India Go Down Under

For many years, South Africa have been bestowed with the tag of "chokers" but when it comes to anIndia-Australia matches in crunch situations, it would seem India is a more deserving candidate for thatepithet.

The setting was great. There were as many as 125,000 vocal supporters at Eden Gardens who could not haveasked for a better first half of the match. [Actually, they could, but more on that later] Particularly whenthe Prince of Calcutta, Saurav Ganguly was not playing. To have restricted Australia to 235 seemed more thanhalf the battle won.

But when it came to the war, India did not have the nerve. 

Unlike the full series when the wicket could be blamed, today it was the wickets that the Indians ran outof and not  not the balls, stunning the over-capacity crowd by getting bowled out for 198 in 41.5 overs.This on a day when the bowling, despite some appalling dropped catches, finally came good. 

On an indifferent track at the Eden Gardens, the bowlers finally came into their own by restricting theformidable Aussie batting line up to 235 for five despite the fielding lapses -- VVS Laxman was guilty ofdropping as many as three sitters off some of the greatest one-day batsmen in the world, Matthew Hayden andRicky Ponting. Overall, there were as many as six dropped catches.

But the Indian batsmen, with the exception of skipper Rahul Dravid (49) and Sachin Tendulkar (44) could notovertake even this modest total and handed over the TVS Cup to the world champions on a platter. It was theWorld Champions' sixth consecutive victory in the series.

Somehow, before the Australian innings began, the Indians seemed to be on the backfoot. First, Saurav Gangulywas ruled out as he failed a fitness test and Hemang Badani was brought in as his replacement. The exclusionof Anil Kumble was baffling, to say the least, and the choice of third seamer -- Mohammed Kaif was dropped andmedium pacer Aavishkar Salvi brought in -- in the end, proved very costly. 

Salvi was to have an eminently forgettable match. Despite overall good performance from the bowlers, he gotto bowl only three overs for 23 runs. Harbhajan Singh was back after missing two games. Perhaps India wereremembering his performance at the same ground in that remarkable VVS Laxman match. The upshot thus was thatthe Indian team was playing two players who would not be touring Australia for the tests: Badani and MurliKartik. 

Electing to bat, Australia struggled to come to terms with the slow turning track to score 235 for 5 intheir allotted 50 overs mainly due to Damien Martyn's responsible 61 and a quickfire unbeaten 44 from 28 ballslate in the innings by the young Michael Clarke. The ever-reliable Michael Bevan also chipped in with anunbeaten 40.

Now 236 seemed to be an eminently gettable total, even without the seventh batsman, and despite the absenceof Ganguly. But it was not to be. But the Indian run chase began on a disastrous note as they lost openerVirender Sehwag (5) with just 12 runs on the board. Nathan Bracken put the hosts on the backfoot by evictingSehwag, running in front of him to hold a return catch after the ball ballooned up.

Both Bracken and his new ball partner Brad Williams produced a fiery opening spell to keep the strongIndian batsmen on a tight leash. Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, who joined the action after Sehwag's earlydeparture, had a torrid time in the middle as the first ten overs yielded just 22 runs.

The little maestro was a pale shadow of himself in the early stages of his knock as he failed to time hisshots properly and was beaten outside the off-stump on a number of occasions. Perhaps, the pressure did get tohim, as he seemed to be carrying the full weight of the one billion people's expectations on his ownshoulders. He was just not himself.  The first 32 balls he faced, yielded only six runs, and it was nottill the 38th ball that he found the boundary.

But both the batsmen seemed to find their rhythm to some extent after Bracken and Williams were removedfrom the attack, coming out of their shells to play some delightful strokes. The stylish Laxman slammedWilliams for three boundaries before the speedster sent him back to the pavilion with a ball that kept atrifle low to uproot his off-stump.

With the hosts gasping at 36 for two after 12 overs, it was left to Tendulkar and stand-in captain RahulDravid to pull the team out of the pits and the duo raised hopes of a spirited fight-back by accelerating thepace of scoring. Tendulkar seemed to be uplifted by Dravid's arrival too. Dravid who had produced a magical 50off 22 in the last match against the Kiwis, seemed in good touch from the start, and his aggressive and freestroke play 

The fourth wicket pair of Tendulkar and Dravid unleashed a flurry of boundaries and the little masterseemed to regain his touch clobbering Andy Bichel for three fours in the same over. Just when it seemed happydays were here again,  hushed silence descended at the floodlit Eden Gardens when Bichel struck back witha vengeance, as he produced an off-cutter to have Tendulkar clean bowled, finding the gap between his bat andpad. 

Thus ended the 63-run partnership that seemed to promised much. Tendulkar's 45 came off 66 balls, but whatis significant is that he got out when he had just begun to play positively, as the first 32 balls he playedhad yielded only six runs. The Indians were 52 at the end of the 15th over and 89 in the 20th over. 47 runswere added in these 5 overs with these two on the crease.

Hardly had the crowd recovered from the shock of losing Tendulkar when Yuvraj Singh also returned to thedressing room without troubling the scorer much. Yuvraj Singh looked distinctly uncomfortable before AndrewSymonds brought an end to his brief occupation of the crease with Matthew Hayden taking a smart catch at firstslip. 

The home team suddenly slumped to 110 for four by the 24th over, allowing the Kangaroos to take control ofthe proceedings. After 26 overs, Australia were 122-3 and India were reduced to 124-4. Ganguly's absence andthe decision not to play the seventh batsman, Kaif, could not have bothered India more at any other stage ofthe match.

Dravid, who seemed to be in fine nick, and new man Hemang Badani then tried to salvage the situation forthe hosts as the duo kept the scoreboard inching towards the target without taking too many risks. Badaniplayed a breezy 36-ball 30 before becoming a victim to Clarke.

India looked completely in charge as long as he and Dravid were on the crease. The match seemed to be oncruise-control for India, but once Badani went, going for a sweep off the bowling of Clarke, the ball takingthe top edge and looping to Symonds at square leg, Indian heart-beats were on the rise again. It was 159 for 5with no Kaif to follow and India suddenly seemed gasping for breath. The KO seemed to arrive soon after asClarke dealt the death blow, with Dravid playing on . It was 169 for 6 and left to Agarkar & Co., thematch was all but over.

Agarkar battled heroically for his 26 not out, with some superb shots, but what can a lone man do when thewickets on the other end fall like cycles in a cycle-stand, to use Siddhu's memorably apt analogy? The lastfour wickets fell for 12 runs. Harvey ending with 4-21 in his fifth over. The fall of wickets tell the sorrytale of the Indian tail: 7-186, 8-186, 9-198 and 10-198. Avishek Salvi, who was perhaps as baffled as the restof the country at his sudden selection for this big match, and completed the misery of his inexperience byfollowing up his poor bowling by trying to slog when all that was required was somehow to give the strike toAgarkar. But then why should he be singled out when six batsmen combined aggregated less than the extras of 14runs.

Australian Innings

Earlier, Damien Martyn produced a gritty half century as Indian bowlers exploited a turning track torestrict Australia to 235 for five in their allotted 50 overs.

Electing to bat, the world champions never really came to terms with the slow turning pitch at the EdenGardens and it was Martyn (61) who held the innings from plunging into total disarray before Michael Clarke'sunbeaten 28-ball 44 took the Australians to a fighting total. Michael Bevan was the other notable contributorwith an unbeaten 40.

Spurred on by a vociferous home crowd of nearly one lakh, the buttered-fingered Indians had themselves toblame for not pegging their formidable rivals to a smaller total as they dropped as many as six catches, VVSLaxman being the offender on three occasions. In the last five overs India conceded 48 runs to undo the goodwork of the first 45.

Unlike in the other matches, the Indian new ball operators Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar managed to containthe two Australian openers who could not launch the innings with the characteristic flourish.

Both Agarkar, who began the bowling operations, and Zaheer seemed to have done their homework well as theymixed their balls intelligently to trouble the openers.

Agarkar fired the first salvo by evicting the dangerous Adam Gilchrist (7) in his third over sending thecapacity crowd at the Eden Gardens into a frenzy. The left-handed Gilchrist was deceived by a slower deliveryas he tried to play across the line only to see his stumps being dislodged.

The Indians removed the other opener Matthew Hayden three overs later with Zaheer Khan getting the prizedscalp with another slow delivery. The muscular left-hander mistimed his shot completely, offering a simplecatch to VVS Laxman at short cover.

Ponting, who was dropped by Laxman at first slip even before he had opened his account, and Damien Martyntried to steady the ship by playing the Indian bowlers cautiously.

The two batsmen were quite content in keeping the scoreboard moving with gentle pushes and nudges but werealso quite prompt to despatch the loose deliveries to the boundary.

The third wicket pair put on 80 runs before Kartik, plotted the dismissal of the Australian skipper much tothe delight of his teammates.

Ponting edged Kartik's sharply turning ball to Laxman at first slip who made no mistake for a change.

Despite the wickets falling at the other end, the in-form Martyn looked quite composed in the middle as hekept collecting the runs without taking too much risks against the spinners who managed to obtain a fairamount of turn on the dry Eden track.

Martyn opened his account with a boundary off Zaheer and then picked up young paceman Avishkar Salvi forsome special treatment by clobbering him to the fence twice to give ample evidence of his form.

Andrew Symonds, who joined the action after Ponting's dismissal, looked totally out of sorts on the slowsurface and virtually threw away his wicket by going for a rather ambitious stroke against Harbhajan.

Symonds (10) went for a lofted shot without getting hold of the ball and succeeded in giving a simple catchto Hemang Badani in the long on region as the world champions were reduced to 129 for four by the 30th over.

It was then left to the well-set Martyn and the dependable Michael Bevan to retrieve the situation for theAussies. The duo played watchfully, allowing the hosts to bring down the run rate considerably.

Bevan did not allow the hamstring injury, sustained in the early part of his innings, affect hisconcentration or his strokeplay as he grimly held on to one end till the slog overs.

Martyn and Benvan added 41 runs for the fifth wicket before part-timer Virender Sehwag got rid of Martyn topush the Aussies on the mat again.

Going Down Under

The baffling inclusion of poor Avishkar Salvi  in the team today proved costlyfor him personally as not only did he have a miserable match but by sustaining an injury to his right shoulder,he has also been ruled out of the forthcoming tour of Australia.

Tamil Nadu fast medium bowler Lakshmipathi Balaji has been named as his replacementfor the four-Test series Down Under, the Indian Cricket Board said in a statement here today. Salviexperienced acute pain in his right shoulder and after a thorough examination team physio Andrew Leipusreported that he would be not be able to take to the field for at least three weeks, the Board said.

The Board also said that there was nothing to worry about the injury to skipperSourav Ganguly, who could not play in the final today due to a groin injury. "Thereis nothing to worry," Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya said adding that Ganguly was actually not injuredbut he just needed some rest to be 100 percent fit before the gruelling series.

Ganguly, who had suffered a groin injury during the league match against New Zealandon november 15, could not pass a fitness test before the match today.

"He (ganguly) is expected to be fully fit within the next week. He sustained amild left groin strain while batting in the match against New Zealand," the Board's statement read.

According to Leipus, Ganguly was 80 percent fit and it was decided by the teammanagement not to take risk in view of the long tour ahead.

But let's spare a thought for left-arm spinner Murali Kartik. He was the the pick ofthe Indians bowlers returning impressive figures of 10-1-30-1. His impressive performance throughout theseries ensured that the selectors chose him over Kumble for the second spinner slot, but he is not being takento Australia for the tests. And let's not forget, Kumble's performance out of India pales in comparison to hisrecord in India. So what gives? Let's not even talk of Hemang Badani. While Balaji's selection is someconsolation, perhaps these two would wait for the call for the ODIs.

With inputs from PTI