Watch free streaming cricket video highlights from the fourth day of the Perth Test Match – India versus Australia played on January 19, 2007. This includes all the wickets, runs and post match presentation interviews with winning captain Anil Kumble and Man of the match Irfan Pathan. The day India won at Perth. The significance and irony of it all – India beating Australia and conquering Perth of all places to win and come back into the test series after being 2-0 down. This is also the first time any subcontinent team has ever won at Perth.
A brilliant end to one of the great test matches played. In fact, Sunil Gavaskar has called this India’s greatest win test match cricket in the last 37 years. And he went on to clarify that this supersedes India’s win in 1970-71 at Port of Spain vs West Indies and at the Oval against England, because he felt on those occasions India had the upper hand going into those matches.
The morning began with India chipping away at the wickets. Ishanth Sharma bowled brilliantly to Ricky Ponting who had Lady Luck seduced by his apparent charm before she took a long look at Ishanth’s long locks and had a rethink – Ponting edged one eventually, but not before playing some glorious shots through the offside. The credit for this dismissal goes to Virender Sehwag who has been Ishanth Sharma’s captain at Delhi and insisted on him bowling another over after he had bowled seven overs on the trot. Apparently in Delhi, they make their fast bowlers bowl 12 over spells.
A couple of umpiring mistakes followed with Mike Hussey being adjudged LBW quite similarly to Tendulkar’s dismissal in the first innings. And then Andrew Symonds who had four umpire gifted lives at Sydney and a dropped let off in the first innings of this test match got an inside edge only to be given LBW out. But before all that, Hussey and Ponting had survived some very very close LBW shouts.
Australia then went on to prove why they are a champion side by playing superb counter attacking cricket with Michael Clarke at the centre of it all. That this was only the 4th day also left them no other choice but to go for a win.
Anil Kumble soon called on Virender Sehwag who cricket fans will know is one of the shrewdest part time bowlers in one day cricket. He bowled Adam Gilchrist around his legs in his very first over and prised out the usually stubborn Brett Lee in his next.
That this has been a fantastic test match was proved further with Australian tailenders Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark engaging in some cavalier batting that lasted 70 odd runs and included a 17 run and 12 run over versus Kumble. Kumble theoretically got Mitchell Johnson out twice – bowled off a no ball and dropped by Sehwag. An entertaining partnership while it lasted, it quietened the Indian fielders and mind ****ed the bowlers into bowling repeatedly short. It finally took Man of the Match Irfan Pathan with the new ball to end it. Mitchell Johnson, a personal favourite, showed right at the end with 8 wickets down that he is a champion in the making heading towards the league of Brett Lee and Andrew Flintoff.
Don’t miss Harbhajan Singh running in with the Indian flag as the Indian team celebrated in the middle. He was in the thick of it all back in 2001. Watch that here.
Just to rub in the significance of this win by the Indian team – this is the first time an overseas team (excluding the West Indies) has beaten Australia to win at Perth since 1985-86. You just get the feeling that this win has the potential to usher in a golden swan song phase of around 3 or so years for the Big Five – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly until their retirement.
I'd mentioned at the end of the second day that there was a sense of deja vu about this test match. Well, back in 2001 it was India once again that had stopped the Aussies under Steve Waugh from winning their 17 th consecutive test match
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