First 2 matches of the 7 match ODI series between India and Australia was finished with each team picking up a win. Briefing of the first and second matches are below:
FIRST ODI:
Ponting won the toss and decided to bat first which was a surprising decision as many would have thought about exploiting the conditions in a day match. But Ponting seemed to be determined to put a huge score on board and pressurize the Indians, which was perfectly executed by the Australian batsmen. Even though Australia lost the wicket of Shane Watson to an incoming delivery of Nehra, Ponting and new wicket-keeper Tim Paine mixed the caution and aggression to score the runs at healthier pace. Their job was made easy with Indians bowlers spraying the ball all around the pitch. Only one who were in control was Ishant Sharma who claimed the wicket of Paine when he scored exactly 50. White came in next but struggled a lot in adapting to Indian conditions but Ponting on the other hand kept finding the boundaries. Dhoni bring in Harbhajan to stem the runs but he was completely off-colour. Erring in both line and length, Ponting picked up easy runs. The man who done the job for Dhoni in the middle overs was Ravindra Jadeja with his clever use of crease, pace and length. He put the brakes for Australian run-rate and picked up the wicket of Australian captain Ponting with a gem of a delivery which was well flighted pitching in the leg stump and spun a little to hit at the back pad of Ponting which is in front of the middle stump.
But Hussey came in and played a typical Hussey innings which is scoring at a scorching pace with minimum risk. White too found his touch a little and compensated for the initial dot balls. He got out after his fifty but Hussey carried on and thrashed Indian bowlers in the death overs to reach a formidable score of 292, a tough ask on a deteriorating Vadhora pitch. Expect Jadeja and Ishant in first spell and last over no one bowled with purpose.
Indian chase for this mammoth total begin with boundary from the first ball of Lee. Sehwag didn't showed any sign of discomfort in his first international outing after 4 months. He picked up 2 boundaries in the first over of Lee but couldn't carry on as both Lee and Siddle bowled a tight line to free his arms and he eventually got out for 13 by trying to flick a ball to on-side which is moving away from him. Sachin too didn't long last sent back to pavilion by the brilliant catch by Ponting at short cover of the bowling of Watson. Gambhir and Kohli joined hands to rescue the Indian innings but couldn't score freely due to the disciplined bowling of the Australians. After getting into 20s, Kohli perished while trying to hit Hauritz for a 6. Gambhir on the other end, kept running hard and picked some boundaries. Dhoni came in but he too can't score quickly and when India took the batting powerplay, it has already lost Gambhir(68) and in powerplay overs lost Dhoni and Raina and there ended the Indian hopes. The last recognized batsman Jadeja was also out cheaply but Praveen kumar and Harbhajan Singh revived the Indian hopes with some beautiful stroke play. With Lee opting out of bowling due to a sore ankle, Ponting's headache started with each of his bowlers going for runs and India reached a position where the match was for India if it scores 29 runs off 12 balls. And Watson's next over was plundered for 20 runs. Last over was bowled by Siddle, who got back his senses and stick to the line and bowled the destructor-in-chief Harbhajan with that India's revived hopes ended and lost the match by 4 runs.
Indian batsmen can't take any good from this match except Gambhir because its Praveen and Bhajji who pulled back this game miraculously and fought till the end. And its a clinical performance from Australians from the moment Ponting won the toss except for the last 5 overs of the match when his bowlers took to cleaners.
Second ODI:
Again Ponting won the toss but decided to field first considering the dew factor in evening and he didn't consider the firepower of this Indian batting line-up on a flat batting track. Indians went into the acceleration mode and didn't took off it and scored a mammoth score 354 with Dhoni leading the charge with 123 ably supported by the two left handers, in the middle overs by Gambhir and at the end by Raina.
With Lee out of the game, Australian attack lost some of its teeth and Sehwag captured on it and played a little cameo at the top before getting out for 40 runs from 31 balls. Sachin lost his wicket by some brilliant bowling from Siddle. Yuvraj promised a lot on his return but perished to brilliant reflex catch by Hilfenhaus of his own bowling. Then Dhoni and Gambhir partnered together to kept the run-rate above 6 with very minimal risk. And unfortunate mix-up cost the wicket of Gambhir(76) who is well set. But Dhoni showed his ruthlessness in his batting in the last 10 overs which Australian bowlers will find hard to forget especially Johnson. He killed his short ball and banged a shot straight down the ground in consecutive deliveries. Raina joined the party towards the end of the innings and scored his 50.
354 is always a big total to get anyday and with ball moving enough under the lights made the life difficult for Australian batsmen. Praveen Kumar was completely a different bowlers when ball is swinging and he claimed 2 top order wickets of Tim Paine and Ponting. Ishant bowled a gem of a delivery which kicked off from short of length and surprised Watson with both pace and bounce only made him to poke the ball to first slip. With 45/3 in 10 overs match was almost in India's pocket but this is Australian team, we have to remember. But nobody was able to score at the asking rate and only contribution came from Hussey who was then castled by a wonderful delivery by Jadeja. When formalities are finished, Australians were bowled out by 254 handing Indian a 99-run victory.
Indians didn't put a foot wrong in this match and perfectly demolished the injury-hit Australian side. Except Hussey and Siddle nobody can take any kind of thing from this match in Australian side.
THIRD ODI - PREVIEW:
With Tim Paine, Hopes and Lee unavailable due to injuries, India starts as a favorites. Australian injury list was kept growing match by match with Lee being flying back home and he will be unavailable for rest of the series. This is a huge blow and Paine too injured. In this case, Shaun Marsh will open with Watson and may Bollinger will replace the erratic Hilfenhaus.
India has no such worries and a full strength squad is available for them. The match is going to be played in Ferosha Kotla whose pitch is keeping very low which means any team can win this match.
Players to watch out for:
Sachin: Still to play a big innings in this series, which means something is around soon.
Jadeja: He already bowled superbly in both his previous outings and with pitch is keeping low in Kotla, he can be dangerous with his arm balls.
Shaun Marsh: He caught the imagination in first IPL and now he is again to going to open. His success is very critical not only for him but also for Australia.
