Ishant
Sharma stars in India’s win
MELBOURNE, Feb 10: India relied on an
outstanding display by their pacemen to
script a hard-fought five-wicket win over
world champions Australia in a
low-scoring tri-series cricket one-dayer
here today.
The lanky
Ishant Sharma (4/38) produced a
devastating spell of seam bowling and was
well supported by fellow seamers S
Sreesanth (3/31) and Irfan Pathan (2/26)
to bundle out the mighty Australians for
a paltry 159 in 43.1 overs.
The
Indians then overcame some anxious
moments before overhauling the home
team’s target with 25 balls to spare
to record their first win the tri-series
after their first two games were
abandoned because of rain.
Sachin
Tendulkar (44), young Rohit Sharma (39
not out), Gautam Gambhir (20) and skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17 not out) were
the notable contributors for India in the
low-scoring match on a difficult track at
the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
A wide
from part-timer Andrew Symonds brought
the winning moment for India who also
recorded their first ODI win at the MCG
after a long gap of 22 years.
The
victory has boosted India to the top of
the points table with 8 points from three
matches while the Australians were just
one point behind them on the table from
three games. Sri Lanka were in the third
position with just two points from two
matches.
The
Indians will now travel to Canberra to
play their next match against Sri Lanka
at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday. India
suffered the usual stutter in the middle
of their innings when three wickets were
gone for the addition of 13 runs before
skipper Dhoni combined with Rohit Sharma
for the sixth wicket to add the final 58
runs of the innings.
Gambhir,
Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh (3) were
packed to the dressing room as hosts
Australia suddenly sensed a killing in a
lost game.
Tendulkar
had weathered the early storm and the
loss of Virender Sehwag (11) and Irfan
Pathan (18) wickets but things were still
far from secured.
Surely,
India’s would have been a lost case
if Tendulkar had been ruled out caught
behind the wicket off Stuart Clark in the
11th over of the innings with the score
reading 52 for one.
Tendulkar,
then on 24, had dashed down the track to
Clark and had clearly edged a catch
behind the stumps but umpire Rudi
Koertzen did not see it that way, much to
the disappointment of Ricky Pontings men.
It kind of
evened out the luck for the visitors as
Virender Sehwag had earlier been ruled
out leg before wicket to Nathan Bracken
with their being doubt on the height of
the ball.
Pathan,
promoted to number three, departed in a
similar fashion but not before he had
seen off the new ball.
Tendulkar
hit just three fours in his knock of 44
off 54 balls and all three hits were in
Brett Lee’s third over, including
two thumping hits back past the bowler.
Lee had a
hand in Tendulkars dismissal though as he
leapt high in the air and plucked a
difficult chance after the batsman had
essayed an uppish drive off Mitchell
Johnson.
Earlier,
Ishant Sharma led the way as the Indian
pacemen shot out the world champions for
a shocking 159 to put themselves on track
for recording their first win of the
triangular.
No less
remarkable was the wicketkeeping of
skipper Dhoni who claimed five victims,
including one stumping, despite putting
one down in the closing stages.
Mike
Hussey alone stood his ground in making
an unbeaten 61 from 87 balls with three
fours and shared a 53-run seventh wicket
stand with Brett Lee (10).
Adam
Gilchrist (0) departed in the very first
over when he was ruled leg before wicket
by umpire Rudi Koertzen off Sreesanth
even though the batsman had edged the
ball on to his pads.
Matthew
Hayden (25) took the attack to the
Indians with a breathtaking 25 off 20
balls before Sharma found the edge of his
bat on way to the wicketkeeper Dhoni.
Australia:
A.
Gilchrist lbw Sreesanth 0
Hayden c
Dhoni b Sharma 25
Ponting c
Tendulkar b Sharma 9
Clarke c
R. Sharma b Pathan 11
Symonds c
Dhoni b Sharma 14
M. Hussey
not out 65
Haddin st
Dhoni b H. Singh 5
Lee c
Dhoni b Pathan 10
Johnson c
Uthappa b Sreesanth3
Bracken c
Tendulkar b Sreesanth1
S. Clark c
Dhoni b Sharma 0
Extras
(1b, 3lb, 9w, 3nb) 16
Total (all
out in 43.1 overs) 159
Fall: 1-1,
2-37, 3-47, 4-64, 5-75, 6-92, 7-145,
8-151, 9-155
Bowling:
Sreesanth 9-0-31-3, Sharma 9.1-1-38-4,
Pathan 8-0-26-2, H. Singh 8-2-19-1,
Sehwag 5-0-24-0, Y. Singh 2-0-11-0,
Tendulkar 2-0-6-0.
India:
V Sehwag
lbw Bracken 11
Tendulkar
c Lee b Johnson 44
I Pathan
lbw Johnson 18
G Gambhir
c Clarke b Lee 20
Y Singh c
Hussey b Clark 3
R Sharma
not out 39
M S Dhoni
not out 17
Extras
(lb-3, w-5) 8 Total (for five wickets in
45.5 overs) 160
Fall of
Wickets: 1-18, 2-54, 3-89, 4-96, 5-102
Bowling:
Lee 9-0-41-1, Bracken 10-0-35-1, Clark
10-1-26-1, Johnson 10-1-24-2, Clark
4-0-12-0, Symonds 2.5-0-19-0. (PTI)
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