India suffer early blows in third Australia Test

NEW DELHI - India were 67-2 at lunch after losing two early wickets on the opening day of the third Test against Australia here on Wednesday. The hosts lost in-form opener Virender Sehwag (one) and the usually dependable Rahul Dravid for 11, to be reduced to a shaky 27-2 after Anil Kumble won the toss and elected to bat at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

By (AFP)

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Published: Wed 29 Oct 2008, 12:52 PM

Last updated: Sun 5 Apr 2015, 11:07 AM

Gautam Gambhir (25) and Sachin Tendulkar (26) were the not out batsmen on the crease at the break.

Sehwag had faced just two balls when he was trapped leg before off Brett Lee (1-22) with a ball that pitched in between the middle and leg stump.

Dravid hit Mitchell Johnson (1-30) for a four to the fine leg but edged the bowler just two balls later for Matthew Hayden -- celebrating his 37th birthday Wednesday -- to take a simple catch in the slips.

Gambhir and Tendulkar then repaired the damage with their unbroken 40-run stand for the third wicket.

The left-handed opener drove and pulled with ease, hitting four fours in his 80-ball knock on a track that offered assistance to seam bowlers.

Gambhir, who struck a century in the second Test at Mohali when India won by 320 runs to go 1-0 up in the series, got off the mark with a square driven boundary off Lee.

Tendulkar, playing his 154th Test, walked out to cheers from a sizeable crowd and gave them more to enjoy when he punched one to the point boundary off Johnson to underline his aggressive intent.


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