India Vs Australia Fourth ODI - Match Report

Result: India won by 8 runs
Toss won by: India
Man of the Match: Mahendra Singh Dhoni


India 291 for 4 (50 Overs)
Sachin Tendulkar 79 (119) James Hopes 9-0-43-2
MS Dhoni 50 (35) Nathan Bracken 10-0-78-1
Saurav Ganguly 41 (59) Bret Lee 7-1-26-0


Australia 283 for 7 (50 Overs)
Mathew Hayden 92 (92) Harbhajan Singh 10-0-43-2
Andrew Symonds 75 (84) RP Singh 10-1-66-2
Ricky ponting 29 (33) Irfan Pathan 10-0-46-1

Its been a late I know.. But as it happens.. Murphy seems to be trying too hard to prove his laws to me.. Workload had to increase precisely at this moment.. Hence the delay... This report will nence be a bit short. please bear with me..

But boy, What a match! India were completely out of it until the last few overs when Symonds was going strong. About 8-10 overs to go and it looked like a lost cause for India with Australia needing just over run a ball with plenty of wickets in hand. But as they say cricket is a funny game and it again demonstrated why it isn't really over till the last bowl is bowled..

Almost all of my predictions in the match preview came true.. India won the toss.. put on a decent score and the Indian spinners played a vital role in the victory. Murali Karthik justified his selection by bowling some excellent overs right when it was needed... India got a slow but much needed steady start and later Dhoni, Uthappa and others built on on to tale India to a fighting score.

Australia started well and started off in a attacking fashion. Hayden once gain coming good. Symonds played a crucial knock and held his nerves even as the Indian spinners bowled wonderfully giving little away. He batted beautifully and led Australia to a position where they needed 24 off 20 balls with 5 wickets in hand. Then the tide turned for India. RP Singh bowled Symonds with a straight delivery as Symonds tried to make room for himself. Then Brad Hodge was run out of the next delivery and the pressure was back on the Aussies. Murali Karthik bowled a excellent over to follow RP Singh and India finished off well to win by 8 runs

India should be delighted because there is a huge difference between a 2-1 score and 3-0 score. Its off to Vadodra now, where the Indians would be looking forward to leveling the series. And what a series we could have if India manage to pull the next one off.. An important match its going to be one way or the other..