Virender Sehwag marked his return to form with abelligerent century as India rode their luck to gain a vital first innings leadin the second Test against Australia today.
The 25-year-old Sehwag, under enormous pressure todeliver after a string of failures, cracked his seventh Test century with aknock of 155 as the hosts put themselves in a comfortable position by taking alead of 56 runs by the end of the second day's play.
Sehwag accounted for more than half the runs scored bythe Indians on a bouncy track at the Chidambaram Stadium as the home teamreached 291 for six in their first innings on an eventful day which also sawShane Warne breaking his spin rival Muttiah Muralitharan's world record of 532Test wickets.
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Mohammad Kaif (34) and Parthiv Patel (27) were at thecrease at stumps and the home team's quest for a series levelling victory couldhinge on the contribution of the late order batsmen.
The normally agile Australians were guilty of droppingas many as four catches to let the hosts off the hook.
After losing four middle order wickets for 55 runs,Kaif and Patel stemmed the slide by batting cautiously and putting on anunfinished 58-run seventh wicket partnership.
Kaif gave a good account of himself on Test recall after three years while Patelonce again proved to be a thorn in the opposition's skin with his cheekyinnings. Overall, the Indians showed more application and better planning intheir batting than they did at Bangalore.
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No one personified the new found fighting spirit of theteam more than Sehwag who was solid in defence and destructive in attack.His knock came off 221 balls during his 356-minute stay atthe wicket and included 21 fours.
With a cloud cover adding to the humidity, the Aussieshad a tough day at office although they did manage to peg back India to someextent.
Michael Kasprowicz showed yet again his mastery of thecraft of bowling with the old ball while Jason Gillespie made the second newball almost unplayable.
Warne returned figures of 3-95 but the bowler wouldconcede that Sehwag enjoyed the upper hand in their duel.
The visitors were on the defensive for most part but itwas their catching which was the biggest letdown.
Skipper Saurav Ganguly (9) got two 'lives' when he wascaught off a no ball by Kasprowicz and then Gilchrist dropped a low catch offthe same bowler but he failed to make most of those.
Later, a Kaif edge went abegging in the slip cordon,the bowler to suffer being Warne, but most punishing was the reprieve Warne gaveto Patel towards the end of the day when Gillespie was bowling his heart out tobreak the partnership.
The day undoubtedly belonged to Sehwag whose knock swung the momentum in India'sfavour. He showed great deal of concentration as India made a cautious start inthe morning. He began to play his shots after reaching the 50-run mark but heneeded the blessings of Lady Luck to regain his destructive form.
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A miscued drive off Warne fell in no man's land and atop edge off Glenn McGrath fell just short of Simon Katich at cover.
And as he went after Darren Lehmann after crossing thethree-figure mark, he missed a reverse sweep and Gilchrist took a tumblingcatch. Umpire David Shepherd turned down the appeal and Sehwag pointed to hisleft arm but TV replays showed a very faint touch off the glove.
Resuming at 28 for one, India made a sedate butdetermined start with Sehwag and Irfan Pathan keen to see off the opening spellof McGrath and Gillespie.
The first half hour saw only six runs being added tothe total before the batsmen went after Warne.
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The legspinner dismissed Pathan (14) for his 533rd Testscalp but that was all he had to show for the day.
Pathan, who had cracked his maiden half century in theBangalore Test, played his night watchman role to perfection before he edgedWarne to Matthew Hayden at first slip.
The dismissal saw the legspinner move past Muralitharan (532) in the highestwicket-takers' list. But Sehwag at the other end was solid in his defence and middledthe ball well and what unveiled was a rivetting contest between the world recordholder and India's first triple centurion.
Sehwag emerged victor as he swept Warne with precisionthrough square leg twice in an over. He reached his hundred with a cover driveoff Lehmann, his 15th boundary, off 147 balls.
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Sehwag then shifted gears with an inside out shot offthe left-arm spinner before whacking him to mid-wicket twice in the next over.
Rahul Dravid (26) was a calmer influence at the otherend until he played on to his stumps off Kasprowicz.
Then followed a brief collapse when Ganguly was caughtbehind and V.V.S. Laxman was undone by a Gillespie delivery that kept low.
Sehwag tried to hit out of trouble but his pull offWarne found Clarke in the deep for the 23-year-old's first Test catch.
Four wickets had fallen for 55 runs as India slumped to233 for six. They were still two runs behind when Patel joined Kaif.
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The two, however, prevented further damage as they keptvigil for more than an hour and helped India go into the third day with apsychological advantage.
PTI
