India require 493 to win first Test

Openers Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid guided India to six for no wicket in their second innings as they set about chasing a mammoth 499 for victory over Australia on the third day of the first Test on Friday.

Jaffer was on two and Dravid on three after Ricky Ponting had declared Australia's second innings closed on 351 for seven, with about 40 minutes of play remaining.

Brad Hogg was 35 not out, his highest Test score, while Brett Lee was 11 not out when Ponting declared.

The highest total batting fourth on the Melbourne Cricket Ground is 417, set by England in the Centenary Test in 1977, chasing 463 for victory.

Australia are seeking their 15th successive Test victory as they chase the world record of 16 wins in a row, set by Steve Waugh's Australia team from 1999-2001.

Australia's bowlers picked up where they left off in the first innings with an exacting period of bowling as the shadows lenghthened across the ground.

Ponting changed his bowling attack several times with Lee, Johnson, Stuart Clark and Hogg all attempting to get a wicket.

CLEAN BOWLED

Michael Clarke top-scored for Australia with 73 before he was stumped by Mahendra Dhoni off the bowling of India captain Anil Kumble, while wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was dismissed for 35. They were the only Australian batsmen dismissed in the final session.

Opener Phil Jaques, who scored 66 in the first innings, made 51 before being caught and bowled by Kumble, while all-rounder Andrew Symonds contributed an aggressive 44 before he was trapped in front by Zaheer Khan just before tea.

Symonds could have been dismissed earlier, having been clean bowled by Khan, off a no ball. To add insult to injury, Symonds and Clarke added an extra run while the Indians celebrated before noticing umpire Billy Bowden's outstretched arm.

Symonds also nicked Khan between wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni and first slip for a boundary two balls before Khan got a delivery, that would have hit middle stump, to nip back.

Mike Hussey was caught by Sachin Tendulkar off RP Singh for 36, while Matthew Hayden was caught by Sourav Ganguly at long off for 47 and Ponting was caught by Dravid at slip for three.

Harbhajan Singh finished with three for 101, while Kumble had two wickets for 102.

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Lee, Clark put Australia in command on day 2 of 1st Test Match at Melbourne

Australia took a firm grip on the first Test after Stuart Clark and Brett Lee produced a sustained period of hostile and controlled pace bowling to bowl India out for 196 late on the second day on Thursday.

Clark, who finished with an outstanding four for 28 off 15 overs, captured the valuable wickets of Sachin Tendulkar (62) and Rahul Dravid (4) as India struggled against the pace attack.

India were dismissed 147 runs behind Australia's first innings of 343.

Australia's openers Phil Jaques (10) and first innings centurion Matthew Hayden (22) extended the lead to 179, reaching the close of play on 32 for no wicket.

Hayden was particularly aggressive, dispatching several bad deliveries from the Indians to the fence.

Short of a dramatic collapse, Australia look favourites to extend their successive Test winning streak to 15 later in the week as the pitch deteriorates.

The current Australia side is chasing the world record set by Steve Waugh's side of 16 successive Test victories, which was ended by India in 2001.

Clark, who was the last man dismissed in Australia's first innings early on the second day when he was caught hooking by Harbhajan Singh off Zaheer Khan, struck at crucial times during India's innings.

He trapped a pensive looking Dravid in the final over before lunch, then dismissed Tendulkar just before tea.

Clark also dismissed Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Dhoni, both for nought, either side of the tea break as he took three wickets for just one run within the space of 12 balls.

Lee, whose extreme pace snuck through the defences of Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh, hitting both in the ribs, finished with four for 46 off 19.5 overs.

Sourav Ganguly, who combined with Tendulkar in a 65-run partnership as they attempted to rebuild India's innings from 55 for three, scored 43 before he was bowled by Brad Hogg, who finished with two for 82 off 21 overs.

India captain Anil Kumble, who took five for 84 in the first innings, also scored 27 valuable runs before he became Lee's 250th Test victim.

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Kumble puts India on top on day one of 1st Test Match at Melbourne

Australia opener Matthew Hayden scored his 28th Test century, while India captain Anil Kumble took five wickets to leave the first Test evenly poised after the first day's play on Wednesday.

Hayden, who shared a 135-run opening partnership with Phil Jaques, was dismissed for 124 as the home side reached stumps on 337 for nine, with Mitchell Johnson on 10 and Stuart Clark on 21.

Kumble finished with five for 84, while left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan grabbed three wickets including captain Ricky Ponting and Hayden.

Kumble would be pleased with his side's efforts of refusing to succumb to Australian pressure by capturing wickets at crucial times after breaking the opening stand.

Australia made a tentative start after winning the toss and choosing to bat on a pitch that had signs of grass and moisture in the outfield, before Hayden and Jaques guided them through to lunch at 111 for no wicket.

MOMENTUM STALLS

However, after Kumble managed to draw Jaques down the wicket by a topspinner that was neatly taken by wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni, who whipped the bails off to dismiss him for 66, the home side's momentum stalled.

Ponting was bowled by Zaheer for four with a delivery that seamed away to knock over off stump before Mike Hussey was trapped in front by Kumble off another delivery that failed to spin, for two, leaving the home side at 165 for three.

Hayden, who reached his century with a cover drive off Rudra Pratap Singh for his eighth boundary, consolidated the innings with Michael Clarke before they both fell in quick succession.

Clarke was well caught by Vangipurappu Laxman at second slip for 20 chasing a full, wide delivery from R P Singh, before Hayden spooned a catch to Saurav Ganguly at mid-on shortly after.

Symonds, who had ominously moved to 35 off 42 balls, was then caught by substitute fielder Dinesh Karthik to give Kumble his third wicket.

The Indian captain then had Gilcrhsit mistiming a sweep to be caught by Sachin Tendulkar for 23, then trapped Lee in front for a duck to give him his 35th five-wicket haul in Tests.

Khan then had Brad Hogg caught in the slips for 17 with the first delivery with the new ball before Clark, who produced two cover drives for boundaries in the final over that belied his number 11 status, and Johnson saw the home side through to stumps.

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Dravid confirmed as opener, Yuvi to play in Boxing Day Test

The flip-flop has finally ended and Rahul Dravid would indeed open the innings in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG on Wednesday.

The uncertainty around Yuvraj Singh has also been put the rest and the 'sixer king' would play, his second Test in succession.

It leaves Virender Sehwag, hoisted to the main stage in the last 10 days beyond his wildest dream, in the background once again and all dreams of him emulating his swashbuckling heroics of Boxing Day Test four years ago would have to wait for some other occasion.

It hasn't been an easy decision for the team management but thankfully they have arrived at it a good 72 hours before the start of the Test.

It only suited the side that they haven't left it for the last minute as it involves three stalwarts, all of whom want to resurrect their careers floundering on the treacherous waters of international cricket.

Dravid is seeking a route from the back lanes of Tests to find a way back into the one-day squad, Yuvraj's frustration of not having established himself at the Test level has reached a flashpoint and Sehwag is desperate to leverage his still-outstanding record into a goodwill among selectors and team management.

The visitors arrived to this shore having made up their mind on Dravid as opener before a rethink occurred, largely to do with the risk of putting their best batsman in a position he is unaccustomed.

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India Tour of Australia Dec 2007 - Feb 2008 - Complete Cricket Schedule

India will fight a four match test series, one twenty-twenty match and a tri-angle series with Australia and Sri Lanka. The trios are very strong teams. The team will play the match in Australia, So the most important thing is to know the time schedule or time table. When the match will start and what are the venues both are important thing for the cricket fans.

The first Test Match will start on 26 December 2007, the twenty20 match will be held on 1 February 2008 and the Commonwealth Bank Series 2008 (One Day International) triangle ODI series between India, Australia and Sri Lanka will be held from 3rd February 2008. Check now at http://www.cricketpulse.com/UpcomingSeries/IndiaAustraliaSeries.asp

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ICL: Chennai Superstars humbles Kolkata Tigers to storm into Indian Cricket League's Final

Chennai Superstars' Rajagopal Sathish (51) wielded the willow in style and then bowled with a golden arm to beat Kolkata Tigers by 93 runs and take his team into the summit clash of the Indian Cricket League's maiden Twenty20 tournament.

After scoring 167, Chennai Superstars bundled out Tigers for a paltry 74 in 15.3 overs to win the semi-final encounter comfortably.

Tigers made a mess of their run chase, right from the start, losing wickets at regular intervals and were ultimately bundled out for the lowest total of the tournament.

Barring Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (18) and A S Jain (18), no other batsman of the Tigers made it to double figures.

Man-of-the match Sathish along with Ian Harvey, D T Kumaran and Thiru Kumaran took two wickets each.

Former Pakistani medium-pacer Shabeer Ahmed opened the floodgates after dismissing opener Darren Maddy (9) and finished with magical figures of 3-1-5-1.

D T Kumaran removed the other opener Deep Dasgupta (1) and then Sathish got into the act sending back Rajiv Kumar (8) leaving Tigers tottering at 3-31.

Kumaran pulled off a sensational catch along the boundary line off Thiru Kumaran to send back skipper Craig MacMillan (6).

Allrounder Lance Klusener (4) was also sent packing by Sathish, leaving the Tigers gasping at 5-52.

Rest of the team disintegrated like a pack of cards and in the end handing down a much easy win to the Superstars, who had earlier won their three league matches of the tournament on a trot.

Earlier, electing to bat, the Superstars after being six down in the 15th over were bailed out by Sathish.

The 26-year-old right-handed allrounder from Tamil Nadu struck a 24-ball 51 to fully entertain the modest crowd, which had turned up to watch the match despite very cold weather conditions.

Sathish's knock was studded with three sixes and six boundaries and he weaved a 61-run partnership for the seventh wicket with S V Sarvanan, who also struck a quick-fire unbeaten 24 in 16 balls.

He started hammering the Tigers bowlers showing little respect for Lance Klusener, MacMillan and Darren Maddy.

As runs started flowing freely for the Superstars, MacMillan finally got the breakthrough in the 19th over when he had Sathish caught out.

Once he was back, the tail-enders packed up quickly leaving a ball to spare.

Chandigarh Lions will meet Delhi Jets in the second semi-final on Saturday.

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