Australia wins despite Sachin storm, take 3-2 lead

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: November 6, 2009

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Rahul Bajaj

Hyderabad: It was a day when Sachin Tendulkar proved once again why he is considered the greatest batsman ever to have played the game of cricket! It was also a day when Australia proved yet again why they have been and still are the best team in the game!

For an Indian cricket fan, it was a kind of déjà vu looking at Sachin Tendulkar bat for more than one reason. Besides batting at his best and being the Sachin that we have come to almost worship over the years, it reminded me of the days when Sachin was the be all and end all of the Indian team. His dismissal meant that the Indian team had lost the match. For a long time, probably since Sourav Ganguly reinvented the Indian outfit, the Indian team had moved on from that phase. The team was not dependent on one individual. But, yesterday it seemed like those days were coming back again!

Sachin Tendulkar, in what may be called his best one-day knock till date and one of the best one-day innings ever, made a breathtaking 175 off 141 balls. Sachin almost chased down 351 on his own but he was dismissed after scoring half the runs that India needed to win the game and with the hosts needing just 19 runs off 17 balls with 4 wickets in hand to finish off the game. I would stick my neck out and say that Australia didn’t win the game after that but India managed to lose it from there by a margin of three runs giving Australia a 3-2 lead in the seven match series.

Australia won the toss and opted to bat first on a wicket which was a batsman’s paradise. Shaun Marsh obliged his captain by scoring his maiden ODI hundred while Shane Watson smashed a powerful 93 as Australia piled up a mammoth total of 350 for 4 in their 50 overs. Marsh scored a run a ball 112 and added 145 runs for the opening wicket with Shane Watson in just 25 overs.

Shane Watson set up the innings for the Aussies with a 89 ball 93 which included three sixes and nine fours.  But Shaun Marsh made full use of the two lives that he got hitting two sixes and eight fours on way to a superb century. All the other batsmen chipped in for Australia with skipper Ricky Ponting making 45 and Cameron White providing the perfect finish to the innings with a 33 ball 57 which included five huge sixes.

White and Michael Hussey (31 not out) demolished the Indian bowling adding 105 runs in the last 10 overs. For India, all the bowlers were taken to the cleaners except Harbhajan Singh who bowled a splendid spell. On a day where the opposition scored 350 runs, the wily off-spinner boasted of figures of 1 for 44 off his 10 overs.

Chasing a mammoth total of 351 against a team like Australia was never going to be easy for India. But they started off confidently, with Virender Sehwag providing the perfect start. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag added 66 in just 8.5 overs before Sehwag, in what is now becoming a custom of sorts, just gifted his wicket after having got well set. He was dismissed by Hilfenhaus trying to pull a short delivery and was caught brilliantly by Bollinger at short fine leg. He made 38 off 30 balls which included 5 fours and a six.

After scalping the first wicket and breaking a dangerous looking partnership, the Australian bowlers ran through the Indian middle order with Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni falling in quick succession. Gambhir (8) was dismissed trying to upper cut a Clint McKay delivery but holding out to Hilfenhaus at third man. Yuvraj (9) gave an easy return catch to Shane Watson while Mahendra Singh Dhoni would consider him unlucky to have been dismissed as a result of a spectacular catch by Adam Voges. Dhoni (6) hit a fierce square cut off debutante McKay but the catch was plucked out of thin air by Voges at cover point leaving India 162 for 4 in the 24th over.

Meanwhile, Sachin stood at one end like a lone warrior, watching his partners going back one by one. The master was playing a knock which all his fans were waiting to see for a long time. It was vintage Sachin!  It was not the laid back Sachin that we have been watching for the last couple of years but the destructive Sachin that we used to see when he was in the prime of his career. He treated his fans with a whole range of shots right from lofted shots over mid-on, flicks, straight drives, lofted drives over mid-wicket and cover drives to hitting the spinners straight down the ground for huge sixes.

The master notched up another milestone when he reached 17,000 ODI runs, the first ever man to achieve this feat, when he flicked a Hilfenhaus delivery through mid-wicket for three.

After losing three partners in quick succession, Tendulkar found an able ally in Suresh Raina who accompanied the Indian legend to take India close to the victory target. It was an almost perfect partnership. Every time the required run rate seemed like getting out of reach, one of them would come up with a breathtaking shot and bring it back within reach.

During the course of the partnership, Tendulkar brought up his 45th ODI century, 17 more than the man who is second on the list of centuries, Ricky Ponting. After putting together a almost match winning 137 running partnership, in which Raina contributed significantly with a run a ball 59, Raina miscued a pull shot off Shane Watson and was caught by wicket-keeper Manou running backwards. The same over saw Harbhajan Singh being dismissed caught behind for a duck.

Sachin, however, seemed determined to do it all on his own. He reached 150, his 4th score of 150 plus in one-day cricket, when he smashed a Hussey delivery to the extra cover fence. With the way Sachin was batting, it looked like India is going to create history and chase down the total of 351 but the Australian’s, the fighters that they are, came back into the game. Another debutante got a moment of a lifetime when Clint McKay induced a false shot from Sachin getting him caught at short fine leg.

Sachin made 175 off 141 balls in an innings laced with 19 splendid boundaries and four magical sixes. When Sachin was dismissed, India needed just 19 to win off 17 balls with four wickets in hand. But in a disastrous collapse, which reminded you of the famous Chennai test match against Pakistan, the Indian lower order just crumbled under pressure.

Ravindra Jadeja (23) ran himself out, like he did in the last game in Mohali, trying to go for a run that was never possible with two legs! Ashish Nehra (1) holed out to long on off the bowling of Bollinger. The final wicket pair of Praveen Kumar (9) and Munaf Patel (2) added 12 runs to keep hopes of a miracle alive. Praveen Kumar hit a powerful six in the penultimate over to bridge the gap but was eventually run out in the final over ending India’s innings at 347, 3 runs short of Australia’s 350.

For Australia, Shane Watson once again proved his worth as an all-rounder picking up 3 for 47 after scoring 93 earlier when they batted. But a special mention needs to be given to debutante Clint McKay. He showed immense character and temperament in a spell he would cherish for the rest of his life for the simple reason that he dismissed the master on a day when he played arguably the best innings of his career. McKay ended with figures of 3 for 59 off 10 overs.

This match would be remembered for a long time to come for a lot of reasons. For one, it proved that one-day cricket is alive and kicking. It would also be remembered for the sublime genius who goes by the name of Sachin Tendulkar. And finally, it would be remembered for Australia, who once again held their nerves in a big match situation and showed why they have ruled world cricket for such a long time.

Brief Scores:

Australia 350 for 4 (Marsh 112, Watson 93, White 57) beat India 347 (Tendulkar 175, Raina 59, Watson 3-47, McKay 3-59) by three runs

Man of the Match: Sachin Tendulkar

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WPSN comments

One Comment on "Australia wins despite Sachin storm, take 3-2 lead"

  1. Uttara on Fri, 6th Nov 2009 6:28 pm 

    Its sad what fools we make of ourselves. Absolute non-existence of passion for the game. Unacceptable to lose like this.




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