Within the eight overs the Indians bowled before lunch, Pathan trapped debutant Chris Rogers leg before wicket — though the latter was a touch unlucky to be ruled out. The ball had pitched on the leg and slid further.

Both Pathan and Team India are trying to make a comeback in this series. Pathan soon got a ball to move away from Phil Jacques who edged it to VVS Laxman at second slip. Not to be left behind, RP Singh almost did an encore with Michael Hussey at the receiving end and India literally, swung the match in their favour—12/1 became 13/2 and then 14/3, before Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke tried to restore some sanity.

That wasn’t to be. India’s plan for Perth worked just perfectly. The seamers were told to bowl like they would on Indian wickets, try and imagine the orange cones that guided their line and length during practice, keep the seam slanting slightly towards slip to get that extra movement away with the breeze and bowl up all the time, use the bouncer sparingly, and only to keep the batsman on the backfoot.

RP was lively, running in with rhythm, arcing his back perfectly while approaching the crease and releasing it further up. Pathan used his non-bowling arm a lot more and got appreciable movement in the air, while the tallest and youngest of this young attack, Ishant Sharma, hit the deck appreciably. Ishant rattled Ricky Ponting in his first over of the day with a beauty that moved a fraction away as Ponting hung his bat out, and Clarke was done in by some extra bounce.

... contd.