Hyderabad Test: Indian bowlers dominate as Clarke scores a fighting 91

Australian captain Michael Clarke stood tall amid the ruins with a classy 91 even as India took early control of the second cricket Test with a dominating display by the bowlers on the opening day here today.

Indian bowlers produced clinical performances in the opening and the final sessions on a track which had variable bounce before Australia surprisingly decided to declare their first innings at 237 for nine, wanting to have a go at Indian openers for three overs.

At stumps, India were five for no loss with openers Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay batting on four and zero respectively as they survived the brief period.

If Bhuvneshwar Kumar ran through the top-order during an incisive first spell, Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh wreaked havoc in the post-tea session when Australia lost five wickets for only 28 runs as they slumped to 237 for nine from a relatively comfortable 208 for four.

Jadeja had the best figures of three for 33 while Bhuvneshwar grabbed three for 53. Harbhajan chipped in with two for 52.

Clarke continued his rich vein of form as he started from where he had left off during his superb knock in the first match in Chennai. He missed out on what could have been his 24th Test hundred by just nine runs as he lost his patience with wickets falling at the other end.

He tried a wild sweep shot off left-arm spinner Jadeja to get bowled. The Australian captain faced 186 balls and hit nine fours and a six in the process.

Clarke and wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade (62) added 145 runs for the fifth wicket to bail Australia out of trouble after Bhuvneshwar's opening spell reduced them to 63 for four in the opening hour and half.

Credit should also be given to Wade, who played a gutsy knock of 62 off 144 balls with eight boundaries. And more importantly, he gave his captain the support he needed.

... contd.

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