Dhoni’s youthful side break the all-conquering Aussies’ 22-year hegemony at the MCG, reaching home by five wickets
Dhoni’s youthful side break the all-conquering Aussies’ 22-year hegemony at the MCG, reaching home by five wickets
MELBOURNE: It was fall of the mighty. Fall of Goliath. Fall of the so-called invincibles. It was a result few had expected. But Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India have made it a habit to do the unexpected.
On Sunday they humbled Ricky Ponting & Co by five wickets in a tri-series game at the MCG.
More than the win, what was stunning was the manner they won. For the first time in 10 years, Australia fell for a total as low as 159. And for the first time in 22 years, they lost to India in Melbourne. And what’s more, for the first time since time immemorial, they have conceded lead in their annual tri-series.
“One of the complaints about the tri-series was it had become one-sided. This time we’ve got a tournament at hand,” Ponting said after the loss. After four games, India lead the table with 8 points. Australia, with six points, will have to do catch-up, something they are not used to. It was an unfamiliar situation for the world champions. Sri Lanka are the third team in the series.
Defending a total of 160 is not a familiar situation for the hosts. Still, Ponting managed to put pressure on India with some tight bowling and brilliant fielding.
But his Indian counterpart handled the pressure situation with his characteristic cool-headed approach to help his side wriggle out of trouble after India lost three quick wickets to be at 102 for 5. They knocked off the target with 4.1 overs and five wickets to spare.
Dhoni rubbed his cool head into his young partner Rohit Sharma (37 not out) who, after some initial tentativeness, batted with utmost circumspection. The duo put on an unbeaten 58 runs for the sixth wicket to complete a memorable chase which was achieved with useful contributions from Sachin Tendulkar (44), Gautam Gambhir (20), Irfan Pathan (18) and Virender Sehwag (11). Yuvraj was the only one to leave before touching the double-figure mark. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 17.
If the ending was unfamiliar for Australia, the beginning was equally unfamiliar. After losing Adam Gilchrist due to an umpiring error, Australia struggled against the Indian pace attack.
The home batsmen were all at sea as Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and S Sreesanth breathed fire. Ishant, in particular, bowled a penetrative opening spell, in which he had the prize scalps of Matthew Hayden and Ponting.
Ishant ended up taking two more wickets, including the wicket of Andrew Symonds, to finish with figures of 4 for 38. There was no other contender for the man-of-the-match award.
India had other bowling heroes too. Sreesanth, after a brilliant opening spell, finished with a three-wicket haul. As effective was Harbhajan who left the Aussie batsmen clueless. He conceded only 18 runs in eight overs, and had figures reading 6-1-6-1 at one stage.
India play their next match against Sri Lanka in Canberra.
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