Team India once again failed to stop the Australian juggernaut, as they meekly surrendered against mighty Aussies losing by 47 runs with 14 balls to spare, despite Vice-captain Yuvraj Singh’s valiant effort in the crucial third ODI of the seven match series of Future Cup played at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
A fine century knock by Yuvraj Singh stands tall amidst all, but was even not enough to prevent Aussies cruise towards victory. Yuvraj Singh got out with India still needing 65 runs for win with one wicket remaining. Yuvraj started off his innings cautiously and then switched to his menacing mode and played free flowing strokes keeping the hopes of people alive but could not be able to take his team towards victory.
The Australians were looking more confident as a unit with the return of their captain Ricky Ponting setting a target of 291 runs for the home team, which is quite evident with a first 50-run opening stand of the series from their openers Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist is struggling with his form still he was looking good after being relieved from the burden of captaincy. Both the openers added 76 runs for the first wicket in 13.2 overs.
Indian frontline bowlers struggled to provide early breakthroughs, what they managed to get in the previous two matches. There was nothing in the pitch to offer to the fast bowlers. Irfan Pathan drew first blood for his team as he bowled out the flamboyant Gilchrist who had scored 29 runs from 31 balls while Hayden got stuck in, hitting across the line through midwicket to a Zaheer Khan’s delivery after scoring a quick-fire of 60 runs.
By the time Australia lost their second wicket they had 112 runs on the board in 20.3 overs and were on road for 300 run mark. Skipper Ponting took the field after a layoff and was not in his element and could only manage to add 25 runs in the team’s total. Ponting got caught in Yuvraj’s spin web and gave an easy catch to Pathan.
After the dismissal of Ponting the murderous Symonds came on the field and continued his good run scoring a blitzkrieg of 89 runs in just 83 balls and put on a crucial 123-run partnership with Michael Clarke for the fourth wicket. Symonds was at his brutal best as he smashed five fours and equal number of sixes guiding his team to a respectable total of 290.
Chasing the target of 291 and trailing down 0-1 in the series India was always in pressure. Brett Lee drew first blood for Australia by claiming the wicket of the in-form batsman Gautam Gambhir. He bowled a brilliant in-swinger to get the batsman trapped in front in the third over of the Indian innings followed by another wicket claimed by Johnson in the next over, with Robin Uthappa departing for a duck after facing just 3 balls. Indian former captain and great wall of India could also do nothing and caught behind by Mathew Hayden in the first slip of Bret Lee’s third over on the duck. India was then deep-deep trouble at 13-3 in the fifth over when Indian vice captain came to the crease.
The team seemed to be recovering from the initial hiccups. When they lost Tendulkar at a score of 43. He was cleaned up by a straighter delivery from Hogg. The scorecard read at 108 for the loss of 4 wickets at the end of 25 overs.
After losing the crucial wicket of Tendulkar, it was Indian skipper MS Dhoni who took the centerstage to face the Aussie bowling attack. India seemed to be getting some grip back with Yuvraj Singh smashing 66 runs of 74 balls but the Australian bowlers bounced back just when the runs started coming in for India with both Dhoni and Yuvraj hitting boundaries at regular intervals. Brett Lee bowled an out-swinger to make Dhoni edge a catch to Gilchrist while Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan also departed in quick time adding up misery for the Indians.
It was now up to Yuvraj Singh who was still on crease but there were no regular batsmen to support him. But finally Yuvi bowled out at 121 runs and Indian expectation had been demolished because there was yet a long way to go and Indian tail enders were not quit capable to achieve the score. Zaheer Khan was the ninth wicket, who caught and bowled by Brad Hogg. Sreesanth was clean bowled by Clarke to put an end to India’s innings at the score of 243 with 2.2 overs still remaining.
"We required partnerships at the top which did not happen," Dhoni said after the match. "If we have wickets in hand we could have scored runs in the last 10-15 overs. When you lose early wickets it tends to become a catch-up job towards the end."
India messed up the situation for them by going 0-2 down in the series, as now they have to win all the remaining four games to seal the series in their favour. With Australia in great form, the chances are not so bright for the Indians. Dhoni acknowledged that a tough series had become tougher from hereon.
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