Sydney: A hapless India faced the prospect of another humiliating defeat as Australia rode on skipper Michael Clarke’s maiden triple hundred and Michael Hussey’s 150 to score a mammoth first innings total of 659 for 4 declared and take complete command of the second cricket Test here on Thursday.
At stumps on the third day, India were trailing by 354 runs after losing a couple of wickets at the Sydney Cricket Ground. India face the daunting task of batting out two full days, which raises the possibility of an innings defeat in the match.
Opener Virender Sehwag (4) and an uncertain Rahul Dravid (29) were cooling their heels in the pavilion, leaving Gautam Gambhir (68) and Sachin Tendulkar (8) to fight. The visitors were 114 for 2 in their second dig in the 41 overs and nearly half the day of batting they got.
Gambhir has so far batted for three hours and struck nine fours off 124 balls. Tendulkar’s grim 8 was made in over an hour’s batting and he faced 42 balls.
Earlier, Australia continued their firm grip on the match by stretching their overnight score of 482 for 4 to 659 an hour after lunch without losing a single wicket.
Michael Hussey, overnight 55, remained unbeaten on 150 but the glory of the day belonged to Clarke who was left unconquered on 329, the highest score ever made at the SCG, which is hosting its 100th Test.
Hussey reached his century before lunch but Clarke had to wait till resumption to get to his triple century. The Australian captain, overnight 251, was slow to get off the blocks and had added only 42 runs by lunch as only 13 runs came off his bat in the first hour.
Still, Australia were past 500 runs in the first hour, a feat they had done nearly 22 months and 17 Tests ago — against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton in March 2010. (PTI)