far. It’s been pretty normal. Yes, the grass is alive and present. The beer bottles from the party last night are missing and thankfully that hasn’t messed up the wicket too much. And on twitter, @SANJAYMANJREKAR: Overseas woes - sehwag now has 293 runs in last 15 overseas inngs at an avg of 19.7 Pre-match India’s win in 2008 at Perth is now history because this time round they come into the match 2-nil down and Australia have decided to go into the match with four fast bowlers. This is said to be the fastest Perth wicket in a while and that’s managed to convince Mahendra Singh Dhoni to play fast bowlers as well. Australia won the toss and immediately elected to bowl first. A decision that Clarke believes will give Australia a big edge on a wicket that still has some grass. So it won’t be easy for the batsmen at all. India, on the other hand, have gone in with Vinay Kumar and given R Ashwin a rest. Given that the Doc Fremantle, the breeze that blows across the ground, can help spinners who give the ball enough air, India might have sold themselves short. [caption id=“attachment_180574” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Virender Sehwag will need to fire for India. Reuters”] [/caption] Anyway, after the drama of the last few days – the go-karting, talk of the rift between Sehwag and Dhoni and the retirement talk from the India skipper – it’s back to cricket. This promises to be a cracker. Australia (Playing XI): M Clarke(C), Ed Cowan, D Warner, S Marsh, R Ponting, M Hussey, B Haddin, B Hilfenhaus, P Siddle, M Starc, R Harris. India (Playing XI): MS Dhoni(C), V Sehwag, G Gambhir, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, V Kohli, Z Khan, I Sharma, U Yadav, V Kumar.