Saturday, March 16, 2013

Dharwan's 185* on debut propels India towards a dig lead on Australia's respectable looking 408: T3 D3

India 0/283 (58ov, Dhawan 185*, Vijay 83*) trail Australia 408 (141.5 ov, Starc 99, Smith 92, Cowan 86, Warner 71, Sharma 3/72, Jadeja 3/77) by 125 runs with 10 1st inns wkts in hand: T3 D3 at Mohali.

I'd barely heard of Shikar Dhawan before today, now, after his incredibly quickfire 185*/ 168b ( 2x6, 33x4) I'll never forget him.

He has made a respectable looking Australian total look puny. Today's contributions by Mitchell Starc 99/144b (14x4) and Steve Smith 92/185b (1x6,10x4) put Australia into what looked at the time, just before lunch,to be a solid if not match winning position.

But that didn't happen as Dharwan and and Murali Vijay 83*/181b (2x6, 10x4) exposed the weakness of the Australian attack in a manner which no other team,let alone pair, has probably ever done before.

A day lost to rain was made up today with an extra half hour and 418 runs and put a dispirited Australia in peril.

It's hard to imagine that tomorrow can be any worse for the bowlers....I hope it isn't.

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