Point: Australia was hurt. They lost badly against Sri Lanka. And the wounded tigers were on prowl. They left no stone unturned to win this match. So they did. Won it, and in style! Here are again, my views:
Australia's bowler BW Hilfenhaus ripped apart Indian batting line-up on Sunday at Brisbane in the Commonwealth Bank Series ODI by picking 5-33 wickets.
Along with excellent bowling from Brett Lee, who picked up 3-49 wickets, they restricted India at 178-10 winning the match by 110 runs.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. Starting steady, they scored 51 runs in the first 10 overs without losing a wicket. Both Forrest and M Hussey scored a half century before falling victims to Irfan Pathan. The last ten overs turned the face of the game. 101 runs were scored and Australia put up a total of 288-5 runs.
Rohit Sharma dropped 2 very important catches. To join him, Umesh Yadav too, dropped an easy catch. If that wasn't enough, the umpire decision was reversed; by the umpire himself!! First time, we saw Dhoni upset and angry. He literally argued with the on-field umpires. This is just an answer to all those who feel Dhoni is defensive! Boss, he is NOT!
A funny instance was when Virat Kohli took a smart catch and silenced the spectators by pointing to them as shown in the picture! No exchange of bad-words happened so, no fine paid!
In reply, India's top order failed to deliver and India lost the first 4 wickets in quick succession. Too much of reliance on Gauti and Sachin paaji, but they both went back to pavillion very fast.
Virat Kohli looked good, played steady. He was OUT with probably what looked like a catch. Well, I doubt if it was a genuine one.
My words fail to express the incompetence shown by Rohit Sharma in the entire series. Not that he is not good, but we have better players who can easily replace him. Manoj Tiwary definitely deserves a chance now.
Only MS Dhoni, captain cool, scored a decent 56 runs. But this did not avoid the inevitable defeat for Team India as they succumbed at 178 runs losing the match by 110 runs.
Well, not playing Ashwin didn't make a big difference either. Australia were too good in all areas and showed the character right from the start.
Adding salt to wounds, Team India's highest scorer MS Dhoni, faced the ban for the next match against Sri Lanka on 21st Feb, 2012 for slow over-rate. This is the second time in the tour that he is facing the ban. The first being the ban for the 4th Test at Adelaide for the same reason.
As extra affair: Because of bad form, the standing captain Ricky Ponting, has been “rested” from the next match(es). The era of the legendary batsman-captain is on the verge of decline…
Ponting has been the show stealer for a very long time for Australian cricket. Alas! Every good thing comes to an end…
BW Hilfenhaus received MOM for his superb bowling picking 5-for. Also, this put Australia back on top in the points table. Now, we will see Parthiv Patel in the next game as our wicket-keeper. And hopefully, a win too!
Images courtesy: www.espncricinfo.com
You know what..Aussy players also delayed the overs by calling drinks, bats, gloves and what not..only banning MS is unfair..!!!
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DeleteWell yes. After every single over Mussey and Forrest had a drink in the park.
Every Vinay Kumar's over Forrest wanted to make some changes in the side screens. Watching Kohli's catch closely looked totally not out..and finally, Mark Nicholas and Tony Grieg made a big deal of Mussey's stump OUT issue (where he was called back) when the decesion of stumping Symonds in the Sydney, Bucknor's TEST match, was actually a fair decision according Tony.
Wouldn't have made a much difference in the match but when BCCI pays them big time, they have got to close their eyes on Dhoni's over rate :P rather than Aussies having a drink or two after every ball.
Totally agree with ur views.. Sandy and Slickr... Too much of cheating happening against India now...
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