India bounced back after their dismal performance in Pune to winthe third One-Day International played at the Jawaharlal NehruStadium in Indore, against Australia by a whopping margin of 118runs. Australia were all out for 181 runs in 35.5 overs, chasinga tough victory target of 300 in 50 overs.
The day clearly belonged to the world's premier batsman, SachinRamesh Tendulkar. After being put into bat by Steve Waugh, Indiareally wanted Tendulkar to fire on all guns. Waugh's choice ofbowling first was based on the fact that there was some moistureon the track. Tendulkar initially tamed the bowling by playingsensibly, curtailing his extravagant stroke play but once he gotto his fifty, he cut loose.
Tendulkar made 139 runs off 125 balls decorating his knock with19 classy strokes past the ropes. This was Tendulkar's 28th ODIhundred and in the end it proved to be a match winning one.Indore went into the record books today, Tendulkar becoming thefirst batsman in the history of ODI cricket to reach themilestone of 10,000 runs. In the course of the Indian innings,Glenn McGrath became the third Australian to reach 200 wickets,when he bowled Vijay Dahiya for nought.
Chasing India's imposing total of 299/8 in 50 overs, Australiawas bound to struggle. On a pitch with uneven bounce and keepinglow, fluent stroke play was not really on. The fact thatAustralia's best ODI batsman Mark Waugh was out of the team witha fractured finger must have been a big let down for his twinbrother Steve Waugh. Australia's policy of rotation seems not tobe working; today they rested their in-form batsman MatthewHayden.
Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist were the opening batsmen todayand they put on 46 runs. Martyn (19) looked good, but was caughtbehind off Srinath. Gilchrist played a cracker of an innings of63 (70 balls, 10 fours, 1 six) that included 22 runs from an overbowled by Zaheer Khan. It was an amazing display of powerhitting, with the sequence reading as 4,0,6,4,4,4 as Australiarekindled hopes of a victory. Gilchrist was given a couple ofreprieves by Ganguly and Dahiya soon after he got to his fifty.Gilchrist's dismissal at 102 in the 20th over resulted in atailspin and Australia never recovered from it.
Gilchrist's tame dismissal came about when he slapped a full tossfrom Harbhajan Singh straight to Ganguly at mid-wicket. AjitAgarkar (3/38), Harbhajan Singh (3/37) and Srinath (2/34) werejust about too much for the jaded Aussies. Ricky Ponting (23)failed again. Bevan (7) was bowled of an inside edge, cutting ata ball to close to his body. Harvey (1) and Lehmann (1) did notapply themselves and gave easy catches when they should havegiven support to their captain marvel, Steve Waugh. AndrewSymonds was unlucky to be given out, caught behind by the umpire.The ball clearly hit the pad on its way to the keeper and the batwas too far away from the ball. There wasn't much fight left inthe Aussies as Steve Waugh (23) holed out a catch in the deepafter Shane Warne (18) had run himself out.
Earlier, Ganguly dropped himself down from the opener's role andasked Rahul Dravid to open the innings with Tendulkar. Dravid(15) was caught behind by Gilchrist off an impressive DamienFleming. VVS Laxman joined Tendulkar in the middle and steadiedthe Indian innings. They put on a match winning partnership of199 runs for the second wicket in just 29.4 overs. Laxman made 83(88 balls, 6 fours) before being run out. These two batsmen havehad moments of indiscretion in running between wickets and thistime it was Laxman's turn to get out.
India slipped from 231/1 in the 38th over to 299/8 in 50 overs.Damien Fleming shone with his bowling and finished with the mostrespectable figures of 10-1-34-2. His figures were achieved inthe middle of a deluge of runs when Tendulkar was going fullthrottle. Ganguly lasted only for three balls before sending theball high in the air to give Bevan an easy catch off the bowlingof Fleming. McGrath came back and dismissed Tendulkar, caught byFleming while going for a pull shot of a rising delivery. McGrathalso accounted for Dahiya (0) and Dinesh Mongia (4). Ajit Agarkar(1) fell lbw to Ian Harvey, soon after surviving a big leg beforeappeal from McGrath.
Hemang Badani, who made a hundred in the previous match, swungWarne for a massive six over long on but ran himself out aftermaking 23 runs off 25 balls. Today was yet another day thatbelonged to the little master. Tendulkar played almost all thestrokes in the game. A delicate late cut off Martyn to the thirdman fence, a paddle sweep off Symonds, a cracking inside outcover drive off Warne, pulling and cutting McGrath, it was allTendulkar in full flow. Cammie Smith, the match referee did notwaste much time in declaring Tendulkar as the Man of the Match.
India are 2-1 up in the five match series. The next game will beplayed on April 3 in the east coast harbour city ofVishakapatnam.
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