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Glorious Tendulkar not enough for India
by Rohit Sakunia


Scorecard:India v Australia
Player:SR Tendulkar, SR Watson, CJ McKay
Event:Australia in India 2009/10

DateLine: 5th November 2009

 

So close yet so far has always been Sachin's story when he does solos like this. There could be none who could have matched him today and even Ricky Ponting acknowledged the greatness of the knock. The team looked like having gone to the 90's where almost everyday a guy called Sachin Tendulkar used to make it all by himself. The chase was 351 and Tendulkar almost chased it on his own, except for small contributions from Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina.

 

But with the target within sight, Tendulkar got out and the rest choked, falling short by three runs with two balls still to go. Memories went back to Chennai in 1999 when Tendulkar, having played an innings as incredible as this, left the last three wickets 18 to get. Tonight he left them 19, script though post him, didn't change for the good.

 

Chasing a huge 351 to win, India started cautiously with just 24 runs coming of the first five overs. Sachin Tendulkar was slow to start of but considering he was just 7 runs away from 17000 and was coming out of a rather lean patch, this time taken by him was understandable. The run-rate started to leap and the chants of the restless crowd started to grow.

 

Then in the sixth over, Sehwag got off with a huge six over third man, and then it became business as usual for the swashbuckler. The next two overs featured six boundaries and a dropped chance by Doug Bollinger at fine leg. India were back in the game and the carnage had begun from both ends, as the moment Sachin crossed the 17000 mark, he also joined Sehwag in the run feast. But as has been the story of the series so far, Sehwag again decieved after showing glimpses of brilliance. Two overs later, Bollinger made up for his dropped chance and took a superb running-back catch at short fine leg to send Sehwag back.

 

Then it was a Sachin versus Australia for the next 15 odd overs as from one end wickets kept falling and from the other Tendulkar stitched a maginificent innings. India lost three wickets including the likes of Dhoni, Yuvraj and Gambhir but never in the chase got way behind the asking rate. The champion batsman made sure that boundaries came in regular intervals and for most part of his innings played at a strike rate of over 130.

 

First to fall amongst wickets was Gambhir. He threw away his wicket steering straight to third man, giving Clint McKay his first ODI wicket. Then another soft dismissal led to Yuvraj's ouster and a sensational piece of fielding brought Dhoni's downfall.

 

But all this while as the chase seemed to be slipping away, Tendulkar had started to script a vintage. After a yet another scratchy start, he easily shifted gears, counterattacking every time a wicket fell at the other end. The shots were perfectly placed in gaps and the strike was also alternated efficiently.

 

He had settled in brilliantly to play a magnificent, one of its kind knock. He was picking up all variations from the bowlers and Hauritz was taken for some special treatment. The master blaster hit him for two humoungous sixes straight over the bowlers head. Tendulkar's acceleration was something that needed to be kept a note of as from 10 off 19, he went to 50 off 47.

 

After having lost almost the entire top-order, Tendulkar found an able ally in Suresh Raina. He also like sachin, had not had a brilliant tournament thus far and this was his chance of redemption. The duo added 137 runs in no time and brought India to to brink of victory. Raina wholeheartedly understood who the hero was and never tried to supercede Sachin. It was good to see a youngster play second fiddle but then when sachin plays a knock like this, no one can supercede.

 

It was Watson who accounted for Raina and a 137 run partnership was broken. Surprisingly Harbhajan walked in ahead of Jadeja and the decision backfired as Bhajji, who had done good thus far in the series with the bat fell for a duck. Tendulkar though was unperturbed and with Jadeja again stitched a beautiful 32 before hell broke loose and Tendulkar fell trying to heave one over fine-leg but only found the fielder there.

 

From here memories faded back to Chennai a decade back where after Tendulkar left with 13 needed, the remainder couldn't muster that and India lost. Ravindra Jadeja was the next victim as he tried to attempt an Usain Bolt but couldn't do half as good. Praveen Kumar tried to snatch a victory but after sachin's fall, Australians had tasted blood and a brilliant throw from the boundary, courtesy Nathan Hauritz finished the proceedings for India. The team fell 3 runs short and with that what could had been a scintillating win turned into a sad defeat.

 

Earlier, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat on a true, flat pitch. His openers justified his decision and Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh made India's bowlers pay heavily for every small mistake in length. The Indian seamers kept bowling on Watson's favourite leg-side and he gleefully used his power to flick and pull all loose deliveries. Even the good till now Ashish Nehra was not spared as Watson looked ultimately dangerous.

 

It all though did not start with a bang. It was another slow, steady start but then right-hander Watson started to create the length and aided by a wonderful pitch where the ball came on to the bat pretty well, looked unstoppable. Shaun Marsh from the other end played the perfect second fiddle and in the process also found his lost form.

 

The Watson bomb exploded in the seventh over when Praveen Kumar gifted him two loose deliveries. A leg-stump volley was flicked ferociously for four, and then a short and wide delivery was cut to the point boundary. The next five overs then contained three sixes and five fours and even before Mahendra Singh Dhoni could have adjudged things the score tally read 80 for 0.

 

This surge in runs was all about Watson going berserk. Marsh just did an assigned job and it showed in the fact that in these 30 deliveries the left-hander faced only nine. There were pulls, flicks and cuts and alongside ruthless power, aesthetic skills were also on display. It was one of these pulls that brought up Watson's 50, in the 11th over, off just 40 balls.

 

Then when the powerplays ended, both openers went into consolidation mode. The next 10 overs went for 47 but considering what they had done to the previous 15, this was pretty decent to provide them a huge foundation to launch later on. The score read 144 for no loss after 25 and Australia looked well and totally in control. Spinners Harbhajan and Yuvraj Singh did a fairly good job in restricting the boundaries but were unlucky in not getting a wicket each. Marsh was dropped by Dhoni on 29, and Yuvraj failed to catch a tough return one from Watson.

 

Watson though did not do much with the reprieve as two balls later he holed out to Ravindra Jadeja at deep mid-wicket of the bowling of Harbhajan Singh. Runs continued to come though as skipper Ponting joined Marsh in the middle. The duo added 91 in a little over 13 overs and by the time Ponting left, bowled by a beautiful slower delivery from Praveen Kumar, Australia had a platform from where 350 looked attainable. Marsh went on to score a ton and was then dismissed in trying to repeat a maximum, caught by Gautam Gambhir in the deep.

 

Cameron White got into the act in the 44th over bowled by Jadeja and the left-arm orthodox spinner was smacked for two leg-side sixes. Again like in the case of Watson, White was also served deliveries in his favourite regions on the ground. The bowlers kept bowling dollies and White delightfully kept hitting those out of the ground. The Aussie 300 came up in the 46th over, courtesy a maximum over extra cover. Hussey then got into the act in the 47th over and Nehra found one of his slower deliveries despatched over mid-wicket. The next delivery was sent packing for a boundary over long-off and at this moment the total looked like exceeding 350.

 

Runs continued to flow and the Aussies finished with a total of 350 runs. The number of sixes hit by the Australians were 13 and the last time an Australian team hit ten sixes against India was in the final of the 2003 World Cup, a record the Indians would be surely very disappointed at having been broken. The only thing that could have brought back a little bit of momentum towards the home side was the last ball magnificent catch by Sachin Tendulkar. He dived forward and took a stellar catch, ending Cameron White's swashbuckling knock of 57 from just 33 balls.

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