India beat Australia, level series 1-1 by Rohit Sakunia

---

Scorecard:	India v Australia
Player:	V Sehwag, SK Raina, MS Dhoni, G Gambhir, P Kumar, MEK Hussey
Event:	Australia in India 2009/10

---

DateLine: 28th October 2009

 

It was a day when for Indian skipper MS Dhoni everything fell in place. He lost the toss but then led the way as the batting came good posting 354 on the board. He hit a ton but there was more than only him involved in the effort. Sehwag first set up the game for India which was taken care by Gautam Gambhir, Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

 

Then under dew and against a strong Australian batting line-up, India needed a disciplined start from their seamers, something which has not been seen off late by the Indian bowlers. But today was different as Praveen Kumar looked unplayable, Ishant Sharma was fabulous and Ashish Nehra did what he does best. By the time the seamers finished their first spell, the Aussies were down and out. If anything remained, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja took care.

 

The visitors finally fell short by 99 runs as India have now paved their way back in the series after losing the first ODI.

 

Chasing a humoungous 355 to win and go 2-0 up in the series, Australia's hopes melted pretty soon under lights in Nagpur. Praveen Kumar bowled a wonderful opening spell, and was well supported first by Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma and then even the spinners did a fairly good job after early damage was inflicted by the seamers.

 

Praveen was picked up for a few boundaries to start of the proceedings. First Shane Watson picked him up a couple of times and then When Tim Paine played the pull over midwicket, it seemed the Aussies had come out in a positive frame of mind. Praveen though struck in the very next ball. A much fuller which swung a little in the air, took Paine's inside edge and rattled his leg-stump.

 

In walked Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting and conscious of the asking rate, he got going quickly with a brilliant off-drive off Ashish Nehra. A few more hits forced the first bowling change and Ishant Sharma was brought in. His first delivery was magical and Watson couldn't do much apart from edging it to Sachin Tendulkar at first slip.

 

But the big Ponting wicket came from the other end where suddenly a charged up Praveen Kumar had started to deliver a few unplayable ones. He nipped one back to strike Ponting right in front and the visitors where reduced to 45 for 3. Here on things looked absolutely impossible for the Aussies. Hussey tried to change fortunes with three consecutive boundaries when Harbhajan was introduced, but when Cameron White's innings ended, the asking rate was increasing at a cancerous speed and it had started to look even above the Australians.

 

If there were any final rites needed to finish of the game, it came with the dimissal of Mike Hussey. The lone warrior was cleaned up by Ravindra Jadeja and the irony was that he got out defending at a time when the rate required had crossed 11 per over.

 

The visitors fell short by a huge margin of 99 runs as India completed a comprehensive win after the close finish in Vadodara a couple of days back.

 

Earlier, Ricky Ponting won the toss and apprehensive of the dew factor, decided to take the field first. Ben Hilfenhaus took the new ball because of Brett Lee's absence, and Sehwag started business as usual. The right-hander began with a lofted cover-drive and a powerful cut followed suit. Hilfenhaus in his second over was on-driven for four more.

 

At the other end, Sachin Tendulkar also got off the mark with a boundary on the leg-side, but the champion batsman, who was few short of 17000 ODI runs, edged one of Siddle's outswingers to first slip.

 

The carnage though continued as Sehwag was in no mood to let go an oppurtunity on such a belter. He went behind Hilfenhaus which forced Ponting to bring on Mitchell Johnson in as early as the seventh over. If Siddle was bowling really well, Sehwag made sure no other bowler could settle down. He smacked Johnson over long-on for a mighty six of a slower delivery as the run-rate continued to roll around 7. The six led to a few words being exchanged and after a little stroke of fortune when an edge was missed by Paine, Sehwag finally fell as he tried to be too adventurous for his own good. He could only find mid-off, trying to repeat the last over six, this time though Johnson proved smarter.

 

Australia had delayed the Powerplay by an over because of Sehwag and after his fall they immediately took it. Yuvraj who replaced Sehwag did not look any bit new at the crease as he worked Hilfenhaus through midwicket for four runs.

 

Hilfenhaus was left to rue his luck as Paine dropped Gambhir of his bowling when the left-hander was on 20. The right-arm speedster was going for runs and was not finding any luck till the drinks break changed his fortunes a little. Yuvraj slammed the first ball after drinks straight to Ben and he was more than glad to accept the difficult chance. The very next ball struck Dhoni on the back of the helmet.

 

Prior to the match there was too much talks of where the Indian captain should bat and the skipper had said that with the top four in the side, it was only just for him to be number five. He walked in at the same number with his team in a little spot of bother. Though on the runs front, the team was doing good, they were losing wickets more often than they would have liked. It was time to consolidate and who better than the skipper himself to take the onus.

 

Gautam Gambhir who had come in to bat early in the day was ideal foil for Dhoni and the two picked 5-6 runs an over for the next 10. They picked up their singles, were extremely quick to notch up two's and also hit a few rare boundaries. It must be mentioned that Nathan Hauritz and Adam Voges did a decent job in the middle overs and both got sharp turn. It was Dhoni who started to raise gears as he straight drove Hauritz. He was followed by Gambhir who hit a brilliant cover-drive and these shots began a run feast.

 

The duo added 119 runs in less than 19 overs and this partnership ensured two things. One, India had wickets to take advantage of the batting powerplay and two, that they had a comfortable cushion of 6 runs per over to start the slam-bang. Gambhir got out in an unfortunate mix-up with his skipper as Hauritz hit the timber from mid-off.

 

His wicket brought Suresh Raina to the crease and though the left-hander took his time to settle-in, once in flow, he and Dhoni blasted the Aussie attack to all corners of the ground. The first five overs of the Dhoni-Raina partnership produced just 22 runs and at this moment nobody could have predicted what was about to come.

 

Dhoni called for the powerplay in the 40th over and that started the carnage. The second over of the powerplay set the stage on fire. After Raina had hit Johnson for two boundaries, Dhoni also got into the act and clouted the left-arm speedster straight down the ground. The over went for 18 and there were many such more to come. Ben Hilfenhaus's return to the bowling crease was greeted with a six over midwicket and two mighty baseball type maximums off Shane Watson over long-off took Dhoni to his century from just 94 balls.

 

Raina raced to his half-century from 42 balls and runs kept coming in huge numbers. An Hilfenhaus over again went for 18. Johnson, who had gone for 70 in his first nine overs, returned to dismiss both Dhoni and Raina in the 50th over, but by then the damage had been done, with the partnership worth 136 in just 93 balls.