Australia fought back to win

India Vs. Australia (Adelaide Oval dated 17-2-08)

Commonwealth Bank Series Match 8

Both teams made one change. India played Munaf Patel instead of Virender Sehwag, whereas Australia played Brad Hogg instead of Brett Lee.

The Indian team bowled well and managed to restrict Australia to a low score of 203 runs. Ishant Sharma gave India the first wicket accounting for Gilchrist dismissal. Ponting and Hayden did not last long falling to Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan. Australia scored only 19 runs and lost 3 wickets between the 10 and 20 over.

At one stage of the match it looked as if the Australian team would not reach the score of even 200. However a solid innings by Michael Clarke (79 runs) and his partnership with Brad Hogg who made 32 runs meant that Australia put up a decent score for the Indian team which played one batsman short.

Indian managed to create their own pressure while going for the run chase which looked easy on paper. Tendulkar got out at the score of 5 given out to an L.B.W. decision. The hawk eye confirmed that it hit him high and would have missed the stumps.

Few batsmen got off to a start viz. Gambhir (34 runs), Pathan (14 runs), Yuvraj (26 runs), Dhoni (38 runs) and Utthapa (18 runs) but nobody could play till the end. An innings by one of the Indian batsmen like Michael Clarke would have saved India. In the end India managed only 153 runs falling short by 50 runs and thus giving Australia a bonus point.

The sad part was our batsmen managed to throw their wickets viz. Gambhir and Yuvraj trying to go for big shots which was not at all required and Dhoni run out trying to go for a quick single with the ball going straight to mid off and Matthew Hayden getting a direct hit.

Australia is leading the Points table and has surely reached the finals. India and Sri Lanka will have to battle each other out in the 2 matches they play against each other. India though a better team play a lot under pressure which gives Sri Lanka a better chance of reaching the final. Yuvraj’s form for the remainder of the series will be crucial to strenghthen India’s chances of reaching the final.