It has been a long long wait. Almost 4 years. Over 11 matches. But finally India have done it. The T20 World Champions have beaten the ODI World Champions by 8 runs in a nail-biter, reminiscent of their semi-final clash in the Twenty20 World Cup. India needed to win this match and the series has now come alive. After a complete domination in the first 3 matches (the first one was washed out), Australia finally were challenged and they succumbed. It goes to show that any team can be defeated if the right pressure is applied.

India one the toss and MS had no hesitation in batting first. In the previous couple of matches the Aussies had made first use of the pitch. Dhoni ensured that this time his batsmen would get the first opportunity to bat. India had the tried and tested opening pair of Tendulkar and Ganguly to start proceedings. After the recent statement by Dilip Vengsarkar, the two had to get some runs and get India a good opening start. They did that by putting on 92 for the first wicket in 19 overs before Ganguly was the first to depart on 41 from 56 balls.

Yuvraj got a promotion and came in at number 3. Along with Tendulkar, he put on another decent partnership as the Indians got to 174 before Yuvraj hit one to Ponting. He had made 39 and was just looking to cut loose. Dhoni was the next man in, but the foundation had been laid. India had another 15 overs to go and 8 wickets in hand with Tendulkar still at the crease. He had yet to come out all guns blazing and as luck would have it, he got himself run out on 79. He had faced 119 balls giving him a strike rate of 66.38 runs per 100 balls. India were now 221-3 from 41.5 overs and it really surprised me to see Rahul Dravid come in at this stage. He did not last long and his shocking series continued as he fell on unlucky 13.

In comes Robin Uthappa and India could not have asked for a better pair in this situation. Runs were needed and they were needed quickly. Uthappa was quickly into his stride and with the skipper in full flow, India finished on 291. Twenty runs were blasted by MS Dhoni off the last over bowled by Nathan Bracken. The final 25 balls cost 46 runs as MS Dhoni smashed a round 50 from only 35 balls. Uthappa finished on 30 from 18 balls. Australia had conceded a massive 39 extras, runs that would come back to haunt them in the end result.

Chasing 292 on a track that was going to get slow meant the Aussies needed a blistering start. That was provided to them by Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden. This has surely got to be the “second-best” opening pair in the history of the game, after Tendulkar-Ganguly. However, that was not going to long last as RP Singh got Adam Gilchrist and India got their first breakthrough. Gilchrist’s poor form in the series continued and Hayden’s sensational form also continued. It seems to me that he doesn’t need time to settle down. He just starts seeing the ball as a football the moment he starts batting.

Ponting had to stick around and play a captain’s knock. Stick around he did, but all the action was coming from Matthew Hayden as he took the Indian bowling to the sword. The first 100 for Australia came from only 77 balls. The match was slowly and steadily slipping away from India and Dhoni had to make a move. His opening bowlers had been smashed to all places by Hayden and even Ponting was beginning to get dangerous. Irfan Pathan, who has made a sensational comeback to the Indian team, got Ponting driving at a delivery that Ponting missed. Dhoni quickly had the bails off and the matter was referred to the third umpire. They say that the crease belongs to the umpire. And this time Ponting was caught with his foot on the line, not behind, hence his stumping decision.

Clarke was the new man in and “Pup” did not last too long giving Harbhajan Singh, aka The Turbanator, a dolly catch. That was a big mistake. Not only did Australia lose another wicket, more importantly they lost it to Bhajji who has a habit of turning from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde after he has captured a wicket. The big, and perhaps controversial, selection decision before this match was the inclusion of Murali Karthik. The left-arm off-spinner had a point to prove and he did not start off to a good start when Andrew Symonds smashed him straight down the ground for a big hit.

The stylish left-armer, however, turned out to be the key for India later on as the match progressed. First he got Hayden to sweep in the air as Zaheer snatched the catch at mid-wicket. That was a big wicket as Hayden was on 92 and was looking to take this match away from India. That also meant all the big hitting was going to be left to Symonds. In retrospect, Symonds waited far too long to go after the bowling and even though the runs were coming, the boundaries had stopped. Hodge has struggled for most of the series with 3 being his previous best score in the last 3 matches. On top of his poor form, he had to help Symonds maintain the run rate to less than 6 runs an over.

With Harbhajan and Murali bowling in tandem, the pace had been taken off the ball and on a slow pitch the going gets really tough for the batsmen. Hodge struggled and in a lightening display of wicket-keeping skills, MS Dhoni took the bails off to a delivery that was going down the leg side. Hodge tried to flick, but missed it completely and to his dismay found that the keeper had taken it cleanly and had the bails off in a flash. Dhoni was rejoicing even before the third umpire’s verdict came out. India had struck again and the pressure was very much on Australia.

Andrew Symonds was still there, and when he is batting Australia can always rest easy. The big man has had a sensational last 3 matches so far. In the last couple he had scored match winning knocks of 80+ totals and if things were going the way they were going, this would have been three in a row. However, and that’s always there isn’t it. RP Singh who had had a terrible first spell came in and got the huge wicket. Symonds looking to smash it hard, missed the line and the ball crashed into his middle stump. That was really the key moment in the match. Until then, Australia had a 60-40 chance of winning. The odds shifted dramatically to favor India. And in an inspired piece of fielding off his own bowling, Rudra Singh ran out Brad Hogg. Hogg looking to steal a run had hit it straight into the path of RP’s follow through and the bowler took the stumps down. 2 balls – 2 wickets. Australia knew they were going to lose. India knew they were going to win. The batsmen were James Hopes (Australia’s hopes rested on his shoulders) and Brett Lee (I still can’t forget that last over six that he had hit off Laxmipathy Balaji).

In One Day cricket the saying goes “It isn’t over until it’s over” and with the World champions it certainly holds true. 22 runs were required from the last 2 overs and Murali Karthik produced a gem giving away only 2 runs in what I consider as the fastest over bowled in the match. Fastest as in the time taken not the pace of the deliveries. RP bowled the penultimate over and went for 4 singles. So, Australia now needed 16 runs from 6 balls and Zaheer was going to bowl the final over. Nail-biter is just the tip of the iceberg trying to describe the last few moments of this match. The first ball, my heart was in my mouth, and Zaheer gets spanked for a four straight down the ground. Oh No! That’s what a billion people may be thinking at that very instant. Not another defeat after coming so close to a win. But if anybody can bowl a final over, then it has got to be Zaheer Khan. In a test of nerves, the experienced left armer bowled India to a much needed win to keep their hopes alive in this series. They are still 2-1 behind and expect the Aussies to come at them really hard.

Dhoni was given the man of the match award for his belligerent batting in the dying stages of the first innings, his sharp stumpings and his level headed captaincy. It’s his first win as India’s ODI captain and he would cherish it for a long time. The series is well and truly alive. If Tendulkar and Ganguly keep providing the starts, with batsmen like Dhoni, Yuvraj, Dravid and Uthappa to follow, there is no reason why India should not challenge the Australians in the final 3 games.

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Match Highlights

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Image source: Cricinfo.com

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