Embarrassing. Humiliating. Just two words to describe India’s massive 84 run loss to Australia. Just when India was looking forward after their Twenty20 World Cup win, they have been brought back to the harsh realities of ODI cricket. In a clinical display, Gilchrist and his men from down under completed India’s humiliation in supreme fashion.

After winning the toss, Dhoni elected to field first, a decision that came back to haunt his side later on in the day. After a wet outfield threatened play to be abandoned, the Australians got off to a disastrous start. Adam Gilchrist edged a delivery from Zaheer Khan to slips where Tendulkar completed an easy catch. The Australian skipper departed for a duck and India had made the perfect start. Sreesanth then had Hodge edging one back to Dhoni and the score read 8-. Dhoni’s decision to bowl first was looking very very good.

And then Hayden happened to India. Haydo loves to smack the Indian bowlers and yesterday was no different. RP Singh was replaced by Harbhajan in the match and so India only had Irfan Pathan to rely on. Agreed that RP had a difficult day in the first match, however that doesn’t mean to drop him in conditions favoring bowlers. Hayden made full use of the power plays and quickly got the Aussies back on track. He had an important 58 run partnership with Michael Clarke who scored 27 before being stumped off Pathan. Australia were 66-3 and India once again had the advantage over the Aussies.

Andrew Symonds had a point to prove after his comments before the series started and his low total in the first match. If there was a time to make his point, now was it. Together with Hayden, he smashed the Indian bowlers to all sides of the park. Hayden departed when on 75 he was bowled by Irfan Pathan. The score read 160-4 from 31.1 overs and once again India had an opportunity to press home the advantage.

However, Brad Haddin made sure that his 69 in the first match was not a fluke. He and Symonds pressed the accelerator and they had a match winning 108 run partnership from only 94 balls. Symonds went back to the pavilion after a terrific caught and bowled by Sreesanth and his 87 proved why Australia stays in front of the competition. Haddin, in the meantime, was spanking the Indian bowlers and remained not out on 87 from only 69 balls and earned the man of the match award. Australia finished with 306 runs on board, pretty similar to the 307 they got in the first match.

For India, Sreesanth picked up 3 wickets, Pathan got 2 and Zaheer got 1. Harbhajan and Powar got nil wickets and this is a cause for concern. These two bowl the middle overs and have to contribute by picking up wickets. Bhajji seems to have lost his ability to flight or is too scared to do so fearing that he will go for too many runs. He needs to understand that he is the strike bowler in the middle overs and he has to keep attacking the batsmen.

India needed a fast start and with no Saurav Ganguly, out due to injury, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar were left with that responsibility. That they failed to do so comes as no surprise. Gambhir was the first to go followed by Tendulkar. Uthappa was the only one who looked to attack and play positive cricket. He smashed the bowling in his 41 from only 30 balls. India kept losing wickets despite the fact that the required run rate had come down to less than 6 an over at one stage. At 87-4, with the top order gone, it was only Dravid, Dhoni and Pathan left. Dravid and Dhoni were doing well and a recovery was looking on the cards. However, against the run of play Dravid slogged Hogg over mid-wicket only to see Mitchell Johnson take a terrific catch under pressure right at the boundary.

And that was the end of India’s hopes. Pathan followed soon after he got himself runout in a terrible mixup with Dhoni. Any chances of a miracle vaporised for India. The score was 139-6. Dhoni continued on and so did the wickets. The Australians proved why they are the best ODI unit in the world. For India, there is still a long long way to go. The fact of the matter is that some serious decision need to be made about the future of the Big 3 in the shorter format. After India’s success in the T20 tournament, the fans and critics are going to be really on their backs now. The only way to respond is by playing match-winning innings and so far, in the first couple of matches, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It would be interesting to see if these three are going to be rotated as was the plan by the selectors before the start of the series. If India can somehow win the next match, the series could become very interesting. If not, then be prepared for a whitewash.

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Match Highlights

Australia Innings Highlights

India Innings Highlights

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