Indian batsmen's age-old problem on bouncy pitches again came to the fore as yet another batting collapse made them stand on the verge of defeat against Australia at tea on the fourth day of the second cricket Test, here today.
Starting the day at 71 for one, India scored 224 in their second innings with injured Shikhar Dhawan battling it out for a gritty 81 after he came into bat the fall of sixth wicket.
Chasing a paltry target of 128, Ishant Sharma struck twin blows removing David Warner (6) and Shane Watson (0) were back in the pavilion with Australian scorecard reading 25 for two at tea.
Chris Rogers (15 batting) and Steve Smith (2 batting) were at the crease going into the break.
Earlier, in the post-lunch session, Dhawan played on with an injured wrist and scored a brave half-century. He brought up the mark off 101 balls in the 49th over as India hoped he would bat long enough in the company of the tail and help put on a competitive total.
He did so well enough with Umesh Yadav (30 runs, 42 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) as the eighth wicket partnership resulted in 60 runs.
They brought up their 50-partnership in the 57th over and two overs later then India crossed the 200-mark, a feat thought impossible halfway through the morning session.
Dhawan though was out in the next over itself, 60th over of the innings, trapped leg before by Nathan Lyon (2-33).
He scored 81 runs, facing 145 balls, with 8 fours. It signalled the end for the visitors' batting as Varun Aaron (3) didn't last too long against the off-spinner and Yadav was later snapped up by Mitchell Johnson (4/61).
In the morning session, India had collapsed from their overnight score of 71/1 to 87/5 as the hosts took firm control of the match.
Dhawan did not come out to bat first thing in the morning because he had been hit on his right wrist while batting in the nets before play. Virat Kohli (1) was also hit on the left forearm as well but he shook off that injury to come out to bat with Cheteshwar Pujara. But it didn't work out too well for the Indian team.
