Splendid Symonds leads Aussie fightback

At one stage, Australia was in teeters at 134/6, courtesy of a fiery four-wicket haul from left-arm seamer RP Singh (4/108), leaving the bulk of the workload on the hulking shoulders of the Queensland all-rounder. Brad Hogg (79) played a tremendous supporting act, taking the attack to spinners Kumble and Harbhajan with downright precision.

The duo of Symonds and Hogg perturbed the visitors, adding 173 runs for the seventh-wicket, crafting a new record for the partnership at the SCG, leaving Anil Kumble’s unit with more queries than retorts at the close of play in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The partnership was ultimately broken when Kumble got Hogg to edge one to first slipper Rahul Dravid. The aggravation, although, did not end just yet for the Indians, courtesy of Brett Lee (31 not out) joining Symonds at the middle and adding an unbeaten partnership of 69 runs for the eighth-wicket.

The most arresting feature of Australia’s batting exposition was that in spite of the loss of wickets, the flow of runs did not suffer right throughout the proceedings. Even specialist bowler Brad Hogg did not hamper the momentum; in fact, he gave it added nitro boosters with an astounding knock of 79 runs from just 102 balls.

Belligerent SymoSymonds has virtually sealed his place as Australia’s number six batsman in Test cricket, silencing detractors, who were of the belief that he was not technically equipped to succeed in the longer version of the sport.

The aggressive batsman got a reprieve on a caught-behind appeal from Ishant Sharma on 30, when umpire Steve Bucknor was unmoved by a loud and confident shout from the 19-year-old paceman. Symonds went on to score the second Test century of his career.

He stepped down the track to the likes of Kumble and Harbhjan with sheer confidence and did not the advantage switch hands after half the side was back in the hut. The approach of Symonds curtailed the Indian progress and more importantly, ensured that the flow of runs was brisker than ever.

Fiery Rudra
The start of Australia’s bid to register its record-breaking 16th consecutive Test win was shattered by RP Singh, who dismissed Phil Jaques (0) with a rising delivery that induced an outside edge from the left-hander with keeper Dhoni grasping on to the catch.

In-form opener Hayden (13) was his next victim, nicking an outswinger to Tendulkar at first slip. The double blow rocked the hosts and brought their most reliable middle-order partnership to the crease – Captain Ricky Ponting and ‘Mr. Cricket’ Michael Hussey.

It was the first time RP Singh had taken more than two wickets in an innings since his career-best 5/59 against England at Lord's last July.

The skilled duo started the recuperation and did not refrain from executing positive strokeplay. They added 92 runs for the third-wicket. Ponting (55) smashed 9 glorious boundaries before getting trapped in front by Harbhajan Singh (2/88). The much-hyped duel between Ponting and Harbhajan was eventually won by the latter.

Left-handed Hussey fell quickly after, when he tried to leave a delivery outside off stump, but accidentally got an edge off RP Singh to Tendulkar at slip.

Michael Clarke (1) fell in the exact same manner, giving the Indian off-spinner his second prized scalp. The dismissal of ‘Pup’ left Australia in a trouble state at 121/5. The pressure was aggravated when the combination of RP Singh and Tendulkar dismissed Gilchrist (7).

Brad Hogg came into bat against a fired up Indian contingent and what was to follow summarised the proceedings of the first day, leaving the hosts with a good opportunity of attaining a total in excess of 400.

Australia won the series-opening Test in Melbourne last week by 337 runs with some dominating batting, but struggled from the outset after winning the toss and electing to bat in the Sydney Test. The partnership between Symonds and Hogg restored order.

The Australian batsmen were surprised by a bit of extra pace and bounce in a Sydney Cricket Ground pitch which traditionally works for batting early and then turns to favor spin.

R. P. Singh was shouldering extra responsibility in Sydney after Zaheer Khan failed a fitness test on a recurring heel injury, giving Sharma his third Test cap. Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Pankaj Singh and Dinesh Karthik missed out on a spot in final XI.

Australia retained the winning combination from the MCG Test, which meant that Shaun Tait would have to wait a little longer before playing his first Test since the Ashes series in 2005.

Summary Australia 376/7 in 89 overs (A Symonds 137 batting, B Hogg 79, R Ponting 55; RP Singh 4/108, H Singh 2/88).