Twenty20 World Champion finally beat Australia by 8 runs in ongoing seven match ODI series to get them back in the tournament. Chasing a comparative total of 292 Australia begins their run chase with confidence. Opener Mathew Hayden (92 runs of 92 balls) and Adam Gilchrist (18 runs of 17 balls) looks in good knick but not manage to give their team third successive win in the tournament. Captain Ricky Ponting (29 runs of 33 balls) also looked good for big scores but could not do much even as Andrew Symonds continued his fine form with another neat half-century. Earlier Indian Captain M.S. Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision looks bad at one stage when Australian bowlers look to pickup wickets at every ball. However best Opening Pair in the world Sachin Tendulkar (79 of 119 balls) and Saurav Ganguly (41 of 59 balls) manage to survive some anxious moment of their innings. They were able to put 91 runs for the first wicket before Ganguly got out on 41 runs. Yuvraj Singh was promoted to No. 3 and he manage to put 83 runs for the 3rd wicket. After some good partnership in the middle M.S. Dhoni (50 not out of 35 balls) and Robin Uthappa (30 not out of 18 balls) played cameo to help India reach close to 300 run mark. Australia also conceded 90 runs in the last 10 overs, while premier bowlers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were not bowled out their full quota. Sachin Tendulkar able to achieve another milestone during this match. He is now highest One-Day run-getter against Australia, eclipsing Desmond Haynes' long standing feat and he also get passed 1000 runs in current calendar year. M.S. Dhoni was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant 50 not out of 35 balls. Match Summary India – 291/4 in 50 Overs Sachin Tendulkar – 79 M.S.Dhoni – 50* James Hopes– 9-0-43-2 Nathan Bracken- 10-0-78-1 Australia – 283/7 in 50 Overs Matthew Hayden– 92 Andrew Symonds– 75 Harbhajan Singh– 10-0-43-2 RP Singh- 10-0-66-2 |
