India’s pace battery shone bright on Sunday afternoon at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as rookie Ishant Sharma (4/38) led Indian seam attack to break India’s MCG One-day jinx, scripting an outstanding hard-fought five-wicket win over world champions Australia after a long gap of 22 years, in a relatively low-scoring tri-series match.
Ishant had some great support by fellow seamers S Sreesanth (3/31) and Irfan Pathan (2/26). The lanky Delhi seamer came back well producing a destructive spell of 4-38, after setting aside initial hiccups, to bundle out mighty Australians for a paltry 159.
The 19-year-old second over was horrendous as he conceded 18 runs after Hayden hammered four boundaries to him. He bowled two no-balls and also lost his run-up. Aussies couldn’t even play their quota of overs as their innings came to end seven overs before stipulated overs.
The Indians recorded their first tri-series win after their previous two games were washed out due to rain. India hiccupped early setbacks to overcome the home team's target with 25 balls to spare.
Master blaster’s Sachin Tendulkar (44), young Rohit Sharma (39 not out), Gautam Gambhir (20) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17 not out) were the principle contributors for India in on a slow batting track that tested them along at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The victory put India to the top of the point’s table with 8 points from three matches while the Australians were just one point adrift with same number of matches. Sri Lanka is in the third position with just two points from two matches.
Ishant Sharma continued with his good performance taking a big leap from an ordinary to a class bowler in this tour specially after removing Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting in consecutive overs to put the home side on back foot.
Sreesanth took 3-31 after picking up Adam Gilchrist in the very first over. Gilchrist adjudged leg before by umpire Rudi Koertzen, on a bit scrappy decision, to a blatant inside edge.
Mike Hussey unbeaten innings of 65 from 88 balls was the lone resistance showed by any Australian batsman on the day. Hussey ran out of partners, but in the end found support from Lee. Both of them stitched 53 that rescued the side from more brazen defeat after Aussies were reeling at 92 for six.
Electing to bat, the Australians made just 159 in 43.1 overs, with captain Ricky Ponting's decision backfired in addition Aussie skipper worsening form continued with once again fell cheaply to Sharma.
Sharma led the assault after sending Hayden back to pavilion as he was caught behind from the second ball of his third over. Sharma then produced a gem of a ball to depart Ponting. Ponting caught at first slip by Sachin Tendulkar for just nine.
Sharma's third victim was Andrew Symonds as the devastating batsman caught for 14 off the outside edge by the diving Dhoni. Dhoni's brigade will now meet Sri Lanka in Canberra on Tuesday.
SCOREBOARD
Australia innings
AC Gilchrist lbw b Sreesanth 0 ML Hayden c Dhoni b I Sharma 25 RT Ponting c Tendulkar b I Sharma 9 MJ Clarke c RG Sharma b Pathan 11 A Symonds c Dhoni b I Sharma 14 MEK Hussey not out 65 BJ Haddin st Dhoni b Harbhajan Singh 5 B Lee c Dhoni b Pathan 10 MG Johnson c Uthappa b Sreesanth 3 NW Bracken c Tendulkar b Sreesanth 1 SR Clark c Dhoni b I Sharma 0
Extras: 16 (b 1, lb 3, w 9, nb 3)
Total: 159 all out in 43.1 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-37, 3-47, 4-64, 5-75, 6-92, 7-145, 8-151, 9-155 and 10-159
Bowling
S Sreesanth 9 0 31 3 3.44 (2w)
I Sharma 9.1 1 38 4 4.14 (3nb, 2w)
IK Pathan 8 0 26 2 3.25 (2w)
Harbhajan Singh 8 2 19 1 2.37 (2w)
V Sehwag 5 0 24 0 4.80
Yuvraj Singh 2 0 11 0 5.50
SR Tendulkar 2 0 6 0 3.00
India innings (Target-160 Runs)
V Sehwag lbw b Bracken 11
SR Tendulkar c Lee b Johnson 44
IK Pathan lbw b Johnson 18
G Gambhir c Clarke b Lee 21
Yuvraj Singh c Hussey b Clark 3
RG Sharma not out 39
MS Dhoni not out 17
Extras: 7 (lb 2, w 5) Total: 160 for 5 wickets in 45.5 overs Did not bat: RV Uthappa, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth, I Sharma Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-54, 3-89, 4-96 and 5-102
Bowling B Lee 9 0 42 1 4.66 (2w) NW Bracken 10 0 35 1 3.50 (1w) SR Clark 10 1 26 1 2.60 MG Johnson 10 1 24 2 2.40 (1w) MJ Clarke 4 0 12 0 3.00 A Symonds 2.5 0 19 0 6.70 (1w)
Toss: Australia won the toss and chose to bat first Points: India 4, Australia 0 Man of the Match: Ishant Sharma (India) Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Simon Taufel TV umpire:RL Parry Match referee: JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
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