Chennai Test: Resolute Henriques averts innings defeat, delays India's win

India inched closer towards a comprehensive victory in the first cricket Test against Australia but debutant Moises Henriques delayed the inevitable with a fighting undefeated 75 on a difficult track to take the match into the fifth and final day Henriques followed up his first innings half century with another gutsy effort as he added 57 runs for the final wicket with No 11 Nathan Lyon unbeaten on 8 to prevent India from wrapping up the match with a day to spare The duo consumed 181 overs to not only frustrate the hosts but also snatch a lead of 40 runs as they ended the day at 232 for nine This was after Ravichandran Ashwin39s second fivewicket haul helped India decimate the Aussie top and middleorder Ashwin grabbed five for 90 and his current match haul of 12 wickets helped India reduce Australia to 175 for nine before HenriquesLyon provided some rearguard action to ensure that the game went into the final day Moises Henriques on song during his innings With the pitch providing the right kind of assistance for the spinners senior offspinner Harbhajan Singh also put up a muchimproved performance in the second innings scalping the important wickets of David Warner and Matthew Wadeu00a0 The two offies were ably complemented by allrounder Ravindra Jadeja who also helped the team with important breakthroughsu00a0 The highlight of India39s performance was skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni39s magnificent 224 which enabled the home team to post a mammoth 572 in their first innings thereby ensuring a lead of 192 runsu00a0 The likes of Ed Cowan 32 Michael Clarke 31 and David Warner 23 tried their best but it was a nearimpossible task to play a game of survival on a pitch that was deteriorating with the passage of every overu00a0 Batting more than five sessions to save the Test match was a Herculean task but Shane Watson and Cowan showed intent during the first sessionu00a0 Ashwin struck with the last ball before lunch He invited Watson to play forward but ball took off from the surface and hit the shoulder of his bat for Sehwag to take a simple catch R Ashwin and MS Dhoni celebrate the fall of another Aussie wicketu00a0 The post lunch session spelt doom for the visitors as they lost four toporder batsmen during the sessionu00a0 The troika of Ashwin Harbhajan and Jadeja took full advantage of a crumbling pitch as the hosts reduced the Aussies to 128 for five at tea The spinners exploited the deteriorating conditions as they polished the Australian tophalf in the postlunch session as India looked to go for the kill Starting the postlunch session at 34 for one the Aussie batsmen found it difficult to play a surviving game on a pitch where there were enough footmarks on both sides for the spinners to trouble the batsmen Whenever the delivery landed on the rough there was vicious turn on offer and also the variable bounce made life even more difficult Ed Cowan 32 who was trying to graft his way having played 97 balls was finally adjudged leg before when an Ashwin delivery straightened after pitching and the lefthander wasn39t entirely committed to the front foot Although the batsman didn39t look too happy television replays suggested that the ball would have hit middle stump Phillip Hughes39 nightmare in the middle ended in three balls as he got a delivery from Jadeja that jumped nastily onto him after hitting one of the spots The ball ballooned off his gloves and Sehwag took the easiest of catches at slip Harbhajan who had an indifferent first innings bowled far better in the second essay He was slower through the air and was also getting the required drift David Warner who curbed his natural instincts to score a patient 23 off 61 balls got a drifter from Harbhajan and was caught plumbed in front of the wicket Buoyed by the success Harbhajan got his second wicket as he cleaned up Matthew Wade 8 who went for a wild sweep while completely missing the line of the delivery Indian skipper M S Dhoni The final session also started on a bright note when Ashwin got one to turn sharply as Clarke was trapped on the backfoot with a ball keeping low With the departure of Australian captain there were some premature celebrations in the stands While Henriques looked confident at one end Peter Siddle was bowled by Jadeja to make it seven down However James Pattinson 11 26 balls provided some resistance which also helped Henriques score a few runs in the process Finally lefthander Pattinson became Ashwin39s fourth victim in the second innings as he edged one to Sehwag in the slips The senior opener took a judged catch low onto his left Mitchell Starc hit a couple of boundaries but didn39t show intent to stay back for a long period as he tried to loft Ashwin to give an easy catch to Tendulkar in the longon region Once Starc was gone Australia still needed 17 runs to avoid the followon but Henriques and Lyon fought well to live for another day Henriques faced 124 balls hitting six fours and two huge sixes one each off Ashwin and Harbhajan The Portuguese born allrounder used his feet well against the spinner and also defended well when it mattered It was extremely frustrating final hour for the Indians as a desperate Dhoni in his bid to complete formalities finally brought Ishant Sharma in the 76th over of the innings but the pacer failed to break the partnership Earlier in the morning Dhoni and tailender Bhuvneshwar Kumar 38 continued from where they had left yesterday and frustrated the Australian bowlers with deft strokeplay and quick movement between the wickets Dhoni however could not cross the individual milestone of most runs in an innings by a keeperbatsman which will continue to remain with Zimbabwean Andy Flower 232 Nonetheless it was a careerbest effort from Dhoni who finally departed in the 147th over of the Indian innings The gutsy skipper fell to young pacer James Pattinson becoming his fifth wicket of the match Dhoni who put on 140 runs for the ninth wicket with Bhuvneshwar was dismissed after striking 24 fours and half a dozen sixes including one this morning during his 265ball knock Scoreboard Australia 1st innings 380 all out u00a0 India 1st innings Overnight 5158 Murali Vijay b Pattinson 10 Virender Sehwag b Pattinson 2 Cheteshwar Pujara b Pattinson 44 Sachin Tendulkar b Lyon 81 Virat Kohli c Starc b Lyon 107 Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Wade b Pattinson 224 Ravindra Jadeja b Pattinson 16 Ravindra Ashwin b Lyon 3 Harbhajan Singh b Henriques 11 Bhuvaneshwar Kumar c Clarke b Siddle 38 Ishant Sharma not out 4 Extras b 14 lb 14 w 4 32 Total all out in 1543 overs 572 u00a0 Fall of wickets 111 Vijay 32 overs 212 Sehwag 52 3105 Pujara 284 4196 Tendulkar 631 5324 Kohli 892 6365 Jadeja 1026 7372 Ashwin 1054 8406 Harbhajan Singh 1152 9546 Dhoni 1463 u00a0 Bowling Mitchell Starc 253750 James Pattinson 306965 Peter Siddle 2435661 Nathan Lyon 4712153 Moises Henriques 174481 Michael Clarke 82250 David Warner 30190 u00a0 Australia 2nd innings Ed Cowan lbw Ashwin 32 Shane Watson c Sehwag b Ashwin 17 David Warner lbw b Harbhajan Singh 23 Phil Hughes c Sehwag b Jadeja 0u00a0 Michael Clarke batting 31u00a0 Matthew Wade b Harbhajan Singh 8 Moises Henriques batting 75 P Siddle b Jadeja 2 J Pattinson c Sehwag b Ashwin 11 M Starc c Tendulkar b Ashwin 8 N Lyon batting 8 Extras B15 LB2 17 Total For 9 wickets in 84 overs 232 u00a0 Fall of wickets 134 264 365 4101 5121 6131 7137 8161 9175 u00a0 Bowling R Ashwin 284905 Harbhajan Singh 276552 R Jadeja 265682 I Sharma 3120