Australians tried to copy the Indians in the third test. They were very excited at breaking into the Indian style of bowling. They said they found the secret of the Indian spinners that led to the humiliating defeat at Mohali. During the three day break after the Mohali match, Ponting and the Australian coach saw the video footages several times to find out what was the secret of the spin bowlers that led to the succumbing of their best batsmen.

While the opening showed dismal performance on part of the Indian batsmen, things changed very soon after lunch. Even though the Australians used the new-found technique on the field, Gambhir managed to cross his 100 on the first day itself and gave in another century in the second day making his total 206 for the innings. Cashing in on the lack of concentration of the Australian bowlers, who probably were still under the affect of the Mohali loss, Laxman scored another 200.

As soon as the 2nd century was completed by Laxman, the Indian skipper declared the innings leaving Australia with a target, which they will follow for the rest of the test match: 613 runs. At the end of the second day, the visitors were trailing at 50 without loss. With the bowlers failing Ponting, it is up to the Australian batsmen to save his prestige.

Going back to the practice days for the Kotla test match, Ponting along with the Australian media was excited at finding out the secret of Indian reverse swing. Ponting said that his spinners would copy the Indian style of bowling in all future matches. “The Sunday Morning Herald” reported that the Aussies would be practicing the Indian method for Reverse Swing.

Their research by observing hours of footages helped them find that the Indian bowlers hold the ball at the seams rather than holding it at the sides. This causes the ball to land on the sides leading to early depreciation of the ball. Once the ball becomes rough, it is used to the bowlers’ advantage. The Indian players use the technique to include reverse swing as early as possible by roughening the ball by causing it to land on its sides.

Both Ponting and Clarke were happy to find this secret. Hopefully, they must have concentrated on the reverse swing more than anything on the nets. Going by the information they revealed in different press releases it seemed that they would catch up with the Indians in the third match owing to their bowling practice.

But then, they either failed to copy the swing properly or the Indian batsmen were too fast to catch the balls’ movements, sending it across the boundaries as and when they got the chance. As of now, Ponting is very frustrated as this match means a lot to him. Though he will not lose his position as the skipper owing to the ratio of wins he has in his bag, his reputation will suffer a lot if the second innings of the match also turns against him.