Australia in India, September-October 2007

3rd ODI, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad

Hit-out. Then Block. Then Blast
What India learnt from the last match was that the batting wasn’t enough. So they welcomed a certain Rohit Sharma to the side. Did he have an impact? That’s for later. First the toss. For a change, the decision to bowl first was not Dhoni’s. The pitch which looked fresh, flattered to deceive the Indian fan. As Gilchrist and Hayden piled on the runs, the ball repeatedly kept going to a certain Rohit Sharma. His performance on the field today left much to be desired. But he is a fine batsman of course. Coming back to the match, the Indian bowling recovered after the Second Powerplay was used up and the noose was evident even when the likes of Sachin leg-break-today Tendulkar and Yuvraj cmon-hit-me Singh came on to bowl. Australia accelerated after the mandatory change of ball i.e. the 34th over and managed to reach 291 – a total unachievable if sought with a twenty-twenty mindset. But the Indians have gotten over the victory. Oh they haven’t. Yes they have. And yeah, Andrew Symonds scored a wonderful 89

Reputation…Resilience…Rewards? Alas
India’s reply had a sense of calm written all over it. Maybe the huge crowd made everything else calmer. Gambhir the minnow-basher (not considering T20) entered the arena, and was deceived by a faster one by Lee. Utthapa followed suit, playing across the line to a Midge beauty. In came India’s ex-skipper and alas, left soon. This was getting predictable. Yuvraj Singh walked in. All of this within the first 13 runs of the innings. The partnership between Sachin and Yuvraj flourished amidst poverty. But 96 invaluable runs were added. Then Sachin did to Hogg what countless batsmen have done to Kumble: Cutting off the back foot. Rattle. Dhoni played well for his 30 odd, but was found wanting of foot work a la Sehwag. Nostalgia, eh! In came ROHIT SHARMA, the man revered for his stupendous batting skills in underwear cricket. He found the pajamas to big to handle and top edged one. Whilst all this was happening, Yuvraj Singh kept piling the runs, but India were never close enough. Gloves off to Yuvi, he played like a superstar today. India lost and are likely to lose more, nevertheless a spark of fighting light was seen. Alas, a certain Rohit Sharma wasn’t a part of that light.

P.S. : (1) Rohit, no hard feelings
(2) Murali Kartik is in for Romesh Powar for the remainder of the series