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

India Vs Australia Sixth ODI - Match Report

Result: Australia won by 18 runs
Toss Won by: Australia
Man of The match: Andrew Symonds

Australia 317 for 8 (50 Overs)

Andrew Symonds 107 (88) Zaheer Khan 10-0-62-2
Adam Gilchrist 51 (47) Murali Karthik 9-1-37-1
Ricky Ponting 49 (44) Irfan Pathan 9-0-60-1

India 299 for 7 (50 Overs)

Saurav Ganguly 86 (111) Brad Hogg 10-0-49-4
Sachin Tendulkar 72 (72) Mitchell Johnson 9-1-39-2
Robin Uthappa 44 (28) James Hopes 4-0-30-1

So the Aussies win yet another series. I don't think the result would have surprised many people. The margin maybe yes. Maybe they expected India to put up a better fight in the series. Maybe they did not expect India to be all out for 148. Maybe they thought Twenty20 Was just a form of Cricket similar to One-day cricket with less overs. Maybe they thought India could use some of the recent success as a catapult to bigger things. But maybe they just forgot one tiny little thing - who the opposition was! The current World Champions, the current Champions trophy holders, the team which leads the One-Day and Test Rankings by a distance. And teh Aussies showed exactly why they hold all the titles they do. A 4-1 score with just one match to go in the series!

But Its not like India didn't have their chances. A couple of crucial chances were allowed to let go today and India payed for it. And paid for it very heavily. Symonds was put down by Sreesanth very very early and he was the difference between the two teams in the match. After Gilchrist who had found his touch back in the previous match along with Ponting had given a solid start to the innings, it was the one-man show of Symonds that just blew India away. Australia posting 317 and putting India right under pressure. Chasing 318 to stay in the series is no mean task. If at all India were going to get close, they would need a good start.

A good start was what they got with Sachin and Saurav playing steadily scoring 140 in 25 overs and India looked strong with a required run-rate of just above 7 with 10 wickets in hand. But just then Sachin fell as he could not drag his feet back into the crease as Gilchrist quickly removed the bails standing up to James Hopes. Even after that Pathan who came one-down took full use of the delayed power play taken by the Australian skipper and his run-a-ball 29 ensured that India were the favourites to win even as he got out with India requiring 129 off 17 overs. But after that India suddenly lost their way

Rahul Dravid's woeful form continued as he looked absolutely bewildered on the pitch. Yuvraj Singh didn't do too better either and that added to the pressure on the other vbatsmen as the required run-rate started zooming up. Uthappa tried with all his might and his 28 ball 44 just kept the Indian hopes alive. But in the end the score proved to be too much for them and India fell short by 18 runs. The match was effectively lost in the middle overs somewhere when Dravid and Yuvraj were batting.

The action shifts to Mumbai now for the final match of the series and also the lone Twenty20 match. All the talk of Indian team using the rotation policy has gone out of the window. Indian must be looking for a consolation win in the series. And the Aussies being the team they are will not be satisfied by just a series win but will work extra hard that they achieve a 5-1 result. So should be a hard-fought battle.. provided India show the fight for it...

India Vs Australia Second ODI 2nd October 2007 Report

Toss Won By: India
Result: Australia Won by 84 runs
Man of The Match: Brad Haddin

Australia 306/6 (50 Overs)

Brad Haddin 87(69) Sreesanth 9-0-67-3
Andrew Symonds 87(83) Irfan Pathan 10-0-47-2
Mathew Hayden 75(89) Zaheer Khan 10-0-55-1

India 222 allout (47.3 overs)

MS Dhoni 58(88) Brad Hogg 9.3-0-40-3
Robin Uthappa 41(30) Stuart Clark 6-0-14-2
Rahul Dravid 31(48) Michael Clarke 9-0-35-2

The champions are back.. And back they are with a bang.. If anyone still had some doubts about who had the better team in this series, this game must have well answered that question. An emphatic almost flawless win.

Rain 0r no rain or maybe some rain - All this seemed to confuse Dhoni as he won the toss and sent Australia in on a perfect batting strip. Something you don't see happening too often in Kochi. But the rain stayed away and a delayed start was the only effect the rain in the past week could have on the game.. Australia went in with a unchanged side from the first match while Indians had a couple of changes as Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh replaced Saurav Ganguly and RP Singh.

Dhoni seemed to have made a right choice when Australia lost two quick wickets with less than 10 runs on the board. Gilchrist and Hodge both failing once again.. Then walked in Clarke and steadied the innings along with Mathew Hayden who seemed to be playing conscious of his two previous dismissals - avoiding outrageous shots and sticking to the basics. Just when it seemed that Clarke would goo n to repeat his performance in the first game, Dhoni pulled out a brilliant stumping to get rid of him. Michael Clarke losing balance and falling over giving just enough time to Dhoni to get rid of the stumps after a brilliant take down the leg side. Symonds then joined Hayden and both big-hitters held their cool - running quick singles and attacking the spinners. Indian spinners were disaapointing today and that allowed Australia to build a solid partnership. Hayden fell to a inswinging Pathan yorker and just when you thought that India could claw back into the match, the Aussies one again displayed a key quality that true champions possess - bench-strength.

In walks a man - Brad Haddin who does not get too many matches to play for his side just because they have a certain Mr Gilchrist - the best wicket-keeper batsman ever donning the gloves. He got to play in this series only because of a few injuries and pull-outs. After a good show in the first match as well, he was in his elements today stroking a wonderful 87 off 69 balls.. He was the difference between a score of 275-280 and 300+ He just took over after Symonds fell after a good knock of 87 and surely would have demoralized the Indians a bit with that end to the innings

India needed a good start, but Gautam Gambhir fell early to a wonderful incoming delivery by Johnson clipping the top of off-stump. Robin Uthappa played a courageous knock and pushed the run-rate a bit but wickets kept on falling as Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh flattered to deceive. Both getting starts, hitting a six and then getting out. After Uthappa fell lbw to Clark it was always going to be a uphil ltask from there-on.. Dravid and Dhoni hung around for a while and with everyone knowing what Dhoni si capable of towards the end of a innings, there was always a chance.. Rahul Dravid got out to a peach of a catch just centimeters from the boundary line as he tried to hoist Hogg for a six. It got more height than distance and Mitchel Johnson kept his nerves and pulled it out just a hair's breadth from the boundary. After that it was a laborious task as India were never in the hunt and kept on losing more wickets. Even the crowd started leaving the stadiums - so obvious was the result. India crawled along to 222 before being all out in the 48th over. Some incidents at the end - Harbhajan Singh having a good chat with Michael Clarke after being dismissed and Sreesanth being hit straight in the head by a Dhoni powerstroke must have kept the umpires awake. Anyone could have easily slept, such was the state of the game at the end.

Many supposedly qualified people read "experts" are saying that this is the real cricket and Aussies are showing who the champions are in the real cricket... Aren't these the same people who ridiculed ODI till few years ago and said Test Match Cricket was the "real" cricket. I don't get this deal about "real" cricket. Agreed that a test match may demand more skills per se than a one-day cricket or twenty20 cricket. But twenty20 demands some other skills that a test match may not demand. So why don't we just stop comparing different forms of cricket and force our opinion on other people. Sit Relax and enjoy the game - be it twenty20 or a test match. Just ask yourself a question - Do I enjoy what I am watching? If yes than I will watch it and enjoy it to the fullest. There are many more aspects to it.. Will write a exclusive post on that sometime..

So Aussies are 1-0 up in the series with 5 more matches to go... I still expect the Indian team to come back and do well in the series. probably batting first would help their cause a little.. Its over to Hyderabad now.. 5th October