![]() It's a good chance to wrap your brain around your '05 season before much damage occurs. And so it is producing events like Play Golf America Day, held at Hilltop Golf Course in Alexandria on Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. Ironically, it was a Smith century that played a part in that Pune win.PREPARE FOR '05 The golf industry knows it must "grow the game," which is to say it has to convince more people to try the sport and then stick with it once they do. ![]() Since that match in Mohali, India have been beaten at home only four times, by England (Mumbai, 2012/13 Kolkata, 2012/13, and Chennai, 2020/21) and Australia (Pune, 2016/17). But it is still worth looking back at that ball: the right lbw call, or a direct hit, would have given Australia their first win on Indian soil since 2004. The scars of Mohali might have long healed for Smith, now the sixth-highest run-getter for Australia in Tests, and one of the finest batters of his era. “He was a bit disappointed coming off the ground, but there is no need to be, he saw the stumps, he saw the win there, he had a go and missed. “We have all spoken to him ,” said Ponting. That‘s a great attitude for the young bloke to have.”įar from being an international star back then, a young Smith was disappointed at having missed out on the chance, pushing India closer to the win. There is certainly no blame going Smith’s way. If I have a chance to hit the stumps and win a Test match, I am going to take it. I wouldn’t have worried about who is behind the stumps. If that was me, I would have done exactly the same thing. If there is a half chance we are going to take it. Had he hit the stumps it would have been game over. “Young bloke always looking for ways to win the game. “You feel sorry for Smithy,” said Australian captain Ricky Ponting after the game. In hindsight, Smith would have been a hero if the risk pulled off. India had sealed one of their most famous home Test wins of the century. Two balls later, Johnson drifted down leg, the ball catching a bit of Ojha’s pads and rolling down to the fence. Replays proved to be a double whammy for Australia – Bowden was incorrect: the delivery would have gone on to hit the middle and leg stump, with no inside edge to save Ojha. Unfortunately, no one had been backing up, and the ball raced to the deep mid-wicket fence. A severe back spasm further added to the drama, before an 81-run stand with No.10 Ishant Sharma raised hopes of a miracle. A brief resistance from Sachin Tendulkar took India past 100, but they found themselves at 124-8 before lunch, with Laxman fast running out of partners. India began on 55-4, requiring 161 runs to go 1-0 up in the series. The Mohali Test, the first game in the two-match series, hurtled through several twists and turns, before reaching its final day. An overthrow from Smith – a brave yet risky attempt, given the context – ended up going for four runs, bringing the equation down from six required, to two. In all the tension and theatrics of the last over, it is easy to forget that Steve Smith, a two-Test old rookie back then, had a small, accidental role to play in pushing India towards the win. India’s historic win in the 2010 Mohali Test over Australia is widely remembered for VVS Laxman’s pain-defying, unbeaten 73 and his dramatic last-wicket stand with Pragyan Ojha in the fourth innings.
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