India opener Virender Sehwag may not have been a great hit with the bat but he did steal the show with the ball in his comeback match.
PERTH: India opener Virender Sehwag may not have been a great hit with the bat but he did steal the show with the ball in his comeback match, the third Test against Australia that India won here Saturday.
Asked to turn his arm around, he achieved the crucial breakthrough when he broke the sixth-wicket partnership and set up India's 72-run win.
Sehwag not only picked up the crucial wickets of Adam Gilchrist (15) and Brett Lee, but also requested skipper Anil Kumble to give Ishant Sharma an extra over during the morning spell in which the lanky 19-year-old medium pacer dismissed Ricky Ponting (45). Kumble asked Ishant if he would bowl one more over and the youngster agreed.
"Ponting strike par hai. Usko ek aur over do (Ponting is on strike. give him (Ishant) one more over)," Sehwag was heard telling Kumble in Hindi, a conversation that the extra sensitive stump microphone picked up clearly.
Off Sharma's first ball of the next over, he bowled slightly outside the off-stump and the ball was rising. Ponting opened the face of the bat and it took the edge to Rahul Dravid at the first slip for a comfortable catch.
"I have been the captain of Delhi and went forward to Ishant to back him. This is one of our greatest victories. A lot has been said of Perth being the fastest track. Thus to win in Perth is really special," said Sehwag after India bundled out Australia inside four days and stopped their run of 16 consecutive Test wins.
Half an hour before the tea interval, India captain Anil Kumble made an instinctive move by replacing Irfan Pathan with Sehwag.
Sehwag justified that move by dismissing Gilchrist. It was just the time when the Australian vice-captain was looking ready to settle down with Michael Clarke (81). The duo had added 50 runs for the sixth wicket.
In his very next over, Sehwag picked up Lee caught at silly point by V.V.S. Laxman, which brought India to sniffing distance of victory at the Western Australia Cricket Ground (WACA) Ground.
Kumble was delighted with Sehwag's contribution and said: "Sehwag is always special".
The third Test at Perth was Sehwag's comeback match, after being ignored since India's tour to South Africa in 2006-07. His last Test match was in Cape Town in that series in December 2006.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}