India staged a spirited fightback to recover to 313 for 8 wickets at stumps today after Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson rocked its top order on the second day of the first Test. India rallied when Harbhajan Singh scored an entertaining 54 from 110 balls - his fifth test half-century - and combined in a frenetic 80-run partnership with Zaheer Khan (35). The pair joined forces with India struggling at 232-7 and took advantage of some lazy work by Australia with the second new ball.
By stumps India had cut the first-innings deficit to 117. "We're behind a little bit, but not far enough behind that we can't fight back," Rahul Dravid said. "We could have batted a little bit better today and been in a bit better position to force a result on days four and five." Harbhajan and Zaheer batted really well and that brought us back into the game a little bit." Emerging fast bowler Johnson said the team would need to revise its strategy after Harbhajan and Khan scored freely when Australia was trying to end the innings. "We were a bit aggressive," he said. "With the new ball you can go for a lot of runs. We need to rethink our bowling with the new ball."
Johnson started the morning with three wickets, reducing India to 106-4, and returned after tea to end the stout resistance of Sourav Ganguly. Johnson registered impressive figures of 4-62 from 20 overs and ensured India had to battle in pursuit of Australia's imposing first-innings total. Ganguly, who is appearing in his final series, fought hard for 47 and was removed shortly after being involved in a heavy collision with the spin bowler Cameron White, a newcomer to the Australian side.
Ganguly needed treatment a couple of times following the clash and was soon departing lbw to Johnson after a 191-minute stay. Dravid's 51 from 104 balls had settled India's troubled position initially, but his 49-run partnership with Ganguly was ended in the second session by Shane Watson. India also lost Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was bowled by part-time spinner Michael Clarke, for 9 before the tea break. Johnson, playing his tenth test, dismissed veteran batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and V.V.S Laxman in an excellent spell of 3-19 in 8.5 overs.
"To get those big names, it's pretty exciting to me," Johnson said. Australia struck twice in the first five overs of the morning to stop the momentum India had created in racing to 68 without loss on the second day. The strike bowler Brett Lee gained the initial breakthrough with the seventh delivery of the day when he came around the wicket and trapped Gautam Gambhir (21) lbw with a ball that angled in and went away.
Sehwag edged an attempted square drive off Johnson six runs later and Matthew Hayden took a comfortable catch at second slip. Sehwag's departure for 45 was a serious blow for the home side, which needed his attacking play, and the situation worsened when Tendulkar and Laxman were dismissed. Johnson released a slower off-cutter to Tendulkar, who pushed it to White at short cover. The crowd went silent and Tendulkar stood still until umpire Rudi Koertzen raised his finger.
Tendulkar, who needs another 64 to pass Brian Lara's test run-scoring record, hit three boundaries in his 13, but left with the side at 94-3. Johnson added his third victim when he had Laxman caught behind without scoring. Dravid was unhappy to be given out lbw by umpire Asad Rauf to Watson's off-cutter that he seemed to feel he had edged before it hit his pad. It was the bowler's third test wicket - his first for three years - and he added a second when Harbhajan slashed an edge to Brad Haddin.
Dravid said India's slow bowlers held the key to restricting Australia to an achievable fourth-innings total. "It would be good to get a few more runs on the board and look to bowl good tight lines with the seamers and hope our spinners can get turn and bounce," he said. "We saw it with Clarke and White, hopefully we can get that too." * AP
