New Delhi: The die was cast and teams ready. For the winner the chance to play in the final of the DLF Cup tri-series against the West Indies beckoned.
And for Team India it was time to stop experimenting while for Australia the rotation policy was not an option in such a crucial encounter.
The day-nighter at the Kinrara Oval was billed as a virtual semi-final and no one was willing to give in an inch
India began the match on a bright note with the bowlers carrying on their from the Windies encounter a couple of days ago and were right on target throughout the match.
They bowled out the Aussies for 213 in 48.1 overs though it must have been a great relief to the Australian skipper when his team crossed the 200-run mark as they were 117 for the loss of six wickets in the 32nd over.
But some shoddy batting by the famed batting line-up that failed to chase a relatively small target of 214 undid the splendid work by the bowlers though Dinesh Mongia came up with a fighting 63 off 90 balls.
He finally ran out of partners when last man Munaf Patel became the fifth victim of man of the match Brett Lee.
With a place in the final at stake the Indian team management restored the time-tested opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in a bid to unsettle the Australian pacers but the move failed miserably.
There was some drama in the second over of the innings when Tendulkar was first given out caught behind the stumps off Glenn Mcgrath but soon the umpire overruled his decision much to skipper Ricky Ponting’s frustration.
Tendulkar failed to take advantage of the reprieve and was caught at Michael Hussey at point off Lee in the next over and Sehwag, too, did not last long when Lee got through his defence to shatter the stumps.
Dravid and Mohammad Kaif added 27 for the third wicket and just when Kaif was looking to settle down for a longer innings, Stuart Clark took a superb reflex catch on his follow through to give India one more blow.
After bowling a couple of no balls Clark send down a legal delivery that trapped Dravid lbw for seven At 50/4 only a superhuman efforts by the lower middle order can save the day for India.
With the fall of the big guns it was left to the relatively inexperienced middle order to engage in the rescue act and they succeeded to a great extent.
After Dravid’s fall it was up to Suresh Raina and Dinesh Mongia to repair the damage and take India to safety. The duo batted with a lot of responsibility and punished the bad balls when there was one.
Raina even hit Andrew Symonds for a huge six that landed many rows behind to show the Australians that there was still a lot left in the team.
His defiant stand in the middle came to an end when he played down a Brad Hogg delivery to be out for a well-made 26.
And just when it looked India would not have any more hiccups on their way, Lee struck again when Dhoni tried to cut the pacer over point but was caught at the boundary for 23.
Agarkar was the next wicket to fall trapped lbw by Hogg for nine and Harbhajan Singh followed him caught behind by Haddin off Symonds for a duck though TV replays did not show the ball taking an edge.
Harbhajan was justifiably not very happy with the decision.
With the last two men not known for their batting ability and the likes of McGrath and Lee back in action it was always going to be impossible if not tough.
And in the end Mongia’s valiant effort came to a naught.
Now it will be back to the drawing board for the team management as the Champions Trophy begins next month and the poor form of the top order must be a big worry.
Australian innings:
Ponting had opted to bat after winning the toss but his batsmen could never dominate the proceedings as first the pacers and then the slower bowlers made sure that Australia would not put up an imposing target for India.
For the Australians apart from opener Matthew Hayden, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and Brad Hogg none of the other batsman showed any inclination to stay in the middle.
Three run out, very unlike the Aussies, rubbed the salt into the wounds.
Hayden was the top scorer with 54, his 27th ODI fifty, before he became the first man to be run out after a mix-up with Damien Martyn.
But it was Hayden’s opening partner Simon Katich who was the first to go when Ajit Agarkar was rewarded for maintaining a good line and had Katich caught by Suresh Raina, who took a blinder at point.
The Australian skipper was the next man in but could not do much. Munaf Patel had him caught by Agarkar at the fine leg boundary for four.
Hayden and Martyn tried to repair the damage and added 38 runs for the third wicket but then the mix-up happened that saw Hayden’s innings cut short.
Tragedy struck Australia soon when Martyn was given out by the third umpire as his bat was just millimeters out of the crease when the ball bounced off Dinesh Mongia’s hand to hit the stumps.
And Andrew Symonds was trapped lbw by Mongia next ball to leave the Australians reeling on 98 for five.
Then it was the turn of Harbhajan Singh to get into the wicket-taking act. The offie forced Michael Hussey to edge a delivery to Rahul Dravid at first slip who did the rest.
With Australia six down for 117 it seemed that it was almost over for the Australians. But then Haddin and Hogg started to rebuild the innings with dogged determination.
The duo took their time to settle and then launched into the Indian attack. Haddin, given the benefit of doubt by the third umpire when he was on two, hit Mongia for two consecutives sixes in the 41st over.
They added 77 for the seventh wicket when Haddin tried to hoist a R P Singh delivery into the stands but only managed to sky the ball, which was easily caught by Dhoni.
Haddin had scored 46 with the help of one four and four huge sixes.
Hogg was very unfortunate to be run out when he was stranded out side the crease at the non-striker as Brett Lee hit the ball that deflected onto the stumps after hitting the fingers of bowler R P Singh.
Agarkar then shattered the stumps of Stuart Clark and in the over R P bought the Australian innings to an end when he gave a straight-forward catch to Virender Sehwag at deep square leg.
India made two changes to the team that defeated the West Indies by 16 runs in the previous match, replacing Yuvraj Singh and S Sreesanth with Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Mongia.
Yuvraj was unwell, a team statement said.
Apart from Ponting, Australia saw the return of Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn and Brad Hogg, who were all rested for the last match they played against West Indies.
It is a do-or-die match for both the teams, with the winner qualifying for the final on Sunday against the West Indies and in the end Team India killed the dream of a billion people.
Teams:
India: Rahul Dravid (C), Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, M S Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel.
Australia: Ricky Ponting (C), Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Glenn McGrath.
Source : Cricketnext
And for Team India it was time to stop experimenting while for Australia the rotation policy was not an option in such a crucial encounter.
The day-nighter at the Kinrara Oval was billed as a virtual semi-final and no one was willing to give in an inch
India began the match on a bright note with the bowlers carrying on their from the Windies encounter a couple of days ago and were right on target throughout the match.
They bowled out the Aussies for 213 in 48.1 overs though it must have been a great relief to the Australian skipper when his team crossed the 200-run mark as they were 117 for the loss of six wickets in the 32nd over.
But some shoddy batting by the famed batting line-up that failed to chase a relatively small target of 214 undid the splendid work by the bowlers though Dinesh Mongia came up with a fighting 63 off 90 balls.
He finally ran out of partners when last man Munaf Patel became the fifth victim of man of the match Brett Lee.
With a place in the final at stake the Indian team management restored the time-tested opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in a bid to unsettle the Australian pacers but the move failed miserably.
There was some drama in the second over of the innings when Tendulkar was first given out caught behind the stumps off Glenn Mcgrath but soon the umpire overruled his decision much to skipper Ricky Ponting’s frustration.
Tendulkar failed to take advantage of the reprieve and was caught at Michael Hussey at point off Lee in the next over and Sehwag, too, did not last long when Lee got through his defence to shatter the stumps.
Dravid and Mohammad Kaif added 27 for the third wicket and just when Kaif was looking to settle down for a longer innings, Stuart Clark took a superb reflex catch on his follow through to give India one more blow.
After bowling a couple of no balls Clark send down a legal delivery that trapped Dravid lbw for seven At 50/4 only a superhuman efforts by the lower middle order can save the day for India.
With the fall of the big guns it was left to the relatively inexperienced middle order to engage in the rescue act and they succeeded to a great extent.
After Dravid’s fall it was up to Suresh Raina and Dinesh Mongia to repair the damage and take India to safety. The duo batted with a lot of responsibility and punished the bad balls when there was one.
Raina even hit Andrew Symonds for a huge six that landed many rows behind to show the Australians that there was still a lot left in the team.
His defiant stand in the middle came to an end when he played down a Brad Hogg delivery to be out for a well-made 26.
And just when it looked India would not have any more hiccups on their way, Lee struck again when Dhoni tried to cut the pacer over point but was caught at the boundary for 23.
Agarkar was the next wicket to fall trapped lbw by Hogg for nine and Harbhajan Singh followed him caught behind by Haddin off Symonds for a duck though TV replays did not show the ball taking an edge.
Harbhajan was justifiably not very happy with the decision.
With the last two men not known for their batting ability and the likes of McGrath and Lee back in action it was always going to be impossible if not tough.
And in the end Mongia’s valiant effort came to a naught.
Now it will be back to the drawing board for the team management as the Champions Trophy begins next month and the poor form of the top order must be a big worry.
Australian innings:
Ponting had opted to bat after winning the toss but his batsmen could never dominate the proceedings as first the pacers and then the slower bowlers made sure that Australia would not put up an imposing target for India.
For the Australians apart from opener Matthew Hayden, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and Brad Hogg none of the other batsman showed any inclination to stay in the middle.
Three run out, very unlike the Aussies, rubbed the salt into the wounds.
Hayden was the top scorer with 54, his 27th ODI fifty, before he became the first man to be run out after a mix-up with Damien Martyn.
But it was Hayden’s opening partner Simon Katich who was the first to go when Ajit Agarkar was rewarded for maintaining a good line and had Katich caught by Suresh Raina, who took a blinder at point.
The Australian skipper was the next man in but could not do much. Munaf Patel had him caught by Agarkar at the fine leg boundary for four.
Hayden and Martyn tried to repair the damage and added 38 runs for the third wicket but then the mix-up happened that saw Hayden’s innings cut short.
Tragedy struck Australia soon when Martyn was given out by the third umpire as his bat was just millimeters out of the crease when the ball bounced off Dinesh Mongia’s hand to hit the stumps.
And Andrew Symonds was trapped lbw by Mongia next ball to leave the Australians reeling on 98 for five.
Then it was the turn of Harbhajan Singh to get into the wicket-taking act. The offie forced Michael Hussey to edge a delivery to Rahul Dravid at first slip who did the rest.
With Australia six down for 117 it seemed that it was almost over for the Australians. But then Haddin and Hogg started to rebuild the innings with dogged determination.
The duo took their time to settle and then launched into the Indian attack. Haddin, given the benefit of doubt by the third umpire when he was on two, hit Mongia for two consecutives sixes in the 41st over.
They added 77 for the seventh wicket when Haddin tried to hoist a R P Singh delivery into the stands but only managed to sky the ball, which was easily caught by Dhoni.
Haddin had scored 46 with the help of one four and four huge sixes.
Hogg was very unfortunate to be run out when he was stranded out side the crease at the non-striker as Brett Lee hit the ball that deflected onto the stumps after hitting the fingers of bowler R P Singh.
Agarkar then shattered the stumps of Stuart Clark and in the over R P bought the Australian innings to an end when he gave a straight-forward catch to Virender Sehwag at deep square leg.
India made two changes to the team that defeated the West Indies by 16 runs in the previous match, replacing Yuvraj Singh and S Sreesanth with Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Mongia.
Yuvraj was unwell, a team statement said.
Apart from Ponting, Australia saw the return of Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn and Brad Hogg, who were all rested for the last match they played against West Indies.
It is a do-or-die match for both the teams, with the winner qualifying for the final on Sunday against the West Indies and in the end Team India killed the dream of a billion people.
Teams:
India: Rahul Dravid (C), Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, M S Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel.
Australia: Ricky Ponting (C), Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Glenn McGrath.
Source : Cricketnext
