Australia level series by Jinu Sabastian

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Ground:	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
Scorecard:	India v Australia
Player:	RT Ponting, DE Bollinger, SR Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh
Event:	Australia in India 2009/10

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DateLine: 2nd November 2009

 

An impressive Australian side fought back admirably, after being mauled by Virender Sehwag, to restrict India and level the series. At one stage it seemed that Sehwag would make a short work of the target but once he was dismissed, India seemed to lose steam.

 

Sachin Tendulkar was slowly getting into his groove before a debatable decision ended his stay. Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni stuck around for some time before the golden arm of Ricky Ponting struck. Bollinger was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies, snapping wickets at crucial intervals, but it was Shane Watson who did the damage by picking up the wickets of Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar who threatened to take the game away.

 

On winning the toss, Dhoni elected to field first and immediately his opening bowlers, Praveen and Ashish Nehra, justified his decision, bowling extremely well. They hit a length and swung it both ways to keep the batsmen guessing. Shaun Marsh who was coming after a long injury lay-off looked very rusty and out of touch. He was repeatedly troubled with the one that swung back as he was evidently stuck in his crease unable to decide whether to play forward or back. Finally Nehra put him out of his misery with the one that swung in to trap him leg-before.

 

Ponting was welcomed to the crease with short one which the Australian skipper pulled emphatically through square-leg boundary to remind the Indians of his area strength. Ishant Sharma was introduced in the 12th over and immediately Ponting shifted gears. He lofted him for a few boundaries and Watson too joined in the counterattack. The Indian seamers tried to catch Watson in front with in-cutters but the batsman, though struck on the pad couple of occasions, managed to hold his balance well to defend those deliveries. As the ball lost its shine, he slowly grew in confidence and started to go for his shots. The pair added 64 in 10.3 and just when the partnership was looking threatening Harbhajan intervened.

 

The off-spinner got one to straighten which Watson, who was on 49, tried to play through third man to collect a single to get his half-century but could only manage to nick it to Dhoni behind the stumps. White joined Ponting in the middle and the two had a job in their hands. Ponting batted serenely neutralising the spinners by using his feet repeatedly to get to the pitch of the ball and then milking them for singles and doubles.

 

White meanwhile shelved his big-hitting ways to knuckle down and play sensibly to support his captain to put the innings back on track. Ponting passed his 72nd half century and was looking set for a three-figure mark when disaster struck. The Indian fielding which was the butt of joke for the past three one-dayers finally turned corner.

 

Ponting clipped one towards deep square-leg and decided very late to turn for the second but couldn't beat the direct hit from Ravindra Jadeja in the deep and that dismissal robbed the Australian side of the momentum. White and Hussey added 73 runs for the fourth wicket to keep Australia afloat. Hussey was in his usual element as he pushed the ball into the gaps for singles and once in a while freeing his arms to get the odd boundary.

 

However, he fell after getting a start, pulling Yuvraj straight to deep mid-wicket. White took the batting Powerplay in the 45th over but couldn't make use of it as he was run out after backing up too far and failing to beat the direct hit from the bowler Nehra. Mitchell Johnson too fell soon, cleaned up by a slower one from Nehra, and Australia failed to make the Powerplay count.

 

India in reply got off to a rollicking thanks to Sehwag’s belligerence as he hammered the daylights out of Johnson who came under heavy firing. Tendulkar who was nearing another historic landmark in his international career was biding his time at the other end and preferred watching the stunning assault from Sehwag. Sehwag displayed a wide repertoire of shots as he played a ferocious a square drive, flicked through midwicket, flashed past point and essayed an upper-cut over slips to leave Australians gasping for breath.

 

However, he didn't capitalize on the start and fell, trying to clear mid-off against Doug Bollinger. Tendulkar was patient, waited for the right ball to attack and once the opportunity was presented he scored the runs. Kohli failed to grab the opportunity as he edged a wide one from Bollinger to the keeper.

 

Tendulkar began to look menacing and it seemed that the right-hander might take the game away from the Australians. But Hauritz struck in his second over, trapping Tendulkar leg before and then in the 24th over Ponting fired in a direct hit from covers to run out Yuvraj Singh who was not in his usual self to stun the Indian chase.

 

The biggest blow came in 32nd over when Dhoni tickled a leg-side delivery from Bollinger through to the keeper as the Indian hopes began to recede quickly. The Indian team continued to slide when Raina was cleaned up by a straighter one from Hauritz and it was greeted with pin-drop silence in the stadium. Harbhajan Singh continued to put forward his application to be considered as India’s elusive all-rounder as he crashed a couple of boundaries to calm the nerves in the Indian dressing room and also give hope to the Indian supporters.

 

Jadeja looked completely out of sorts in his short stay as he could not get the ball off the square and his inability to get the singles contributed to pressure being slowly accumulated. A gross misjudgment from the young batsman finally ended his stay when in the middle as he found himself stranded. India took their batting powerplay in the 40th over and Harbhajan Singh made it count by slogging Johnson over mid-wicket and then a couple of balls later straight drove the same bowler down the for a boundary to turn on the heat.

 

Harbhajan and Praveen Kumar continued their merry ways as they collected boundaries of Bollinger to slowly inject hope of an unlikely win into the hearts of Indian supporters. But Watson ended any such lingering hopes by taking a smart return catch of Harbhajan Singh to silence the home crowd.

 

But Praveen Kumar did not lose hope or heart as it was evident that he still dreamt of an Indian win from his bat. The UP player displayed remarkable grit and determination as he collected boundaries to say that all was not lost. But a brilliant delivery from Watson ended Kumar’s stay as he nicked one behind to leave India at 217 for 9. Nehra finally holed out in the deep as Australia won the match by 24 runs.