1st Test Mumbai

                        Sensible Hayden, Sensational Gilchrist

Steve Waugh had declared this series as the 'Final Frontier' for Australia. And why not? After all, this is the only country where they had not won a Test series in a long long time. The elder Waugh knew, he wont be around when Australia next tour India in 2004. So this was his last chance to conquer the Indians in their home den. And despite having not beaten India in India for 30 years, Australia still went into the series as favourites considering their phenomenal run of 15 successive test victories.

Australia played their first of three tests in Mumbai. The Wankhede wicket has always been known to have a little more for fast bowlers as compared to other pitches in India. Bating first, India collapsed against some accurate bowling from the Aussies. The team was all out on day one with less than 200 on board. Sachin Tendulkar was the lone ranger for India. But having got no support from the others, he too perished slashing at a wide delivery outside off-stump for a well-made 76. India ended day one on a positive note with Agarkar getting rid Michael Slater cheaply.

The Indian bowlers did manage to get a few more wickets on day two and it seemed the match was still wide open. But Matthew Hayden, looking to establish himself in the team held one end up. And he found an able partner in Adam Gilchrist who came in and changed the complexion of the game. While Hayden played sensibly placing the ball in the gaps and hitting the occasional boundary, Gilchrist was in a league of his own. The Aussie gloveman put the Indian bowling to the sword enroute to his blitzkrieg century. Hayden too got here though not as dramatically. But his innings was equally crucial in both resurrecting the team's fortune and his cricketing career. Apart from scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket, it was Steve Waugh's faith in the burly left-hander that was mainly responsible for Hayden being in India. And how well Hayden repaid the confidence Waugh had in him. It was also learnt that the Queensland opener had come to India earlier and practiced playing spin on turning tracks. So it was no surprise to see Hayden at ease against the Indian spinners. This knock was to signal the beginning of a new innings in international cricket for Matthew Hayden. It once again proved right what many people in the cricketing circles believe- if you are not amongst the runs the one tea you want to play against is India. Hayden was never the same batsman again. In the company of Gilchrist, Hayden total Australia to a healthy total, the former making a swashbuckling 122 while Hayden contributed 119.

With a shoddy performance in the first innings, it was necessary for the Indian batmen to stand up and show some guts in the second essay. But it was not to be. The much-vaunted Indian batting faltered once again. Those were the days when India was still very much a one-man army. Though David and Gangly did come up with exceptional knocks time and again, the former had a torrid tour Down Under which did not help him while taking on the Aussies at home while the latter's inability against the short ball was well exploited by the World Champions. So no guesses as to who held the innings together for the home team. But an unlucky dismissal of the 'Little maestro' put paid to India's hopes of making a comeback. Sachem pulled a short ball. But the ball rebounded of Justin Langer fielding close-in and the ever-alert Ricky Punting dived full length to end the 'Master Blaster's' vigil at the crease. After that, it was only a matter of time before the innings folded up. The match also saw Alit Agora continuing his run of ducks against Australia. The Mamba medium-pacer playing at his home ground took his number of zeroes against Australia to seven failing to score in both the innings. The only difference this time being he managed to face a few deliveries before succumbing to the pressure.

With the bowlers job done, it was only a formality for the batsmen to knock out a few runs to take Australia to their 16th Test win in a row. And the Aussies did it in style as they romped home with all ten wickets in hand.

The Test match was a tale of two diverse sides. One supremely confident outfit clearing one hurdle after another, and the other struggling to find its feet despite having all the talent in the world.

Adam Gilchrist was declared Man of the Match for his match winning effort. But the Test will also be remembered for giving Hayden's career a new lease of life. Australia had inched one step closer to the 'Final Frontier' with this victory.