The big finals. Initimidating opponents -Australia. And India chasing.
It was a perfect setting for India to silence the critics after having registered no wins at Sydney in their eleven matches that they have played at SCG. That it did, and with panache on the back of a breathtaking century from “the Little Master”, Sachin Tendulkar.
With India chasing a challenging total of 240 in the best of three finals of CB Series, Sachin produced a blistering 117 to overhaul the target in in 45.5 overs. To give him company was Rohit Sharma, who displayed wisdom and composure far beyond his experience, to stitch a match winning 123 run partnership.
Opening the innings, Robin Uthappa and Sachin Tendulkar, played to the plan of taking no risks and denying wickets to the Aussie strike bowlers to build a fifty run partnership. Uthappa after smashing two sizzling boundaries fell to an athletic diving catch by Michael Hussey for 17. Soon, the centurion from last match against Sri Lanka, Gautam Gambhir, was run out in mix up with Sachin. With India slumping to a 56/2, it was upto to Yuvraj Singh to steer the India innings. His dismal form, however, continued as Yuvraj misread a regulation off spin from Brad Hogg and was send packing.
But Rohit Sharma along with Tendulkar, upped the ante to resurrect the Indian innings. Showing immense character and poise to reach his half century, Sharma was finally done in by Hopes, just after Tendulkar raised his hundred. Dhoni, who came in after Sharma’s dismissal, finished off in style by thrashing three boundaries in his 15 runs off 12 balls.
Earlier in the day, Australia, having won the toss, posted a tricky 239 in their allotted 50 overs.
Australia got off to a dreadful start as they collapsed to 24/3 in six over. Dhoni’s ploy of giving the new ball to Praveen Kumar instead of Irfan Pathan yielded the wicket of the dangerous Adam Gilchrist in the third over of the match. Next to return to the pavilion was the skipper Ricky Ponting who managed to inside edge a Praveen delivery to the stumps, which was followed by Ishant Sharma scalping Michel Clarke.
Mathew Hayden and Andrew Symonds, India’s betenoire, now spruced up the Aussie innings in their trademark belligerent fashion and were threatening to snatch the momentum. However, the spinners Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla, had other plans as they bowled to a tight line and length to tie the aggressive pair down. Ironically, both these wickets were bagged by Bajji. After ensnaring Hayden, Bajji along with Yuvraj, took a dig at Hayden’s “the boxing match” comment, by enacting a boxing sequence as part of the jubilation. Hussey, then, shepherded the tail to garner an impressive 239.
Till the next match at Brisbane, lets hope the Men in Blue takes up from where they left.
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