India vs Australia: Michael Clarke gave impression he had independent mind

In the absence of conventional swing in the initial overs, said Pattinson, Australia were banking on early reverse by bowling with a scrambled seam. “As soon as we saw that it wasn’t swinging conventionally, we went cross-seam and tried to scuff one side up, which worked quite well. That way I got Sehwag out,” he said.

Beginner’s luck?

So when Sachin Tendulkar walked in at 12/2, the Australians, thinking on their feet, decided to stick to the successful tactic. “My plan early on was to Sachin was to try and bounce him. We changed it (the plan) at the last minute and decided to target the stumps,” he said. In hindsight, it can be said that the Aussies got unduly carried away by hitting the stumps twice in first five overs, even though the dismissals weren’t quite a direct result of their strategy. Murali Vijay played a stroke that certainly wouldn’t make a Test opener proud — an expansive drive off a ball pitched on the popping crease. As for Sehwag, he was unlucky. His was a freak dismissal, a rare case of the ball sneaking on to the stumps despite hitting the middle of the bat. More than the trajectory of the ball, it was poor shot selection and bad luck that did the Indian openers in.

And so, both Cheteshwar Pujara and Tendulkar got a series of in-coming balls early on in their innings. Aussies had “decided to target the stumps”, and the instruction had gone

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