|
Aussies storm
into the final as India crumble under pressure |
September 22, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
 Australia
will be meeting West Indies in the final of the
DLF Cup to be played on the 24th as they handed
a crushing 18-run defeat to India. Australia had
struggled in the afternoon to post 213 yet India
lost the match following dismal show from its
batsmen except Dinesh Mongia who stayed right
till the end remaining unbeaten on 63. He got
support in patches from Suresh Raina and
Mahendra Singh Dhoni but those two batsmen fell
at the wrong time after looking very good. India
did get a couple of bad decisions that might
have affected the result of the game but it was
the better team that had won in the end. Brett
Lee was the man for Australia and of course the
Man of the Match taking a fifer which included
the big wickets of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Dhoni.
India now take the flight back to home following
this poor performance in a tournament that was
funded by its board.
The day started with Ricky Ponting winning the
toss and choosing to bat on a good batting
track. Ponting himself was back in the side
along with Damien Martyn, Brad Hogg, Glenn
McGrath coming in for Michael Clarke, Shane
Watson, Dan Cullen and Nathan Bracken. India
were without Yuvraj Singh who was unwell and
Sreesanth who was dropped for reasons better
known to the Indian think tank and were replaced
with Dinesh Mongia and Mohammad Kaif.
The bowling was good and a disciplined one from
Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel keeping the runs
down for Australia. Simon Katich feeling the
pinch of not able to break free slashed at a
short of length delivery from Agarkar only to be
brilliantly taken at Suresh Raina flying to his
left. Australia lost its first wicket with 36 on
the board in the 9th over. India had the much
bigger wicket of Ricky Ponting very soon as he
had played the pick up shot off Munaf Patel
straight to the man at fine leg. Ponting fell
leaving Australia at 49 for 2 after 11.1 overs
and his team couldn't make full use of the
powerplay blocks although the next man in,
Damien Martyn had slapped RP Singh's long hop
for a six over covers. Hayden was the only man
getting few boundaries here and there
consistently and he was run out following a
terrible mix up with his partner. Hayden by then
had notched up his 27th ODI fifty with the help
of nine fours. Damien Martyn (19) like Hayden
was also run out and Australia soon slipped down
to 97 for 4. If that wasn't enough for the
Aussies, Dinesh Mongia got the dangerous Andrew
Symonds lbw in the same over as the right hander
was struck on the pads playing for the turn
which wasn't there.
The World Champions were hoping for the Hussey-Haddin
show to repeat but luckily for India, Michael
Hussey was done in by Harbhajan's brilliant
bowling. Harbhajan had opted to bowl round the
sticks to the left hander and he got his off
break to drift into the left hander inducing him
into working that onto the onside, the sharp
turn got the outside edge that went straight to
Dravid at slip. At 117 for 6, it looked like
India would be bundling out the Aussies for
something under 175 but that wasn't going to
happen as Hogg along with Haddin chose to take
this opportunity to showcase their batting
skills. Haddin was earlier called back after
being initially given run out as the third
umpire thought that Harbhajan had disturbed the
stumps without having the ball in the hand while
attempting a second run off a sweep shot from
Hussey. The wicket keeper batsman kept faith in
his ability and he jumped down the track to
collect four sixes. Hogg on the other end was
getting busy through his square cuts and the
Aussies were looking good to get to a fighting
total. Haddin finally fell in the 45th over
after miscuing his slog off RP Singh. He fell
for 46 which had come in 63 balls and his
partnership with Hogg was worth 77 to take
Australia to 194 for 7. India were lucky to
clean up the Aussies inside the 50 over as Hogg
(38) and Lee couldn't stay till the end to get
their fireworks going. India was in with a
terrific position having bowled out the
Australians for 213 in 48.1 overs. Harbhajan
Singh was once again the best bowler for India
with figures of 1 for 24 in 10 overs. Dinesh
Mongia had done well with his slow left arm spin
to complement Harbhajan Singh in the middle
stages, his figures were 1 for 43 in 9 overs.
There was a change in the batting order for
India and Virender Sehwag finally got back to
his opening position as Dravid chose to come in
the middle order. Action started right away as
Umpire Mark Benson had lifted his finger to give
Sachin Tendulkar caught behind following a loud
appeal. McGrath was the bowler whose short one
had struck Tendulkar on his shoulder in an
attempted pull shot and the ball flew straight
into Haddin's gloves. Benson shocked everyone by
calling back Tendulkar as he reversed his
decision after realizing that he had done a
mistake. It was a right move according to the
law but Tendulkar didn't trouble the scorers
much as he slashed Brett Lee's quick delivery
straight to point. Sachin Tendulkar could make
just 4 and India were off to a dismal start at 7
for 1 in the 3rd over. It was soon 2 for 20 as
Sehwag was neither forward nor back to be bowled
through the gate by Brett Lee for 10.
Skipper Rahul Dravid who joined Mohammad Kaif
had started to build a much needed partnership.
Kaif was getting his innings into a good shape,
driving the ball sweetly but he just couldn't
carry on making a big score. He was caught and
bowled by Stuart Clark after looking to drive on
the up. Kaif made 21 in 37 balls with 2 fours.
Stuart Clark who was hit for 87 in his 7 overs
against West Indies struck for the second time
for his side in the same over as he got Dravid
rapped up on his backpad after shuffling way too
across his stumps. At 50 for 4, Aussies were
truly on the top with two new batsmen Dinesh
Mongia and Suresh Raina in the middle who were
yet to make serious impact at the International
Level with their batting. But both left handers
didn't panic and batted out according to their
ability and India were getting back on track as
the two stole singles with ease. Suresh Raina
had the youthful exuberance in his batting and
he had smacked Symonds on the up towards long on
for a massive six to keep the required run rate
under a check. His promising innings came to an
end when he had failed to read Brad Hogg's
googly, the one that turns into the lefties to
chop his cut shot onto the stumps. Suresh Raina
made an attractive 26 with two fours and a six
to put on 46 for the 5th wicket. The next man in
Mahendra Singh Dhoni batted out sensibly along
with Dinesh Mongia to slowly take India into the
comfort zone. Dhoni who was mostly playing all
along the ground had also got a six which was a
straight hit over the bowler Stuart Clark's head
taking on the long off fielder. Ponting had to
bring back Brett Lee back in the game to try and
see if his extra pace could get the wicket of
Dhoni or not. It worked exactly that way and
Dhoni fell cross batting Brett Lee's short and
rising delivery straight to Damien Martyn at
sweeper covers. Dhoni was out for 23 with India
56 runs short of victory with just 4 wickets in
hand. Replays had later shown that Brett Lee had
overstepped the crease in that delivery.
It was a tough task for Mongia to get the
remaining runs along with the tail. Ajit Agarkar
and Harbhajan Singh who were the only hopes of
getting India close to victory with Mongia
couldn't last long. Harbhajan was unlucky to be
given out caught behind off Symonds although he
didn't get any edge. India were in tatters with
still 28 runs to win and just two wickets in
hand. Dinesh Mongia did the cardinal mistake of
not taking most of the strike and go for the big
ones and Brett Lee exploited that by taking the
wickets of RP Singh and then Munaf Patel to seal
the victory for his side. Mongia was stranded on
63 which had come in 90 balls with the help of 4
fours. It was a good innings from him but the
finishing touch wasn't provided by him. India
were bowled out for 195 in the 44th over with
Brett Lee ending up with 5 for 38. Brad Hogg
bowled his chinamans and googlies decently well
to pick up two crucial wickets giving away 48 in
his 10.
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