Moises Henriques a 'shining light' for Australia, says Ian Harvey
Tuesday 26 February 2013 11:35, UK
Image:Henriques: impressed in his first Test match for his country
Moises Henriques' performance on debut was one of the few positives Australia can take from their eight-wicket first Test defeat to India in Chennai, says Ian Harvey.
Despite Australia's shortcomings in the match, Butcher praised the performance of the home side and applauded India captain MS Dhoni, whose thrilling 224 off 265 deliveries - the third highest score by a wicketkeeper in a Test match - propelled India into a dominant position with a day and a half to go.
Dhoni was handed the Man of the Match award, ahead of his team-mate Ravi Ashwin, who took 12 wickets in the match, and Butcher agreed with the decision.
"Any spinner worth his or her salt should be looking to take bags of wickets on a pitch like that so Ashwin, as brilliantly as he bowled, is nowhere near the sort of performance of the India captain," he said.
"That was an absolutely outstanding innings; it was a brutal innings. India were going along nicely and Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar had played really well but they weren't moving the game forward particularly quickly - but then Dhoni came in and that changed rapidly.
"If you think about the amount of time he put back into the match by getting them a lead of 190 and still leaving them five sessions to bowl Australia out, it was very special - and massively entertaining!"
See whether Australia can level the series by tuning into the second Test from Hyderabad from 3.55am, Saturday on Sky Sports 1 HD.
