 India’s fate in
balance after 18-run loss to Aussies
SYDNEY,
Feb 24:
India’s fate in the cricket tri-series was
today left hanging in balance after their late
push for victory in a crucial game against
Australia fell short by 18-runs.
After Australia
set a stiff target of 317, the Indians were in
the doldrums at 62-4 before Gautam Gambhir’s
113 and some lusty hittings by Robin Uthappa (51)
raised hopes of a remarkable victory which would
have guaranteed India a berth in the final.
But India fell
short of the target making their last league
match against Sri Lanka at Hobart on Tuesday a
virtual semifinal.
India needs to win
that match to qualify for the best-of-three
finals while the Sri Lankans have a more
difficult task of emerging triumphant in their
remaining two matches to secure a place in the
final.
Australians, who
have already qualified for the finals, maintain
their top position with 26 points from seven
matches while India are second with 12 points,
also from seven matches, and Sri Lanka have six
points from as many ODIs.
Captain Ricky
Ponting marked his return to form with a
blistering 124 off 133 balls to propel the
Australian total to a challenging 317 for seven
on a good batting track at the Sydney Cricket
Ground.
All rounder Andrew
Symonds, who was struggling to score runs in the
on-going series, also hit an unbeaten 59 while
opener Matthew Hayden chipped in with a 54 after
Ponting elected to bat first.
Gambhir put up his
highest score in his 44-one-day-match career to
allow India a late dash at the target under the
lights. He cracked nine fours and a six during
his 119-ball stint after walking in to bat in the
first over and staying till the 40th over.
He had a
significant 98-run fifth wicket stand with
skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (36) and then an
exhilarating 67-stand off 52 balls for the next
wicket with Uthappa which kept India into the
picture till the final 10 overs.
India needed 89
runs from the last nine overs and the equation
became 66 in the last six overs through some
inventive hitting by Uthappa and the
irrepressible Irfan Pathan (22).
Pathan departed in
the 45th over but India’s momentum was truly
on. Harbhajan Singh came and freed his arms
against Stuart Clark, smashing 18 runs from the
over. It was now 42 required from the final four
overs.
The equation was
brought down to 34 from the last three overs and
now Lee was brought on to bowl his final over.
It was a
catastrophic over as far as the Indian hopes
went. Lee was hit for a four off the second ball
but then grabbed two wickets off successive
balls, including the ones of Harbhajan (20).
Harbhajan slashed
at a wide delivery from Lee and was held behind
and then off the next ball Uthappa took a mighty
swipe to be held at onrushing long on fielder.
Uthappa scored his
half century from 46 balls with four fours and a
six. He played a masterful knock and held
everyone spellbound with his straight hit for a
six off Lee which went many tiers down the
long-on fence, even though it was a free hit
following a no-ball, took everyone’s breath
away.
There was a
familiar collapse of India’s top order as
Virender Sehwag (17), Sachin Tendulkar (0), Rohit
Sharma (1) and Yuvraj Singh (5) all departed in a
hurry inside the first 10 overs.
Tendulkar fell leg
before in the first over to Lee and after a brief
stand for the second wicket, India lost three
wickets in a matter of six runs, all caught
behind the stumps by retiring wicketkeeper Adam
Gilchrist.
Sehwag opened the
face of his bat off Stuart Clark in yet another
failure at the crease; Rohit Sharma too was
caught behind though off Nathan Bracken and then
Yuvraj Singh chased a Clark delivery to leave
India in dire straits.
Dhoni provided the
healing touch, as he has done all through this
summer, and allowed the innings to stabilise in a
critical mid-phase of the innings.
Australia set off
at a blistering pace to raise their first 100
inside the 12 overs and even though they eased
off the pedal in the middle overs, the momentum
carried them past 300.
The first four
overs raised 22 runs when Dhoni plucked a
magnificent catch off an inside edge from
Gilchrist (16) off Sreesanth to give Indians the
first breakthrough.
The new-ball
bowlers came in for some rough handling, both
Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma going for 37 runs
each in their first spells, as Australians hit
through the line with aplomb.
Hayden regularly
came down the track to hit the fast bowlers over
the infield and one such brutal stroke off Ishant
went for the maximum.
The first 50 came
in six-odd overs and both Hayden and Ponting
carried on in more or less similar vein to
construct a century stand from 96 balls.
But Hayden was run
out when a smart pick-up at short extra cover by
Rohit Sharma found him stranded at the
non-striker’s end.
Hayden batted for
62 balls for his 54 runs and hit five fours and a
six.
Ponting appeared
to have another good stand going with Michael
Clarke (31) when the latter hit a rank long hop
from Virender Sehwag straight to Rohit Sharma at
short square leg.
India didn’t
appear to have had a problem with its fifth
bowler as Sehwag and Yuvraj bowled 14 overs
between them.
Dhoni handled his
bowlers adroitly and constantly reshuffled his
bowlers in order to break up the tempo of the
batters.
Symonds opened his
shoulders in the final overs and smashed a
massive six, in Pathan’s final spell in the
47th over, raised his half century from 44 balls
with five fours and two sixes.
The century stand
between the two for the fourth wicket was raised
in only 93 balls and soon after Symonds, who hit
six fours and two sixes, was clean bowled by
Ishant.
Symonds went off
but not before exchanging some heated words with
Ishant which led to the two umpires calling over
the Indian team and asking them to show
restraint.
Soon after
Ponting, whose 133-ball knock was studded with
seven fours and a six, holed out in the deep and
the Aussie skipper was clapped all the way to the
dressing room by the entire Indian team.
SCOREBOARD
Australia:
Gilchrist c Dhoni
b Sreesanth 16
Hayden run out 54
Ponting c Pathan b
Sreesanth 124
Clarke c R Sharma
b Sehwag 31
Symonds b I.
Sharma 59
Hussey not out 15
Hopes run out 4
Brett Lee run out
0
Extras
(5lb,8w,1nb) 14
Total (for 7 wkts,
50 overs) 317
Fall of Wickets:
1-21, 2-131, 3-196, 4-296, 5-304, 6-317, 7-317.
Bowling: S
Sreesanth 8-0-58-2, Ishant Sharma 10-0-65-1,
Irfan Pathan 9-0-73-0, Harbhajan Singh 9-0-50-0,
Virender Sehwag 6-0-27-1, Yuvraj Singh 8-0-39-0.
India:
Sehwag c Gilchrist
b Clark 17
Tendulkar lbw b
Lee 2
Gambhir st
Gilchrist b Hogg 113
Rohit c Gilchrist
b Bracken 1
Yuvraj c Gilchrist
b Clark 5
Dhoni c Gilchrist
b Lee 36
Uthappa c Hussey b
Lee 51
Pathan c Clarke b
Bracken 22
Harbhajan c
Gilchrist b Lee 20
Sreesanth not out
3
Ishant b Lee 2
Extras (b-6, lb-5,
wd-12, nb-4) 27
Total (all out in
49.1 overs) 299
Fall of Wickets:
1-1, 2-45, 3-46, 4-51, 5-149, 6-216, 7-257,
8-290, 9-290.
Bowling: Brett Lee
9.1-1-58-5, Nathan Bracken 10-0-53-1, Stuart
Clark 10-0-55-2, James Hopes 6-0-27-1, Brad Hogg
9-0-62-1, Michael Clarke 5-0-33-0. (PTI)
Symonds
does it again!
SYDNEY,
Feb 24: Even
less than a month after the racism row involving
Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh was resolved,
the Australian all rounder once again was seen
mired in a heated exchange of words with an
Indian bowler — this time Ishant Sharma.
Symonds, who
scored 59 to propel Australia to a challenging
317 at SCG, fired up in final overs and smashed a
five fours and two sixes to raise his half
century from 44 balls.
While
Symonds’ innings was blazing, Ishant Sharma
foxed him with a slower delivery and the
Australian was clean bowled. But Symonds did not
leave the ground before exchanging some heated
words with the Indian paceman.
Symonds first
reacted to his dismissal after which Ishant
Sharma retaliated by showing Symonds his way back
to the pavilion, which led to the two umpires
calling over the Indian team and asking them to
show restraint.
Umpire Daryl
Harper was seen having a word with Dhoni and his
men.
Incidently,
Symonds had alleged Harbhajan of calling him a
monkey during a Test played at the same ground.
(PTI)
Dhoni
wants to take positives despite loss
SYDNEY,
Feb 24:
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said his
side could have chased down the huge Australian
total had the top order given a good start,
though he was happy they gave a scare to their
opponents by coming close to the target.
India’s top
four batsmen were out cheaply for 51 runs and
Dhoni (36) and centurion Gautam Gambhir (113)
revived the innings with a 98-run partnership for
the fifth wicket but fell short of 18-runs after
Robin Uthappa (51) was out at a critical
juncture.
Dhoni admitted it
was a case of so near yet so far but said he
would take "a lot of positives" for his
side from the loss.
"I think we
can take lots of positives from the game even
though we lost it. We never gave up for the run
chase even after we had lost a couple of wickets
early on," Dhoni said.
"I thought
317 was chaseable on this wicket. But, we started
very badly in the run chase.
"Gambhir
batted fantastically and he kept us in the hunt,
but a big patrnership at the lower order could
have alter the result," he said.
Dhoni was also
happy that Uthappa came good despite for a lost
cause and hoped the Karnataka batsman performed
consistently.
"He is an
unorthodox player. He is aggressive, can cut and
pull. I hope he plays like that in the remaining
matches."
India have a
possibility to make it to the final even if they
lose to Sri Lanka in Hobart on Tuesday if the
islanders also lose to Australia in their last
match, but Dhoni said the Lanka match would be
like a semifinal and his side would go all out
for a win.
"We
don’t want that situation to arise, to wait
for Australia vs Sri Lanka match to know whether
we are through to final or not. We will go all
out for a win against Sri Lanka," he said.
Dhoni’s
counterpart and man of the match Ricky Ponting
was happy that his batsmen came good after
failing to post a big score throughout the
tri-series.
"Batting was
excellent today. They put up a big total and that
really put pressure on the Indians. All the main
batters spent time in the middle and hit the ball
well," he said.
"Bowling,
though, was not up to the mark."
Ponting was also
relieved that he was among the runs today after a
slump this series.
"It is great
to socre some runs. I was hitting the ball well
and happy that I spent some time at the middle. I
thought I would just go out and play the
shots," said Ponting who scored 124 off 133
balls today.
I should have
batted a little longer: Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir
today hit his first ODI century against
Australia, but the Delhi batsman rued not staying
on in the middle for a little longer to guide his
side to a memorable victory in the crucial
cricket tri-series match here.
"No excuses,
I should have batted for a couple of overs more.
I think we could have chased down the
(Australian) total but I and (M S) Dhoni were out
at wrong time," said Gambhir, who hit a
119-ball 113.
"If I had
been there till the 44th over, the result could
have been different," he added.
Gambhir said
despite India were 51 for 4 at one time, he and
skipper Dhoni never panicked.
"I and Dhoni
thought we could chase down the total if we have
wickets in hand. We thought we could bat
cautiously for some time and shift the gear in
the last 10-12 overs if we have wickets.
"We also
consider the change of ball in the 34th over and
we thought that would also help us, but
unfortunately he (Dhoni) was out in the 32nd
over. Even after that there was chance and I
should have batted a little longer.
"I was a
little tired and a bit cramped, but should have
remained a little longer," said Gambhir, who
has become the highest run getter of the
tri-series with 359 runs.
Gambhir said a lot
of positive came out of the match for his side
and that should fire up them against Sri Lanka on
tuesday.
"The next
game is important. Our performance today would
give us lots of confidence against Sri Lanka. We
have to win the match to reach the final,"
he said. (PTI)
Anand
draws with Ivanchuk
MORELIA
(Mexico), Feb 24: World champion Viswanathan Anand
played out a draw with Vassily Ivanchuk of
Ukraine to maintain his sole lead after the end
of the morelia stint of the Morelia-Linares Chess
tournament here.
The Indian ace
played it safe with white after Ivanchuk carried
out a fine counter play in the middle game and
even though the other three games ended
decisively, it did not hamper Anand’s status
as the sole leader as nearest rival Levon Aronian
of Armenia was outdone by Magnus Carlsen of
Norway in a classic.
On a day when
former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria
made most of the opportunities against a
luck-less Peter Leko of Hungary, Latvian-born
Spaniard Alexei Shirov also played imaginatively
to beat Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan. (PTI)
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