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ShareGuwahati: In the end, all speculation about bad light and D/L method was rendered useless. India's fortune faded quicker than the morning mist as they conceded an unassailable 2-4 lead to Australia in the seven-match ODI series at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here. Truth to tell, the sixth ODI lasted just 10 overs. The morning before, Mike Hussey had said that it would be a good toss to lose. From calling wrongly to cleaning up the Indian batting before the capacity crowd had even settled down in its seat, the Aussies never put a foot wrong on a clear Sunday morning.
Australia's six-wicket win had an inevitability about it. Once five Indian batsmen had gone back to the hut within the first 10 overs, the fate of the match was never in doubt.
There will be threadbare discussion on why and how Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men lost the plot but no amount of analysis will explain how a team which comes to within 3 runs of chasing a 350-plus total, in the very next match fails to complete the 50-over quota and gets dismissed for 170!
The inconsistency ill fits a team which is second in ICC ODI rankings and has grand ambitions of reaching the top.
But any criticism of Indian failure runs the risk of undermining the performance of the Australians, specifically, Mitchell Johnson (3/39) and his partner in rhyme, Doug Bollinger, who equalled his career-best 5/35 in ODIs.
After India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and mystifyingly elected to bat, the game was really only played by one team. The move raised a few eyebrows since instead of becoming lower and slower as he had predicted during the toss, the pitch became easy to bat on later under the sun.
Virender Sehwag has amassed 138 runs in six ODIs since his return with an average of 23. He has failed to reach the half-century mark even once and has always looked in a hurry. He started with a customary slash over point that resulted in a second-ball six. The rest, as they say, is history.
In a responsive pitch, Johnson and Man-of-the-Match Bollinger ripped the heart out of the Indian batting in two breathtaking spells. If Sehwag had no clue to a Johnson delivery that came in and took his middle-stump, Gautam Gambhir played all around the one that held its line.
Sachin Tendulkar was desperately unlucky to offer a return catch to Bollinger as the ball stopped on him. The Aussie couldn't believe his luck. At this stage, the score read 3/23 after 5.1 overs.
Ricky Ponting admitted at the post-match news conference that the rub-of-the-green went their way. He mentioned Yuvraj Singh's freak dismissal that left India gasping for breath. Bollinger's back of a length delivery hit Yuvraj's pads, fell in front and top spun into the stumps to make it 4/24 in the 8th over.
Suresh Raina stepped in. He lasted five balls and returned home without troubling the scorers, becoming Johnson's third scalp. Indian misery was complete at the stroke of the ninth over, the scoreboard reading 27/5.
India were in danger of creating a new low against Australia (63 in Sydney on 8 January, 1981). That they didn't face that ignominy was largely due to Ravindra Jadeja (57) who stitched two vital partnerships of 48 and 74 runs, respectively, with Dhoni (24) and Praveen Kumar (54 not out).
The Indian captain was perhaps unlucky to be adjudged leg-before but it is debatable whether that would have effected a change in India's fortunes. Kumar hit a few lusty
blows in the end and remained unbeaten on a half-century.
The Aussies didn't do much wrong when they came on to bat. A momentary hiccup -- when captain Ricky Ponting (25) and Shane Watson (49) departed in quick succession -- was all that they provided. They never hurried and achieved the target in 41.5 overs.
