Indian skipper Anil Kumble truly led from the front on Wednesday, the first day of the five-day Boxing Day Test being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Melbourne, Dec.26 : Indian skipper Anil Kumble truly led from the front on Wednesday, the first day of the five-day Boxing Day Test being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Kumble stopped the Australian batsmen in their tracks after they had put on an imposing 135 for the opening partnership.He grabbed 5 for 84, reducing the home side to 337 for nine at the close. The only redeeming feature of the Australian innings was a sixth Boxing day Test century by opener Matthew Hayden.
At the close, tailenders Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark were batting on 10 and 21 respectively.
Kumble took the wickets of Phil Jacques, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee. Zaheer Khan took three wickets (Ricky Ponting, Mathew Hayden and Brad Hogg), while left arm fast bowler R.P. Singh took the wicket of captain aspirant Michael Clarke.
Hayden has now made a century in every Boxing Day Test since 2001-02 except against Pakistan three seasons ago. By the end of the day it was India who were having a more festive season.
Earlier, at the start of play, Kumble decided to play Rahul Dravid as an opener, leaving out Virender Sehwag, while Ponting opted to field left-arm Chinaman bowler Brad Hogg in place of pace bowler Shaun Tait. Sourav Ganguly, who is playing his 100th Test, was felicitated by Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar, captain Anil Kumble on behalf of the team, and Board of Control for Cricket in India Secretary Niranjan Shah.
ANI