Nothing Unusual About It !!! - First day of Mohali Test

Sacking or no sacking, it turned out to be a typical first day for the Aussies (never mind the washed out first day). Much was expected from the 'Men Down Under' after the recent episode especially  when Mickey Arthur's 'Line in the sand' phrase had been googled an unprecedented number of times.

So, the toss was won by Michael Clarke for a third straight time and he had no hesitation in batting first. A rousing start from the openers - a 139 run stand had in fact started to make me feel that a certain Mr. Mickey Arthur was the next biggest Management Guru to have been unearthed from the Indian shores after the self proclaimed and immensely popular (well! I have no reasons to believe otherwise) Mr. Arindam Chaudhuri.

But alas that was not to be. A good start was frittered away and how. 273 for 7 may not look that bad at the end of the day but when one takes into account the docile pitch (surprising for a Mohali wicket) coupled with an excellent start that was provided, it well gives an uncanny resemblance to everything that has seen been seen on this tour - on the field that is !!

Clarke had declared before the start of this test match that he'd had enough and would bat at one drop to lend more solidity to the team. And so he did, but stepping out first ball especially  to a bowler who had castled him twice in the previous test, didn't  prove a very smart move for the skipper. A golden first ball duck and suddenly the writing was on the wall for the visitors.

Ravindra Jadeja - the favourite whipping boy of Indian Cricket for reasons unknown has suddenly found a very distinguished bunny for himself in Michael Clarke. Another torturous period awaited Phillip Hughes and he gladly obliged. For someone who seemed the only benefactor in the shocking events gone by, it was sad to see the young batsman play. 2 runs in 31 balls is just not what is expected from a front line Aussie batsman. Anyhow Steven Smith, another bits and pieces player was positive right from the word go. Display of nerves even if they were present were nowhere to be seen. Having the same batting coach as Michael Clarke, Smith made excellent use of the depth of the crease and looked every bit assured against the spinners. In the team primarily for his batting skills, he impressed with his stroke play and range of shots.

Brad Haddin in place of Matthew Wade, was his customary aggressive self right from the start and provided an entertaining  46 run stand for the fifth wicket. The star of the first test Moises Henriques went for a first ball duck to a peach of a delivery from Ishant Sharma. Peter Siddle was quickly wrapped up by Jadeja and it again seemed a situation where Clarke might just think of declaring the innings  today itself. But, Mitchell Starc in company with the promising Smith stitched together an unbroken partnership of 22 runs for the 8th wicket to finish the day at 273 for 7.

For the Indian bowlers, it was a mixed day. After looking clueless during the initial phase of the game, the bowlers came back strongly to finish the day on a convincing note. Barring Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was guilty of leaking runs, all others looked the part with Jadeja again upstaging the other specialist spinners.

All in all, it was a good game of cricket. The Indians will look to wrap up the Aussie innings for less than 300, until we are made to witness a Smith special. Shikhar Dhawan is making his debut in this test match. It would be exciting to watch him open the batting and face the red cherry along with Vijay, sometime tomorrow.