Ponting finally conquers India with determined ton
Posted on Oct 09, 2008 at 09:00 | Updated Oct 10, 2008 at 09:34
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Bangalore: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting struck form on Indian soil at last with a stylish 123 off 243 balls to take his team to 254 for four off 89.2 overs at stumps in their first innings on the first day of the first Test match against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
Michael Hussey was unbeaten on 46 at stumps.
Zaheer Khan, who had struck in the very first over of the match to dismiss Matthew Hayden, repeated his feat by trapping Michael Clarke leg before the wicket for 11 off the last over of the day.
He finished with two for 39 while Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh got a wicket each.
Ponting, with his 36th ton, also created a world record for the highest number of Test centuries as skipper (16 centuries) bettering his former captains Allan Border and Steve Waugh (both with 15 centuries to their credit).
Since 12 years Ponting has been waiting for this moment as he could muster only 170-odd runs from his previous eight Tests in India.
The Tasmanian reached the three-figure mark when he scampered three runs off Anil Kumble, taking him to his hundred which came off 185 balls off 241 minutes with 13 hits to the fence.
Ponting's innings, one of the slowest of his career, after he stitched two fruitful partnerships. After a century partnership with Simon Katich, the Aussie captain added another 60 runs off 145 balls in 101 minutes for the third wicket with Michael Hussey.
Earlier, a caught and bowled appeal by his counter part Anil Kumble was negatived by South African umpire Rudi
Koertzen, who did not even refer it to the third umpire.
In the morning Koertzen's partner Asad Rauf of Pakistan had ruled Matthew Hayden caught behind the wicket off Zaheer Khan when the TV replays clearly showed that he had not edged the ball.
However, Ponting was trapped leg before by his nemesis Harbhajan Singh, who has dismissed him nine out of ten times here in India.
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Posted By Dr.Nandakumar Moorkath
Yes, Ponting has lived to his promise and scored a classic century. But what is more distressing to see for
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