Ahmedabad: Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina took India to the brink of victory in their quarter-final encounter against Australia at Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Earlier, A flurry of boundaries by Yuvraj gave India the advantage after skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was caught brilliantly by Michael Clarke of Brett Lee's bowling.
Gautam Gambhir gift-wrapped his wicket and presented it to the opposition in a comedy of errors after surviving two run-out chances and finally getting out on the third one as Australia clawed their way back.
The Indian chase got off to a dramatic start as Ricky Ponting reviewed a not-out decision against Virender Sehwag in the first over of the innings bowled by Brett Lee, but it turned out to be unsuccessful as the openers got off to quickish start.
Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar then took control of the opening exchanges of their chase with a partnership of 44 runs.
Just when it looked the two had worked out Aussie bowlers, Sehwag miscued a pull shot that went high up in the air but not further than Michael Hussey at short square leg who lapped it up to send Sehwag back for just 15 runs.
But No. 3 Gautam Gambhir got off to a scratchy start; however, he was calmed by a fluent and majestic Tendulkar at the other end who looked assured during his stay.
At the score of 45, Tendulkar crossed another milestone to become the first man to reach 18,000 runs in one-day internationals and a half century was accomplished in due course.
Seeing Tendulkar at ease against the pacers, Ponting pressed Jason Krejza into service. And while Gambhir eased as well against spin, ligtening struck at the other end where an until then erratic Shaun Tait made up for his waywardness with the prize scalp of Tendulkar (53).
But it wasn't without a drama as the umpire asked a 'walking' Tendulkar to stay while he checked for a no-ball. The replays weren't conclusive as Tait seemed to be pretty close both on the popping crease as well as the side crease; however, the decision was upheld by the third umpire.
Virat Kohli was promoted ahead of a India's in-form No. 4 Yuvraj Singh. To his credit, the youngster got going straight away, which also gave Gambhir the confidence to concentrate on milking Australian slow bowlers Krejza and Michael Clarke.
Ponting then introduced his third part-timer David Hussey, who struck gold right away as Kohli hit a dead full toss straight to Clarke at mid-on after scoring a confident 24 off 33 balls, which also ended a 49-run third-wicket partnership.
Gambhir then brought up his fifty and took the score to 168/3 along with Yuvraj Singh, who hit the first ball he faced to the fence.
In Pics: India vs Australia
Post a Comment