It was a Thursday afternoon and the crowd was packed at Sardar Patel Stadium, backing their team in the numbers. Australian Captain Ricky Ponting won the match and elected to bat, probably due to the dry pitch and India’s history of chasing targets. India had brought Raina into the side to strengthen their middle order in place of Yusuf Pathan.

Australian batsmen Haddin and Watson began the proceedings. It was a watchful start. Each team seemed to have done their homework. Ashwin, who had played well in the previous game, was brought in early into the attack. The faith of the captain on him paid off when he took the first wicket, of Watson. Watson attempted to play an offensive stroke, misjudged the ball, which went on to hit his off stump.

Ponting, who had scored only 100 runs in his past 5 innings, walked in next. Haddin, Ponting having spent time on the pitch, was looking quite comfortable and provided Ponting time to settle in. They built a moderate partnership and were starting to look dangerous at 100/1 by the end of the 20th over, when Yuvraj Singh got back in action once again, this time with the ball. He took Haddin’s wicket and the runs dried up post that.

Indian spinners then made the Australian batsmen toil for their runs. Also, the fall of wicket at regular intervals kept breaking any momentum being built.

The highlight of the match was Ricky Ponting, who looked like a man on a mission. He silenced his critics with his gameplay, finely crafting 104 of 113 balls. This helped Australia get to a reasonable total of 260. Among the Indian bowlers Singh, Ashwin and Khan took two wickets each. Zaheer Khan became second leading wicket taker in the tournament with this game.

It was a fifty-fifty situation when the next innings began, with Tendulkar and Sehwag walking in to the crease. The atmosphere was electrifying, with the crowds roaring to the shots played by the batsmen. Australia was up to its old tricks again, using the short ball against the Indian batsmen. And the tricks paid dividends too, with Sehwag getting caught while trying to pull a bouncer. The little master took responsibility on his shoulders to ride his team through built a partnership with Gambhir. Gambhir looked shaky initially but soon gained confidence.

The match seemed to be tilting in India’s favour, when Tait bowled a smooth delivery tricking Tendulkar, who nicked it on its way to the keeper. Tendulkar, however, had done some damage till thenand also reached 18,000 runs and 94th ODI half-century in the process. Post Tendulkar’s dismissal, Kohli and Gambhir continued the momentum, with Kohli playing a cameo innings of 24 runs.

A number of partnerships in the middle order helped India take control of the game And it was not until the freak run-out of Gambhir that the match turned back in favour of the Aussies. Ricky Ponting used all the tricks in his bag to build pressure on the Indians and Lee dismissed MS Dhoni next, bringing the Indians down to 5. Was this the beginning of another collapse?

With still 70 runs left to get and 12 overs in hand for India, it could have been anyone’s game at that point of time And it was uptoYuvraj Singh and Raina to set things straight for their team. Yuvraj was back for his side as he had been in earlier matches in the tournament. He went on to score his 3rd half-century of the tournament. Raina too showed that the selectors had made the right choice by selecting him. Both the batsmen played a number of splendid shots without taking many risks. No Australian bowler was able to pose a serious challenge to the the two beyond a period of time. Australia seemed gravely in need of another Shane Warne.

Yuvraj finally wrapped things up for India, booking a place for his team in the semi-finals against Pakistan on Wednesday, March 30 2011. The Men in blue were jubilant about defeating Australia- a kind of retribution against the defeats they have suffered at the hands of Australia prior.

Match Summary:

India 261(Y.Singh 57, Tendulkar 53, D Hussey 1-19) by 5wickets beat Australia 260 (Ponting 104, Haddin 53, Y.Singh 2-44) .

Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh

With the abandonment of Sunday’s ODI, the second in the three-match series, Australia returned home without winning a single game in their tour of India. They had lost the two-match Test series 0-2 before the ODI series. The last time they experienced something similar in India was on their tour in 2008-09 where they drew the tour game and lost the Tests 0-2.

The first ODI in Kochi was also washed out in similar circumstances. It was an unfortunate result for the locals who had turned up at the stadium. The series was effectively reduced to a solitary game in Visakhapatnam on October 20, where India beat Australia by five wickets.

Umpires Billy Bowden and Amish Saheba made two inspections of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium ground at 11 am and 12:15 pm before deciding to abandon the match because of the wet conditions in the outfield that persisted despite the sun shining brightly. In between these two inspections rival skippers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Michael Clarke also came out to go around the outfield and were seen having a long discussion with the umpires.

The wicket looked in perfect condition but the seepage of rain water through the covers left the outfield damp and slippery.

The match was later called off without a ball being bowled, thus making it the second time it has happened at this venue.

Chasing a steep target of 290, India got off to a disastrous start by losing debutant Shikhar Dhawan in the very first over for a second ball duck when he was clean bowled by Australian pace bowler Clint McKay.

Fellow opener Murali Vijay soon followed him back to the pavilion when he edged a McKay delivery to wicket-keeper Tim Paine. Vijay was looking solid, but poor shot selection led to his downfall for 15 from 18 balls.

However, Virat Kohli (118 runs off 121 balls) altered the entire complexion of the match with a flawless century as he shared two crucial partnerships with Yuvraj Singh (58 runs off 87 balls) and Suresh Raina (71 runs off 47 balls) to put India on course for a magnificent win.

After missing the Test series against Australia, Yuvraj answered his critics in style by hitting a classy 58 off 87 balls which included five boundaries.

Young Suresh Raina again proved his mettle by finishing things off with a brilliant knock of 71 for just 47 balls. He thrashed the bowlers all over the ground and hit nine boundaries and one huge six in his innings.

Loss of Kohli and skipper MS Dhoni in quick succession created some panic for a while, however Raina steadied the nerves. Raina, along with Saurabh Tiwary, helped India win the match by five wickets and take an unassailable 1-0 lead in three match series.

Earlier, Australia too had started slowly before they consolidated, courtesy a fine 144-run partnership between Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey, to 205 for 3 from 45 overs, before exploding in the death overs. Stand-in skipper Michael Clarke returned to form with his fifth century to help Australia post a challenging 289 for three.

The opening duo of Shaun Marsh (0) and Tim Paine (9) was evicted by Ashish Nehra, but Clarke (111 not out from 138 balls with 7 fours and 1 six) and Hussey (69) steadied the ship, putting on 144 runs together.

Some impressive batting by vice-captain Cameron White (89 from 49 balls with 6 fours and six overboundaries) spurred the Aussie scoring as they scored 49 runs in the five overs of batting powerplay between 43rd and 47th overs.

Both White and Clarke were in a rampaging mood. Nehra, who had an impressive first spell of 4-1-3-2 had his figures destroyed towards the end as he returned with 57 runs from his 10 overs.

The Australians scored 114 in the last 10 overs, something that speaks highly of Clarke’s innings that had the shades of recovery and then dominance. Put into bat, Australia were clearly under pressure as the opening duo of Marsh and Paine was dismissed early by Nehra in an impressive first spell.

The experienced duo of the new-look Australia side, Skipper Clarke and Hussey did the repair work, building their innings brick by brick. In the end, Cameron White’s big hitting helped Australia in reaching a fighting total of 289.

Match report
India 292 for 5 (Kohli 118, Raina 71*, Yuvraj 58) beat Australia 289 for 3 (Clarke 111*, White 89*, Hussey 69) by five wickets

The Australian leg-spin great said Ricky Ponting’s team may pay for a lack of match practice in the longer form of the game before the series opener in Brisbane on November 25.

“I think it’s in shambles, to be honest, and this is so unfair on our players when they’re preparing for a much-anticipated Ashes series,” Warne told the Herald-Sun newspaper on Thursday.

“They basically have two Tests in India in October and that’s it until the Ashes, as far as the longer form of the game is concerned. You can get away with limited match practice prior to a series against Pakistan or the West Indies, but not an in-form England,” he added.

In contrast, England are playing Pakistan in a three-Test home series this month before they have two three-day games and one four-dayer in Australia ahead of the Brisbane Test.

Warne, who bagged 708 Test wickets, said England have a more settled line-up in the countdown to the Ashes, while Australia’s selectors are not sure about their best eleven.

“I think they’re in two minds about what their best batting and bowling line-ups are going into in such a crucial series,” he said.

But Warne remained confident Australia could regain the Ashes, although he was wary following England’s demolition of Pakistan in the first Test at Trent Bridge last weekend.

“England is settled and they’re clicking at the right time,” Warne said. “We’ll need to be at our best because England aren’t overawed or intimidated by Australia. Graeme Swann is the most improved bowler in world cricket and Jimmy Anderson is in great form. They have the ability to take 20 wickets in a match and that’s what it comes down to.”

England hold the Ashes after winning the last series 2-1 at home.

Muralitharan brought down the curtains on his glittering 18-year-old Test career after reaching 800-wicket mark in his swansong Test against India last week.

“Murali is a great player who has created an unbeatable and amazing record of 800 Test wickets. We admire the skills he has brought to the game. Some people had some things to say, but at the end of the day, he is a different element, who has on 67 occasions taken 5 wickets in a game,” Waugh told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.

When asked about the Australian umpires calling him for throwing after which chucking allegations were levelled against the spin wizard, who had to even faced jibes Down Under, and if all these things had been racially motivated, Waugh said, “Forget racial thing, that card always gets played.”

“It was certainly not a racist thing. We should celebrate that he (Murali) has played so successfully,” he said.

Waugh said there were consequences to the decision of the umpires, which was a big decision that they had taken and one could always debate about that.

The spinner’s action had come under scanner when Australian umpire Darrell Hair called him for throwing during the Sri Lanka’s tour to Australia in 1995-96. Former Aussie umpire Ross Emerson had, on one occasion, no-balled him seven times during an ODI.

Waugh said that players like Murali and Sachin Tendulkar were rare to find and added that the way master batsman was going, he could soon reach his 50th Test hundred.

He also rated the current crop of spinners, including England’s Graeme Swann and Aussie Nathan Hauritz, as promising. He also praised India’s off spinner Harbhajan Singh, though he said he was somewhat inconsistent.

On Australia losing the last Test against Pakistan and some gunning for skipper Ricky Ponting, Waugh said, “Australia had won seven Tests in a row. You have got to see the statistics and a few losses in between does not change the whole thing.”

He said that Ponting has done very well, but Australian vice-captain, Michael Clarke would naturally fit into his shoes once the former himself decides that he has had enough or whenever the selectors decide about him. “Clarke is definitely the next favourite,” Waugh said.

He also said that there were challenges coming up ahead, which included Australia playing Tests against India in the subcontinent in October. Asked if he had any plans to take to coaching in future, he ruled it out, saying he had three children to take care of and could not stay away from them for more than a month.

On Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara’s comments on awarding of Test rankings to nations, Waugh said the current system was pretty good and added, “It’s generally such system that when you are on top, you don’t complain.”

Meanwhile, when asked to comment on spate of attacks on the Indian students in Australia in recent times, Waugh said, “My country has always welcomed the Indian students.”

“Majority of the students, be it from India or any part of the world have had good experiences to share. However, no country in the world can guarantee 100 per cent safety and security. We want to look after the international students to the best we can. I can only say that in 99.9 per cent cases, the students have had a fantastic time,” Waugh added.

Ponting was in charge during the 2005 and 2009 Ashes defeats in England, and led his side to a 5-0 whitewash at home three years ago. Despite being one of the game’s all-time greats with the bat, Ponting knows his future depends on the result of the 2010-11 series.

“I’d probably be looking for a new job if we lose again,” Ponting told the Daily Mail. “It’s as simple as that. I’ve got the biggest eight months of my career coming up.”

Australia face Pakistan and India in two-Test series before the Ashes begin at the Gabba in November and the series is followed by the World Cup 2011.

“It doesn’t get any bigger than that and everything I do between now and April will be geared at getting the most out of myself and, most importantly, the group,” he said. “If I’m able to do that I think there are some pretty special things on the horizon for this team.”

While the Ashes series is likely to determine what Ponting does next, he said he was not weighed down by the significance of the contest.

“I haven’t thought about any added pressure on me,” he said. “I’m just thinking about being the best player I can be and having a significant impact on the Ashes series as a batsman and as a leader. That’s all I can control. I know what it takes to be a good player in a big series and I know what it will take for the rest of the guys.”

Asked if the Ashes and the World Cup win would be a perfect send-off for him, the 35-year-old was non-committal and said he would continue playing as long as he can keep improving.

“I don’t know if there’s ever a perfect time to go,” said Ponting. “We’ll see. I’ve always said if I don’t feel I can play the way I want to or if I can’t improve any more then it will be time to look at what I’m doing. But I’m definitely as motivated as ever and as hungry as I’ve ever been. And after scoring runs at the Oval, I’m feeling more like my old self, too,” said Ponting, who scored a 93-ball 92 in the fourth ODI against England.

England have beaten Australia in their most important encounters over the past year. The run began with their Ashes victory at The Oval and continued with a win in the World Twenty20 final, and now the ongoing one-day series success.

Ponting said England deserved the latest triumph but does not think they have earned bragging rights in all forms of the game.

“We’re still ranked the best side in one-day cricket and No. 2 in Test cricket,” Ponting said. “Until England get their heads above us in all of the tables, superiority will be with us.”

Speed hinted at Pawar having used BCCI’s financial clout in the decision to reject John Howard’s candidacy for the post of ICC Vice President and went on to predict that by 2012, the ICC headquarters will be based in Mumbai and not Dubai.

“Rest assured, he (Howard) was not rejected because of his lack of experience as a cricket administrator, his strong opposition to Robert Mugabe’s disastrous regime in Zimbabwe or his outspoken views about Muttiah Muralitharan’s controversial bowling action. There is more to it than that,” Speed wrote in a column for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speed said Pawar, who will head the ICC until 2012 starting today, would not even be available full-time as he is a serving Union Minister in the Indian government.

“The man who is to be the next ICC president, Sharad Pawar, is the Minister for Agriculture in the Indian government – a serious full-time job, feeding 1.2 billion people. He is a good and fair man but he will be working part-time as ICC president and, take it from me, he knows little about cricket administration,” Speed said.

The Australian claimed that Pawar spent little time in the ICC meetings he attended in the past.

“I was present at several ICC board meetings he attended. ICC meetings generally last two days. Pawar attended for one hour and was then replaced by one of the Board of Control for Cricket in India apparatchiks. They were concerned that he was too busy and would be too reasonable,” he recalled.

Speed’s tenure in the ICC ended rather acrimoniously in 2008 after a fallout with the then President Ray Mali over the governing body’s refusal to take action against financial bunglings in Zimbabwe Cricket.

Speed said Australia and New Zealand, who jointly nominated Howard, should now refuse to put up an alternate candidate as has been asked by the ICC.

“The decision of the ICC members to reject the nomination of John Howard by the cricket boards of Australia and New Zealand is a disgrace and an insult to both countries. So where to now? Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket should refuse to put forward another nominee. Under the rotation system, it is then the turn of Pakistan and Bangladesh,” Speed said.

“When these two countries come forward with their joint nominee, Australia and New Zealand should politely refrain from voting. In the meantime, they should be banging the table and making their displeasure widely known,” Speed said. “The rejection is a symptom of the wider malaise that afflicts world cricket and its dysfunctional governing body. Under previous rotation systems, Australia and New Zealand have accepted nominations from other countries for the presidency when they clearly had strong reservations about the candidates. They expected the same respect for their candidate and they did not get it. Instead, they and Howard were insulted.”

Praising Howard, Speed said the former PM would have been the perfect leader to make the “dysfunctional” body work.

“Howard has been rejected because his appointment would provide ICC with strong leadership that would thwart the ambitions of several current administrators to downgrade and devalue the role of the ICC,” he said. “Howard would have stood in their path. The role requires strength of character – a leader, diplomat, statesman and politician. The ICC board is as political as any political party. The countries that voted him down want a compliant figurehead who will do their bidding.”

“To conclude, let me make a prediction. The ICC head office moved from London to Dubai in 2005. Howard’s rejection is a clear sign that the ICC will be based in Mumbai by 2012,” he added.

A day after the ICC conclave in Singapore, Howard got the backing of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard who said he should give it another shot despite being rejected by the powerful Asian Bloc, raising speculation of a race divide.

Pawar, however, rubbished suggestions that rejection of Howard’s candidacy would divide world cricket.

“The majority did not support him. Ultimately in any democratic organisation, there has to be support from the majority but that was not there in his case,” he told reporters on his way from Singapore.

Asked whether the rejection would divide world cricket, Pawar said, “I don’t think so. We have discussed the matter individually and collectively with everybody including Australia, England and New Zealand. We took a collective decision.”

Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket are already seething in anger over Howard’s rejection and Gillard and Kiwi PM John Key echoed the sentiment.

“John Howard, is a passionate, passionate cricket fan. I share some of the concerns he’s voiced publicly about the kind of factors that are influencing this decision,” Gillard told ‘Fairfax Radio. “I’d be very happy to offer full support for John Howard to get this role.”

The 70-year-old Howard has refused to back out and said he was disappointed by the Asian bloc’s refusal to specify reasons for not supporting him.

Kiwi PM, John Key, said that Howard would make a “fantastic” ICC President.

“I know John well; I met him on numerous occasions when I was leader of the opposition and as prime minister. I think he’s been a tremendous leader of Australia. He’s a great administrator and he loves his cricket … even if he can’t bowl very well from what I’ve seen on TV,” Key joked.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan has also backed Howard. “We were singleheartedly behind John Howard. NZC is held up as a model of good governance in terms of having independent directors who do what is best for cricket … but that obviously doesn’t apply to the ICC, and that is a shame,” he fumed.

However, Zimbabwe Cricket chief Peter Chingoka justified the rejection, saying that the former Australian Prime Minister was not experienced enough for the job. “No one has a problem with an Australian candidate, no one has a problem with a New Zealand candidate – if it’s an individual, we can accept,” Chingoka said.

Chingoka refuted suggestions that Howard was rejected because of his past criticism of the Robert Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. “That is an excuse that has been used because of the denial of the reasons given (to Howard and the countries), because it’s a convenient excuse,” he said.

Asked whether Howard’s rejection would leave ICC a divided house — that too on racial lines, Chingoka said, “If I stand against you in an election for an organisation, one of us has to win and the other one has to live with it.”

Meanwhile, the 69-year-old Pawar will now have to shoulder twin responsibilities of being a Union minister and ICC President, but the veteran politician said he would be able to handle them with a little help from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Fortunately, the ICC headquarter is in Dubai and Dubai works on Saturday and Sunday. So, it’s a matter of two hours flight. So, I think there won’t be any difficulty. Secondly, I will discuss with Prime Minister about my responsibilities and will take appropriate decision so that my government work is not affected,” he said. “I may suggest for more hands. I had asked for three ministers but they have given only one. If I request to reduce some of my work, we may find some solution. I won’t allow my work in government to suffer.”

Asked what he considers the biggest challenge of his new job, Pawar said, “We have to preserve all the formats of the game. Today, we have 105 countries who are ICC members. But in true sense, unless we expand the game to China, USA, some parts of Eastern Europe and some parts of Africa, the game would not reach every corner of the world.”

The world champions top order, for the third time in a row, failed to fire as Australia were bowled out for a mere 212 in the third one-day international at Old Trafford here on Sunday.

An attack led by left-arm quick Doug Bollinger and featuring recalled fast bowler Shaun Tait, who between them shared six wickets, then reduced England, cruising at 185 for three, to 203 for nine.

But Tim Bresnan’s 14 not out saw England to a one-wicket win with five balls to spare and gave the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match campaign as Australia suffered their first one-day series and tournament loss in eight contests.

“What we have to do now is show a bit of pride in our performances in the last two games and try and salvage whatever we can,” Ponting told reporters ahead of Wednesday’s match at the Oval.  ”It’s a bit of the same old, same old from the first two games, we just didn’t get enough runs again.”

Openers Shane Watson (61) and Tim Paine (44) got Australia off a fine start before the innings fell away and a blunt Ponting added, “Nought for 75 and all out 212 is not good enough – you’re not going to win many games doing that. If there’s a positive to be taken out of the first three games, it’s that we’ve stuck to our task pretty well with the ball.”

While the bowling attack may be depleted, Australia’s top order, with the exception of wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, is at full strength and Paine, the gloveman’s deputy, was the second top-scorer on Sunday.

“We’ve played five games on tour now, so you’d like to think that we’d be making runs on a more consistent basis than we are,” Ponting said.”You’ve got to give England some credit for the way they’ve bowled through the series so far. They’ve executed really well. Their spinners today did a terrific job on a wicket that suited the slower bowlers. I thought (Michael) Yardy and Swann were both very good for them. That built pressure on our batters and we got out.”

One consolation for Australia on Sunday was the form of Tait, playing his first one-day international since February last year.

The 27-year-old quit first-class and Test cricket to protect a suspect shoulder injury not helped by his slingshot bowling action and so concentrate on Twenty20, where he is limited to four overs an innings, and plays in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Rajasthan Royals.

But with only his fourth ball on Sunday, he bowled Craig Kieswetter for nought with a ferocious 95mph yorker that uprooted the opener’s middle stump. Ponting, sensibly, used Tait in short spells and was so nearly rewarded with a stunning victory.

“That was pretty much how we used him in the (2007) World Cup as well,” Ponting recalled. “A couple of overs with the new ball bring him back in the middle or bring him back to new batters, because he’s so dangerous for new batters when they first come to the crease. He’s only been playing Twenty20 cricket for a long time, so I was mindful of not bowling him in too many overs in one spell.”Ponting said.

“Having someone like that, who’s got that firepower and that bit of unpredictability in your team, is always nice to have. It tends to lift the rest of the group as well. It’s no fluke that we had a bit more energy in the field. I thought that with the exception of a couple of wides, everything else was very, very good. It was a welcome return for Shaun,” he added.

In effect, the format would resemble two Twenty20 matches played back to back, although wickets lost and runs scored would accumulate over the full 40 overs. The existing 50-over FR Cup is likely to be played at the start of the upcoming Australian summer with the new competition, if approved, set to take place in the new year.

Such a move would raise questions over the future of the World Cup, with England and South Africa already having reduced their domestic limited-overs tournaments to 40 overs. Making the change so close to next year’s World Cup could also rob some players of practice in the 50-over format, although Australia’s ODI team will continue playing the longer games.

“We’re certainly concerned about that, there will need to be some thorough discussion, obviously quite quickly since we’re talking about next season,” Darren Lehmann, the president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, told AAP. “We’re happy they’re talking about reviewing the game and improving it, as far as how far they go, that has got to be discussed at length.”

“Maybe reducing the overs to 40 per side is not a bad start, whether we can do two 20 over innings is something we need to discuss. My personal preference is to go to 40 overs per side, but I’m open to all ideas to improve the game,” he added.

While Cricket Australia was reluctant to discuss the idea in detail, a CA spokesman said there was no reason to be concerned ahead of Australia’s World Cup defence. “Our view is that you can change the domestic format without affecting preparations for the World Cup,” the spokesman said.