India Vs Australia 7th One Day International - Match Report

Result: India won by 2 wickets
Toss Won By: Australia
Man Of The Match: Murali Kartik

Australia 193 all out (41.3 overs)

Ricky Ponting 57 (78) Murali Kartik 10-3-27-6
Mitchell Johnson 24 (31) RP Singh 8.3-1-59-2
James Hopes 22 (23) Zaheer Khan 9-1-23-2

India 195 for 8 (46 overs)

Robin Uthappa 47 (59) Mitchell Johnson 10-0-46-3
Zaheer Khan 31 (43) Nathan Brackan 10-3-30-2
Murali Kartik 21 (34) James Hopes 5-0-13-1

So finally its over. But what an exciting finish it was. A dead rubber it certainly didn't prove to be. Tensions, uncertainties were evident till the last run was scored. But the match belonged to one man. One man only and that was Murali Kartik.

He was stamped all over the match. An encore of the performance at the same ground against the same opposition 2 years ago. That was a test match and this a ODI. But the result the same. kartik running through the Aussie batting. The seamers didn't start of too well and it looked as if Australi woyul coast to a 275 score when suddenly Murali struck and the Aussies were blown away in no time at all. Wickets fell in succession and the Aussies had no time to recover and were bowled out for 193 in the 42nd over

193 - A target that looks easy. But like most small targets they look easy but are the most difficult ones to chase. Ganguly and Karthik fell for ducks and India were off to the worst of starts. Wickets kept on tumbling as the Aussie pacers bowled well and India were down to 64 for 6 with only Robin Uthappa left among the specialized batsmen. India were down and out and Aussies looked like coasting towards a easy victory. But Robin showed some common sense and stuck around with harbhajan singh to give a glimmer of hope to India. But Uthappa fell and it felt like all was lost.

But Zaheer Khan and Murali Kartik kept on ticking the runs not in a very convincing manner - but that did not matter. Zahher grew in confidence and then hut Bret Lee for a straight six. Some more anxious moments followed and India managed to sneak a victory- a consolation win to end a series whose result was decided long ago