After setting a small target of 250 runs against formidable looking Indian batting lineup, Australia bounce back in the second half of the game with the help of some outstanding bowling by D.Bollngers (3/38) and Shane Watson (3/29) to bowled out India to 226 in 46.4 overs to win the fourth ODI at Mohali by 24 runs. With this win series is now level at 2-2 with three matches still left in the Hero Honda Cup to decide the winner of the tournament. The win for Australia means, India have to wait for few more matches to snatch the number one spot in the ICC ODI team ranking from the hands of Australians. India needed a win today to become the number one team in the world but they failed to chase down such a small total on beautiful batting poaradise at PCS Stadium in Mohali. Chasing 251, India got off to a flier with Virender Sehwag (30 runs off 19 balls) looking eager to wrap up the issue and Sachin Tendulkar (40 runs of 68 balls) going great guns. But their undoing was no less spectacular as the middle and lower could not forge a single significant partnership and the team folded for 226 in 46.4 overs. It was only India who can loose the game after the situation they were in the game at the innings interval, having bowled out the Aussies to 250 runs in 49.2 overs, India needed just few good and solid partnerships of 50 runs to get over the Australian scores. Once Sachin Tendulkar got out the game began to turn decisively and the lack of partnerships hurt India. Tendulkar's 40 runs was the highest score during Indian innings, the next highest scorer was new smashy right hander Harbhaja Singh. Earlier Indian captain M.S.Dhoni won the toss and put Australia into bat. Indian bowlers were impressive right from the start and didn’t allowed Australian openers to get off to flyer. However once the wickets was eased out, Australian batsman got their act together and half-centuries from R.Ponting (52 runs of 59 balls) and C.White (62 runs of 71 balls) and cameos from Shane Watson (49 runs of 52 balls) and Michael Hussey (40 runs of 41 balls) helped Australia to reach 250 before wilting in 49.2 overs. S.Watson was declared Player of the Match for his superb all-round performance with both bat and ball. Match Summary (Australia won by 24 Runs) Australia– 250/10 in 49.2 Overs C.White- 62 R.Ponting– 52 A.Nehra– 8-0-37-3 H.Singh- 10-0-48-2 India– 226/10 in 46.4 Overs S.Tendulkar- 40 H.Singh– 31 D.Bollinger– 9-2-38-3 S.Watson- 7.4-1-29-3 |
