Those who missed the first half an hour of LIVE action of the sixth India-Australia ODI at the Nehru Stadium here yesterday, would have been better off tearing their hair.
Those who missed the first half an hour of LIVE action of the sixth India-Australia ODI at the Nehru Stadium here yesterday, would have been better off tearing their hair.
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Shttered Furniture: Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir is clean bowled by Australia's Mitchell Johnson during the sixth one-day international (ODI) at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati yesterday. PIC/ATUL KAMBLE |
India were five wickets down in 35 minutes as the top order Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina who total a breath-taking 35,000-plus ODI runs between them, were left gasping for air within minutes in the chilly 8:30 am early start. Raina, who enjoyed a good partnership with Tendulkar in Hyderabad, had no luck this time as he was consumed by Johnson for a duck.
There was no way the hosts could defend their total of 170. Australia chased 171, losing four wickets with 49 balls to spare and clinched the seven-match series 4-2 making the Mumbai match inconsequential.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted the batting was a let down. "After winning the toss and deciding to bat, we knew that we would have to negotiate the first half hour or so. But sadly just 15 minutes were enough," he said.
The skipper admitted that the batting throughout the series had not been up to the mark. "We have a lot of experienced batsmen in our line-up, but inconsistency has been our main problem. Sometimes, the openers didn't click and on other occasions when they did give good starts, the middle-order failed to capitalise on it," he said.
The start, this time round though, was pathetic to say the least.
Swing zingThe wicket was not conducive to fast bowling, yet pacers Mitchell Johonson and Doug Bollinger used the swing thing to destroy the Indian top order. Johnson had Sehwag clean bowled with a fine in-swinger off the fourth ball of the match and then knocked off Gambhir's furniture for a duck two balls later with a perfect away-swinger. Bollinger was quick to draw inspiration from his senior partner and claimed the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar caught and bowled (10). "Getting Sachin is one of the best moments of my bowling career. The entire series has been a dream, following the Champions League title," said the New South Welshman, who picked up the man-of-the-match award here after he added Yuvraj Singh (bowled for six), India skipper MS Dhoni (LBW for 24) and Harbhajan Singh (bowled for zero) to his kitty for a career-best five for 35.
Skipper Ponting too minced no words when he spoke of the Indian batting. "It was definitely surprising to see them play the way they did. They played some rash shots," he said.
