India stutter chasing 216

MOHALI: A hostile spell from Ishant Sharma just before lunch, Zaheer Khan's mesmerizing reverse swing, howlers from the umpires - Day 4 of the first Test between India and Australia had plenty of drama and excitement as fortunes fluctuated from session to session.
Scorecard | In Pics
By close of play, though, Australia had taken a firm grip on the match. India, chasing 216 for victory, were reeling at 55/4.However, with Sachin Tendulkar still at the crease and MS Dhoni waiting for his turn to bat, the Aussies will consider the job only half done.
India began the chase on a disastrous note with Bowden adjudging Gambhir leg-before off Hilfenhaus when the ball had clearly hit the bat first. Given the question mark over VVS Laxman's fitness, much depended on Rahul Dravid. The former India captain began confidently, steering Doug Bollinger and Hilfenhaus to the vacant third-man fence in successive overs.
However, once Bollinger forced a thin edge off Dravid (13; 28b, 3x4) to Paine and Sehwag (17; 23b, 2x4) fended off a Hilfenhaus short ball straight to Hussey at gully, Indian fans were stunned into silence. Hilfenhaus then forced Suresh Raina to edge to Marcus North wide at third slip to put the Aussies right on top.
As many as 14 wickets fell on Monday, eight of them in the final session. It wasn't as if the wicket had completely deteriorated, but the bowlers exploited the dry surface excellently even as batsmen failed to apply themselves.
The way Shane Watson went after the Indian bowlers in the morning, no one expected such a dramatic turnaround. Besides cutting and driving Ishant and Zaheer with ease, Watson was equally aggressive against the Indian spinners. With Simon Katich and Watson adding 87 runs for the first wicket, Dhoni threw the ball to Ishant in the 19th over. Drama followed.
Watson (56; 59b, 7x4, 1x6) tried to pull a short ball but only managed to drag it onto his stumps. Ricky Ponting opened his account with a crisp boundary but failed to keep his pull down and offered a catch to Raina at backward square leg. Michael Clarke popped up the very next delivery to short mid-wicket, but umpire Billy Bowden, who had initially not called Ishant for over-stepping, asked the batsman to wait as he consulted the third umpire.
Clarke was asked to continue after the TV umpire indicated that it was indeed a no-ball. In his next over, Ishant made one rise awkwardly from the rough, the ball kissed the batsman's gloves and ballooned to MS Dhoni. From 87 for no loss, the visitors had slumped to 100 for three at lunch.
Katich and Mike Hussey looked comfortable against some quality bowling by Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha with a string of close-in fielders hovering around the bat. After the duo laboured to add 44 runs for the fourth wicket, Katich (37; 118b, 3x4) nicked Ojha to Dhoni. Hussey (28; 72b, 3x4) was unlucky to be adjudged LBW.