The touring Indians lost three wickets in seven balls after their bowlers were put on the rack by a second-grade Queensland side on the opening day of a three-day side game in Queensland on Saturday.
The ragged Indian bowling attack once again let a batting reputation grow at their expense and their batsmen did little better in the seven overs faced as they crumbled to 17 for 3 at close against Queensland Academy of Sports XI.
Lee Carseldine, playing his first game of the season after recovering from a knee injury, smashed a brilliant century as the home team cheekily declared at 304 for 6, half an hour before close of play.
The hosts backed their decision sensationally, removing Indian openers and wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta in the space of seven balls.
Scott Bryant, a left-arm paceman of Zimbabwe-origin, removed Akash Chopra and Deep Dasgupta off successive deliveries in his second over though the Indian stumper was unlucky as he had played fully stretched forward.
India suffered another blow at the other end when Virender Sehwag (6) edged a flick down the legside off Joe Dawes for wicketkeeper Chris Hartley to complete a very good catch.
Earlier, the Indians misfielded, overthrew and dropped catches and perhaps the only thing in their defence was they kept an attacking field throughout with no fielder in the deep.
Anil Kumble picked up four wickets but neither he nor any other Indian bowler looked particularly threatening on a placid pitch with short boundaries and fast outfield.
Carsledine walked in to bat in the second over of the day and stayed till well after tea break when he was smartly caught by Dasgupta who kept brilliantly against both pacers and spinners.
Dasgupta showed his concentration was still good at the fag end of a hot day when he made a difficult stumping look easy against Craig Philipson who at 85 was looking good to be the second centurion of the day for the hosts.
Philipson made 85 in 161 minutes from 138 deliveries with 12 fours and a towering six off Kumble when he came down the track and lifted the leg-spinner right to the sightscreen.
Carseldine, a regular with Queensland first eleven but one who has suffered on count of injury lately, made 112 from four hours and 190 deliveries, hitting 15 fours and a six.
Carseldine, who topped for Queensland last season with 709 runs at 44.31, looked in extremely good touch as he hit through the line and mostly with the full face of the bat. He is better known as someone who broke all of Michael Bevan's fitness record in the Australian Cricket Academy recently.
Kumble's other two wickets were of home skipper Aaron Nye (15) and Steve Farrell (9) who were dismissed bowled and leg-before wicket respectively.
The Indians began on a poor note when VVS Laxman dropped opener Chris Simpson in the slips in the first over of the match by Ajit Agarkar. Later Akash Chopra, at silly point, failed to hold on to a catch off Philipson off Kumble.
Simpson tore into Indian bowling, Agarkar in particular, whom he repeatedly punched through the off-side and hooked whenever the frail medium-pacer pitched it short.
Simpson also once flicked Irfan Pathan over the midwicket fence for a six to deflate the left-arm paceman who started off well by claiming a wicket off his very first ball of the tour, a leg before shout against Daniel Payne (0).
Simpson finally departed when he gave a catch back to Agarkar after making 43 from 46 balls with eight fours and a six.
So depleted was the Queensland team that the match was not accorded a first class status. Both teams were allowed to rotate their 12 players during the match though only eleven could bat.
It allowed the Indians to keep Rahul Dravid in the twelve even as the Indian vice-captain was allowed a day off the field due to flu which he seems to have got from his teammates Kumble and Laxman.
None of the Indian bowlers walked off with a good feeling, certainly not Laxmipathy Balaji who was hit for six boundaries in his first five overs and was given only 11 overs during the day.
Scoreboard Queensland Academy of Sports (1st innings):
Daniel Payne lbw b Pathan 0
Lee Carsledine c Dasgupta b Kumble 112
Aaron Nye c and b Kumble 15
Craig Philipson st Dasgupta b Kumble 85
Steve Farrell lbw b Kumble 9
Chris Hartley not out 21
Ryan le Loux not out 5
Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-2, nb-7) 14
Total (for six wkts, 81 overs) 304
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-65, 3-137, 4-222, 5-256, 6-283
Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 18-4-73-1, Irfan Pathan 17-2-70-1, Laxmipathy Balaji 11-3-36-0, Sourav Ganguly 4-0-16-0, Anil Kumble 26-4-74-4, Virender Sehwag 5-0-30-0.
Indians (Ist Innings):
Akash Chopra c Carseldine b Bryant 0
Virender Sehwag c Hartley b Dawes 6
Deep Dasgupta lbw b Bryant 0
VVS Laxman batting 1
Sourav Ganguly batting 5
Extras (lb-5) 5
Total (for three wkts, seven overs) 17
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-7, 3-11
Bowling: Joe Dawes 4-1-10-1, Scott Bryant 3-2-2-2.
