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Mon, 13th Oct 2008  Bangalore: Two stoppages due to bad light after tea and a negative approach by the Indian batsmen helped the first Test against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy end in a tame draw at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.
Zaheer Khan won the man of the match award for his all-round performance. The pacer took six wickets and scored an unbeaten half-century.
A sporting declaration by Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting set the hosts to get 299 for victory but the hosts could manage only 177 for four off 73 overs.
VVS Laxman remained unbeaten on 42 off 142 balls with five fours while Sourav Ganguly was on 26 with two fours when the umpires called-off play and the Indians fell short by 122 runs from winning. For the visitors Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Cameron White picked a wicket each.
Bad light stopped play 42 minutes after tea with India on 148 for four but the light improved and the umpires decided to resume the match with India needing 155 runs for victory off the last 25 overs. After nine overs were bowled, the light deteriorated again, and the umpires stopped play for the second time only to restart the match 22 minutes later with the hosts on 165 for four off 67 overs.
One expected Sachin Tendulkar to surpass Brian Lara's record Test aggregate of 11, 953 to become the highest scorer in Test cricket but that was not to be. Needing 15 more runs for the record, Tendulkar became Cameron White's first Test victim when his lofted drive was gobbled up in the short cover region by Michael Clarke for 49, which came off 126 balls including four boundaries. It was indeed a very soft dismissal considering that he was well set for a big score.
Tendulkar appealed for bad light when he was on 48, still needing 16 runs for the record, but the umpires felt the light was good enough to continue playing and turned down the appeal.
The little master was circumspect, except for a flashy shot which sailed over both wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and slip fielder Matthew Hayden mid-way through his innings, he played some immaculate shots all-round the wicket whileLaxman matched the Mumbai star's stroke for stroke.
The two of them added 61 runs for the fourth wicket before the master batsman took his long walk to the pavilion. Now one hopes he gets his record during the second Test which starts at Mohali on October 17, which also happens to be Indian skipper Anil Kumble's birthday.
India's run chase depended on a solid start from the two openers but that was not to be as they lost Virender Sehwag, dropped behind the wicket by Haddin off Brett Lee when on five, pretty early after he was snapped up by Hayden off Stuart Clark the very next over for six.
Eight runs later Aussie skipper Ponting proved why he is considered as one of the best fielders in the world even at the age of 34, when he dived full length to his right to scoop up a fine catch at short mid-wicket to send back Rahul Dravid for five off Lee to reduce the hosts to a pathetic 24 for two off 8.3 overs.
Opener Gautam Gambhir was happy to play second fiddle to Tendulkar and the two of them looked well set for a big partnership before the Delhi lad played all over Mitchell Johnson's straight delivery in his second spell to be bowled for 29 off 81 balls with four hits to the boundary after adding 53 runs for the third wicket off 109 balls.
Resuming at their overnight score of 193 for five, the Aussies added 35 runs for the loss of Watson's wicket before declaring their second innings close. Brad Haddin was not out on 35 off 61 balls with three fours while Cameron White was on 18 off 14 balls with three boundaries when the declaration came after 32 minutes of play in the morning which saw 35 runs being scored off five overs.
India started the day disastrously when their skipper Anil Kumble dropped Brad Haddin off his own bowling off the very first ball of the day at his over night score of. It was a straight forward catch for the bowler, who reacted late, and in the process injured his finger on his left hand. Kumble put all speculations about his fitness to rest by bowling the first over.
Kumble, who failed to take a single wicket on his home soil, has gone wicket less on two other occasions in his career. He failed to take a wicket in Sydney during India's tour Down Under in January 2000 (third Test-match figures none for 126)and then in SSC in Colombo in the first Test in July 2008 (first Test-match figures none for 121). This is the first time he has failed to take a single wicket in a Test on his home ground (match figures none for 160).
However, from the other end Ishant made amends when he clean bowled Shane Watson through the gate. Watson, who added nine runs to his overnight score of 32, before getting out.  | 
