Match and Series to Australia

The Indian team was eager to draw level with the Aussies at the beginning of the 6th ODI at Gauwahati. MS Dhoni took the bold decision to bat first on a surface that looked like it would give the bowlers some early support (as well as the early start) only for his batsmen to give up their wickets. MSD, in his pre-match session, had mentioned that he was not looking too far about the series. In fact, after the match, he need not look anywhere but his team. Inept batting performance cost the team the Mohali match while chasing.

Sehwag and Gambhir were beaten by the swing, Sachin and Yuvraj by the bounce. Raina couldnt keep his chip-shot down and India were staring at a sub-50 score!!!

MSD, just like he had done earlier against the West Indies, along with Ravinder Jadeja set up about repairing the innings until a bad decision by the umpire sent him back. Praveen Kumar, like he has been doing this series, made his batting count. In fact, he took the score to 170, more than anyone would have imagined at the beginning. Doug Bollinger bowled well to pick up 5 wickets - India continued their tradition to give debutants very good chances to create an instant impact.

Australia, for a change, missed couple of half-chances and one clear catch (of Praveen Kumar). They also seemed to have missed a trick to get the Indian batsmen out quicker than they eventually did. Even then, they had the match (and the series) in their pocket.

The wicket, though, had seemed to have eased out and India's fielding was 2 short (Munaf and Ashish Nehra are notorious for their bad fielding - batsmen know how to convert ones to twos if the ball goes in their direction). The score required was probably 50 runs less. The only way to win the match was get quick and early wickets.

The opening bowlers could not get any more than the wicket of Shaun Marsh. Harbhajan came to the attack and dismissed Watson and Ponting. But, the runs were obviously less to defend. The wicket of Cameron White came too late in the game to make any difference.

This series showed that the Oz team was far ahead of the Indians in the mental game - what with missing most of their first-choice players and still finishing ahead of the Indians. The Indians obviously can learn a lot by watching their opponents and apply it to their game. The upcoming series against Sri Lanka will show whether they have learned or not.