Indians tame mighty Aussies

Ranjan ANANDAPPA in Australia

India recorded their first win in the Commonwealth Bank limited over cricket series beating Australia by 5 wickets with a stupendous team effort coupled by some individual performances at the Melbourne Cricket grounds yesterday in a day/night Match.

The Indian pace bowlers Ishant Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan demolished the strong Aussie batting line up with the combination of pace and accuracy as they restricted them to a modest total of 159 in 43.3 overs.

In the run chase the Indian batsmen kept their nerves intact and finally romped home with 4.1 overs to spare.

While India batted, the contest between Brett Lee and India’s Sachin Tendulkar who opened the innings was a fascinating one.

Lee in the quest of defending the meagre 159 and hoping for an early break through was bowling at top pace, but the Indian batting maestro hit him for three consecutive fours.

With Tendulkar in full throttle Indian hopes were high in achieving the Australian total. Sehwag and Tendulkar added 18 runs for the first wicket.

Tendulkar and Pathan batting at number three brought the score from 18 to 54, but Pathan was out lbw to left armer Johnson in his first over. Gautham Ghambir and Yuvraj Singh did not last long. After Tendulkar’s dismissal (44) facing 54 deliveries India ushered in a bit of a crisis situation.

They were 4 for 96 and 102 for 5 with the might of the Aussie bowling still at its disposal.

Ponting in a desperate effort kept on his fast bowlers on the firing line.

But Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohith Sharma batted sensibly to guide them home with a 58 run stand.

Earlier Indian pacemen gave the impetus by grabbing two early wickets of opener Adam Gilchrist and skipper Ricky Ponting within the space of six overs for 42 runs.

Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth bowled exceptionally well and kept on the Aussie batsmen guessing all the time.

Gilchrist should consider himself unlucky when he was judged lbw in the third ball of the innings off Sharma off a ball which struck the inside edge of the bat.

Besides that dismissal the Indian fast bowlers were right on target. Sharma in particular had the ability to make the ball fly off a good length on or around the off stump.

Ponting who looked vulnerable to the well pitched slightly rising ball outside his off stump, played a replica of a push which he has been indulging in recent times and was caught by Tendulkar in the slips to give Sharma his second wicket.

The three prong pace attack of Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan never permitted the Aussie batsmen to dictate terms.

By the end of the sixth over Sreesanth and Sharma had got rid of two of the top batsmen, Gilchrist and Ponting.

And soon six wicktes were down for 92.

With Sharma claiming the wicket of Andrew Symonds the batsman who could turn the tide of the game in favour of Australia at any given time.

It was left to left hander Michael Hussy to steady the innings and he hung on with Brett Lee for while to add an invaluable 53 run stand for the sixth wicket off 74 balls Hussy ran out of partners to be unbeaten on 65 facing 87 deliveries.

Australia innings
 
A. Gilchrist lbw Sreesanth		  0 
M. Hayden c Dhoni b Sharma		 25 
R. Ponting c Tendulkar b Sharma		  9 
M. Clarke c R. Sharma b Pathan		 11 
A. Symonds c Dhoni b Sharma		 14 
M. Hussey not out			 65 
B. Haddin st Dhoni b H. Singh		  5 
B. Lee c Dhoni b Pathan			 10 
M. Johnson c Uthappa b Sreesanth	  3 
N. Bracken c Tendulkar b Sreesanth	  1 
S. Clark c Dhoni b Sharma		  0 
Extras (1b, 3lb, 9w, 3nb)		 16
TOTAL					159
FALL: 1 (Gilchrist), 37 (Hayden), 47 (Ponting), 64 (Clarke), 
75 (Symonds), 92 (Haddin), 145 (Lee), 151 (Johnson), 
155 (Bracken), 159 (Clark). 
BOWLING: Sreesanth 9-0-31-3 (2w), Sharma 9.1-1-38-4 (3nb, 2w), 
Pathan 8-0-26-2 (2w), H. Singh 8-2-19-1 (2w), Sehwag 5-0-24-0, 
Y. Singh 2-0-11-0, Tendulkar 2-0-6-0.
 
 
INDIA INNINGS
 
V. Sehwag lbw Bracken			 11 
S. Tendulkar c Lee b Johnson		 44 
I. Pathan lbw Johnson			 18 
G. Gambhir c Clarke b Lee		 20 
Y. Singh c Hussey b Clark		  3 
R. Sharma not out			 39 
M.S. Dhoni not out			 17 
EXTRAS (2lb, 5w)			  8
TOTAL (for five wickets)		160 
FALL: 18 (Sehwag), 54 (Pathan), 89 (Gambhir), 
96 (Tendulkar), 102 (Y. Singh).
BOWLING: Lee 9-0-41-1 (2w), Bracken 10-0-35-1 (1w), Clark 10-1-26-1, 
Johnson 10-1-24-2 (1w), Clark 4-0-12-0, Symonds 2.5-0-19-0 (1w).