Kumble Rips Through Australia

Anil Kumble took his 25th five-wicket haul in Tests to single-handedly reduce Australia for 189 for 2 to 224 for 8 on a dramatic first day in Chennai.

After a barren morning which saw Australia's openers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer put on an unbroken stand of 111 before lunch, India hit back dramatically.

Harbhajan Singh hauled his side back into contention by dismissing Hayden and Langer within the space of three balls.

The two left-handers had taken their opening stand up to 136 when Hayden, having already struck two sixes in his 58, was caught by VVS Laxman just inside the long-on boundary attempting to launch Harbhajan over the ropes.

Langer then perished almost immediately after, nicking a Harbhajan delivery to Rahul Dravid at slip for 71, a knock which included eight fours.

That brought two new batsmen, Simon Katich and Damien Martyn, to the crease and India were suddenly right back in the match.

But the two batsmen acquitted themselves well and, having survived a few shaky moments, were able to add 53 runs to the total before India grabbed their third wicket of the day.

Martyn, who had struck five boundaries in his 26, gloved a ball from Kumble to Yuvraj Singh at short leg to depart to what proved to be the final ball of the session.

Then Kumble wrought havoc: Darren Lehmann was caught-behind without scoring, Michael Clarke played back to a topspinner, Adam Gilchrist walked after bat-padding to short leg, and Shane Warne slapped a return catch.

After a muted first Test, the mayhem everybody had expected in this series had finally arrived.