Led by young quick James Pattinson, Australia’s underrated trio of pacemen humiliated India’s vaunted top order to dismiss the tourists for 191 shortly after tea in the landmark 100th Test at the historic venue.
By stumps, Australia had overcome a top order wobble of their own to be 3-116 in reply with captain Michael Clarke (47no) and his predecessor Ricky Ponting (44no) sharing an unbroken 79-run stand.
Pattinson was the star of the day, crashing through India’s top order in his fourth Test to move to 24 wickets at 14.45 so far in his international career.
He removed Gautam Gambhir (0) in the day’s first over before adding the prize scalps of Virender Sehwag (30), VVS Laxman (2) and Sachin Tendulkar (41) – still one short of his 100th international hundred – to put the Australians well on top.
His good Dandenong mate Peter Siddle added three wickets of his own, the last taking him to 100 Test scalps, while the recalled and rejuvenated Ben Hilfenhaus had a three-wicket spurt either side of tea. Hilfenhaus could have had Sehwag when the dangerous opener was dropped by Ponting in the slips on 23.
For the out-of-sorts Indians, only captain MS Dhoni (57no) could claim to have matched his side’s lofty batting reputations.
Pattinson, 21, wasn’t even born when Tendulkar started his Test career in 1988, so it’s not surprising the wide delivery which the Indian great chopped onto his stumps delivered the most happiness.
“Getting Sachin out is something I will remember for the rest of my whole life,” Pattinson told reporters.
“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s a plan we’ve had. We try and bowl up there and get it swinging in the right areas.
“If you bowl in the right areas to any batsman, you’re going to eventually get them out.”
Pattinson was also delighted for Siddle, who finished with 3-55.
“It’d be pretty special for him,” Pattinson said of his Victorian team-mate getting a ton of Test wickets.
“Hopefully we can go on together and get 200-300 wickets together and that’d be even better for us.”
The pace trio’s hard work was nearly unravelled by their highly-experienced left-arm counterpart in the Indian attack – Zaheer Khan.
The 33-year-old delivered a fiery spell of swing bowling with the new ball, removing David Warner (8), Shaun Marsh (0) and Ed Cowan (16) to have Australia 3-37.
But Ponting and Clarke stopped the rot which delivered 13 wickets on a seemingly perfect day for batting, pushing on late in the day’s play to put the hosts right on top, though Indian coach Duncan Fletcher wasn’t throwing in the towel.
“If we can get through and maybe get them to score around about the same score we did, and that’s not out of the question, I think we can put Australia under a little bit of pressure if we bat well in the second innings,” Fletcher said.
