Matthew Hayden has always enjoyed batting against Indian bowlers, be they pacemen or spinners. The robust left-handed opener was back to tormenting his favourite opposition, slamming a resolute 124 on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test.Hayden added 135 with opener Phil Jacques (66) as Australia dominated the opening session after electing to bat. Australia were cruising along, having finished the first session at 111 without loss, but Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan shared three scalps in the second session to peg them back.Hayden slammed nine boundaries off 183 balls before giving an easy catch to Rahul Dravid at mid-on off RP Singh.Jacques was lured out by Kumble and stumped easily by Mahendra Dhoni. Zaheer then removed the dangerous Ricky Ponting with a superb delivery that moved away after pitching to dislodge the Aussie skipper’s off stump. Kumble came back to trap Michael Hussey lbw as Australia fell from 135 without loss to 165-3.Earlier, Hayden and Jaques weathered a probing opening spell from Zaheer and launched into the Indian attack in Sourav Ganguly’s 100th Test match.Battling hard to get the right combination to take the field after much debate over the MCG wicket, the visitors included two spinners, playing Harbhajan Singh apart from Kumble. Zaheer and Rudra Pratap Singh filled up the two slots for the pace-men.Former captain Rahul Dravid took over the mantle of opening partner to Wasim Jaffer, while Yuvraj Singh retained his place in the eleven.Australia skipper Ponting preferred left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson over the express Shaun Tait, while Brett Lee led the bowling attack along with Stuart Clark. Left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg is the lone slow bowler in the side.Teams:
India: Anil Kumble (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, Zaheer Khan, MS Dhoni, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh.
Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, ML Hayden, Michael Clarke, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark.
