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Gambhir drives India past Aussies in T20 affair |
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Scorecard
When it comes to
Twenty20, the Indians are champs and that's what
was proved at the Brabourne Stadium which was
the host of the first ever such match on Indian
soil. Dhoni's team easily went past a target of
167 set by the Aussies with 7 wickets in hand
and 11 balls to spare.
Australia won the toss
and decided to bat first but were restricted to
a moderate total of 166 for 5. Spin did the
trick for the Indians with Harbhajan Singh and
Murali Kartik keeping the Australian batsmen
under a check. The only batsmen making merry
among the Australians was Skipper Ricky Ponting
who made 76 in 53 with 13 fours. Michael Clarke
finished with an unbeaten 25 from 15 but
couldn't get the total that was so necessary in
this format of the game. Harbhajan Singh was the
pick among the bowlers giving away just 17 in
his 4 overs besides taking the wicket of Hayden.
Pathan with 2 for 34 in 4 and Kartik with none
for 27 in 4 complemented the off spinner well
after an expensive start from the new ball pair
of RP Singh and Sreesanth. India would however
thank RP Singh for providing the wicket of
Gilchrist in the very first over of the match.
The Indians
eased through in their chase with Robin Uthappa
combining with Gautam Gambhir to put on a
match-winning stand of 80 runs for the second
wicket that literally sealed the game. Both
these batsmen joined together after an early
exit of Virender Sehwag. Uthappa couldn't quite
stay the distance but he had done his job with a
breezy 35 from 26 with 6 fours before trying to
play a delicate dab off Michael Clarke which was
caught behind. Gambhir (63 in 52 with 6 fours
and a six) too couldn't stay right till the end
but his departure gave the crowd an opportunity
to watch MS Dhoni smash a six off Brett Lee to
finish the match in style. The crowd also had
the honour of watching the Prince of Twenty20
Cricket - Yuvraj Singh, who treated them with
three sixes in his innings of 31 from 25.
Gambhir was the Man of the Match for his smooth
innings which had a life early on when he was
caught off a noball.
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