Ind squander series lead, lose by 24 runs
And they prove it again! Team India is indeed capable of surprising everyone with their brilliance and insipidness, alike!
After having a perfect day at office in Delhi, the Indian batsmen lost their way completely at Mohali and handed a 24 run victory to Australia. The batting was a total contrast of their effort in the field. Neither were there any significant partnerships nor a big score by any individual. Sachin Tendulkar top-scored with 40. As a result, India were dismissed for 226 inside 47 overs.
Things looked pretty easy in the beginning, as Sehwag set the PCA stadium on fire straight away. He started the innings off with a lofted smash over the covers off a Johnson half-volley. The fireworks continued unabated, as the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’ slaughtered Mitchell Johnson, punishing him ruthlessly for his line outside the off-stump. He slashed the ball in every possible direction hitting seven boundaries in no time. But the Sehwag blitzkrieg came to a tame end as he got held out in the deep after scoring scintillating 30 runs of just 19 balls.
 Shane Watson shows an all-round performance as he scored 49 runs and took 3 for 29. © AFP |
Tendulkar too, treated the Mohali crowd with his sheer genius- be it his trademark back-foot punch past the point boundary, a powerful pull through the fine-leg fence or a gorgeous, perfect cover-drive- and all they could do was gasp for more. But that was not to be, as the Master Blaster fell prey to a rough LBW decision by umpire Asoka de Silva.
Virat Kohli, who came in for injured Gambhir, couldn’t make the most of the opportunity as he fell caught behind to Bollinger. The onus was yet again on the Dhoni-Yuvraj duo after Sachin’s dismissal but just when their partnership was looking to settle down, Ricky Ponting affected a lightening fast direct-hit to send Yuvraj packing. India were now in trouble, with four men gone for 113 and still a long way to go.
The Aussie bowlers showed immense character and courage to keep the pressure on India by picking up crucial wickets at regular intervals, despite taking an early beating form Sehwag. Peter Siddle and Nathan Hauritz in particular, were very impressive with the ball. While Siddle was exceptional at the start of the innings to keep the run flow in check even as Sehwag was going berserk, Hauritz’s intelligent bowling made scoring difficult for the batsmen. The off-spinner did a remarkable job in handling the dew-affected soggy ball.
Mitchell Johnson was the only bowler who got clobbered. He went for a royal 74 runs in his 9 overs with no success in terms of wickets. It turned out to be not a very happy birthday for the left-armer.
The pick of the Australian bowlers was Doug Bollinger, who made three crucial inroads into the Indian batting line-up. He walked away with the important scalps of Sehwag, Kohli and Dhoni.
The wicket of Dhoni specially proved to be the most vital blow from which India were never able to recover. Dhoni tried to glance one down the leg-side but managed to get a thin glove and Manou didn’t make any mistake behind the stumps.
India’s last recognized batting pair was broken when Hauritz disturbed Raina’s furniture with a full, straight delivery. With top six batsmen back into the dugout, India were looking down the barrel.
The atmosphere went gloomy, the crowd stunned into silence. But the silence was soon followed by a loud roar as Harbhajan walked out in the middle. After Jadeja ran himself out, trying to go for a non-existing run, the Harbhajan-Praveen duo did show a promise of repeating their heroics of Vadodara. But the promise was transient, as Harbhajan gave a straight return catch to Watson off a full-toss.
Praveen Kumar continued his batting assault and after breaking his bat in the process, he carried on with a bat borrowed from his skipper. Though he gave it his total effort, he ended up nicking a Watson delivery behind for 16 off 18 balls.
It was a mere formality for the visitors to get the last Indian wicket which was fulfilled by Watson when he got Nehra caught in the deep. For his impressive all-round performance of 49 runs, 3 wickets and a catch, Watson was declared the Player of the Match.
It seemed, during the first innings, the PCA stadium of Mohali saw a different Indian team in the field. They troubled the Aussie batsmen with their tight bowling and even tighter fielding, to dismiss the world champions for 250 on a nice, hard batting track.
 The pick of the Australian bowlers was Doug Bollinger, who made three crucial inroads into the Indian batting line-up. © AFP |
The Indian bowlers kept in tight in the first 10 overs, giving away just 37 runs. But the story changed after that, as the Aussie batsmen decided to make amends for the quiet start and Ishant Sharma was made the target. They scored 30 off his first four overs.
Ponting definitely looked like a man in sublime form when he clobbered Ishant Sharma for a straight six and followed it up with a four over the long-off fence. Ishant Sharma couldn’t maintain the miserly economy rate of Praveen and Nehra as both, Ponting and Watson took him on and came up with a flurry of boundaries. The second powerplay fetched Australia 36 runs.
Just when the both these batsmen started to look threatening, Dhoni threw the ball to his wily off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh. The crowd went wild when the local boy sent Watson back off the very first ball he bowled. Harbhajan tossed the ball up in the air and Watson ended nicking it to Dhoni, who took a smart sharp catch. Watson once again failed to capitalize on a good start, falling one short of his half century.
It was spinners in tandem once again for India, as has been the case most of the times. Yuvraj and Harbhajan tightened the ropes once again, which meant, Ponting and Cameron White had to sweat it out between the wickets. They were doing just that when an astounding direct-hit by a dynamic Ravindra Jadeja running in from deep square-leg spelled doom for the Australian captain. Ponting departed for 52, leaving his team in trouble. Looking at the fluency with which Ponting was batting, one can say that this was the only way the Indians could have got him. Jadeja is slowly proving to be Ponting’s latest nemesis, it seems! For the records, this was only the second time in 53 innings that Ponting was run-out against India.
After the captain’s departure, there was only one man who could keep the Aussie boat from sinking- Michael Hussey! He got on with his consolidation job, working the ball around for singles and waiting for a loose ball to ease it to the boundary.
Ishant took over the proceedings with the second new ball and continued to disappoint, bowling short and wide. White and Hussey made merry in the middle, as they helped themselves to some classy boundaries.
But the party didn’t last too long, as the Dhoni once again turned to his spinners, who spun their way into the Aussie top order. Yuvraj got rid of danger man Hussey, who was held out by Ishant at deep mid-wicket, mistiming a pull shot after batting nicely for his 41 ball 40.
Harbhajan once again got his team and the crowd roaring, as he accounted for Henriques’ wicket with a stumping from Dhoni. Australia were now floundering at 217-5 in the 43rd over.
In the absence of Hussey and Ponting, Cameron White took the onus of standing for his team and batted well for his 62. But it all ended with terrific presence of mind and agility shown by Ashish Nehra, who sent White back into the hut with a sharp direct throw to the stumps. The Nehra show continued though, as very soon he cleaned Johnson up, who was Australia’s last hope of gathering some runs in the batting powerplay. The left-armer continued to enjoy a dream comeback with an outstanding spell of eight overs, scalping three wickets for 37 runs.
The Indians’ newly formed love affair with the direct-hits continued, as this time it was Praveen Kumar who caught Graham Manou out of his crease and sent him into the pavilion. By now, the Australian innings had fallen into complete disarray. They fell like nine-pins and finished with a below-par total of 250.
Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Jadeja bowled beautifully and never let their legs off the break. Praveen Kumar was impressively economical once again. It was one of the best efforts in the field by India and one of the worst with the bat, with no batsman applying himself at the wicket that was good to bat on till the very end. Now, the series is wide open, as the score-line reads 2-2 with three games to go.
