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MOHALI - Australia's players have been told to get away from cricket for the next four days as they deal with the fall-out from their worst defeat in nearly a decade.
India completed a 320-run victory over the beleaguered tourists in the second test at Mohali last night (NZT), wrapping up the innings in just 90 minutes to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Resuming at 141-5, the Australians were 144-8 within three overs after paceman Zaheer Khan (3-71) grabbed three wickets in four balls.
Michael Clarke (69) added 50 with Mitchell Johnson (26) before debutant Amit Mishra (2-35) fittingly claimed the final two batsmen to complete an outstanding debut after taking 5-71 in the first innings.
It was Australia's heaviest defeat since they lost by 10 wickets to the West Indies in Jamaica in 1999, and their worst in terms of runs since a 343-run thrashing also at the hands of the West Indies at Bridgetown, Barbados in 1991.
India have never won a test by a greater runs margin.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he wanted the squad to clear their heads of Mohali, where India dominated play from the moment stand-in captain Mahendra Dhoni chose to bat first.
"What I want to do is get the boys away from cricket for a couple of days, back-to-back test matches are hard work, so we need to clear our minds of what's happened here," he said.
"When you're in the middle of a test or in the middle of the second of back-to-back tests it's quite hard to go lay back in your room and think too much about things or you just make yourself more mentally exhausted and tired for the next day's play.
"So when you do have a break like this as I've learned in the past, to get away for a couple days and not think about cricket is probably a good thing.
"When we come back as a group we need to have a discussion about the finer points and detail we've been missing in this test and make sure when we get to Delhi we're playing a style of cricket and brand of cricket that's going to hold up in these conditions."
Australia's brand of cricket has failed to hold up, unable to convert a strong position into a victory in Bangalore and now failing to keep the Indians in check after being set back by losing a crucial toss.
While he played down his on-field dust-up with Brett Lee, Ponting admitted he would be looking towards Stuart Clark, sidelined for this match with an elbow problem, to reinforce a bowling attack that was put to the sword in both innings in Mohali.
"We'll see how Stuey comes up in the next few days. He does add a lot to our attack, with experience and with skills in these conditions as well," Ponting said.
"Ideally you'd love to have an attack with the McGraths and the Warnes but we haven't got that."
Only the most extreme of optimists would have given Australia a chance of survival, yet the sheer speed with which the tourists folded on the final morning was a surprise.
With the sixth ball of the day's opening over Zaheer gained a touch of reverse inswing to dismantle Brad Haddin's stumps as the batsman played crookedly back.
In his following over Zaheer beat an out-of-his-depth Cameron White with away swing, drawing an outside edge that was easily taken by Dhoni.
Next ball Lee was bowled off-stump by a beautifully pitched away swinger.
Mitchell Johnson survived the hat-trick delivery but Mishra entered the attack and soon had Johnson caught and bowled.
In his next over Clarke was caught at midwicket by a jubilant Virender Sehwag.
Dhoni (92 and 68 not out) was named man of the match.
The third test of the series will be played in Delhi from October 29.
- AAP
