
The two Singhs - RP and Harbhajan - emerged unlikely heroes as India sparked a rare Australian collapse on the first day of the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.RP Singh sizzled with the wickets of Phil Jaques, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Adam Gilchrist, while Harbhajan Singh extracted vicious turn to remove Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke to have the world champions on the mat.But an unbeaten 80-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Andrew Symonds and Brad Hogg enabled them to restore order in their innings after Australia were on the verge of being skittled out under 200. Instead, they finished the second session on 214-6, still going at over four runs an over.Captain Ricky Ponting chose to bat on a typically brown strip at the SCG, but India's fast bowling duo of RP and Ishant Sharma got lively movement from the wicket to trouble them early.RP Singh ended opener Phil Jaques' run of six straight 50-plus scores when the left-hander was out caught behind for a duck in the third over of play, before inducing an outside edge off Hayden that flew straight to Sachin Tendulkar, reducing the Australians to 27-2.And although there was enough from both sides to fill TV space, it was another case of decisions gone awry and chances abegging that dominated the replays.A Sourav Ganguly delivery appeared to have taken some wood of Ponting's bat on its way to MS Dhoni down the leg side, which was followed by a missed stumping opportunity off the same batsman. The Australian captain was given out when he edged it on to his pads, and more followed when a caught behind shout went unheard.Australia retained their eleven that trounced Anil Kumble's side in the Boxing Day Test, while Zaheer Khan missed the cut due to a recurring ankle problem. Ishant Sharma was given the nod. The Indian opening combination remained unchanged after drawing criticism over their performance in the first Test.Australia won the first Test of the series at the MCG by 337 runs to lead the four-match series 1-0.
Teams:
Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Phil Jaques, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Brett Lee.
India: Anil Kumble (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Wasim Jaffer.