Tendulkar ton in vain as Oz win thriller

Australia 350/4 (Marsh 112, Watson 93, White 57; P Kumar 2-68) beat

India 347/10 (Tendulkar 175, Raina 59, Sehwag 38; Watson 3/47)

The Hyderabad crowd mustn’t have asked for more, even though India lost the game by meager 3 runs. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar played a gem of an innings and possibly his best-ever in One-day Internationals scoring 175 in 141 balls with 19 fours and 4 towering sixes. There was a time when SRT almost looked out of touch and the pressure of Mt. 17000 seemed immense on his face. He played 4 consecutive dot balls while on 6, just one away from 17000 and nerves definitely ruled his body language. But, when he got his 17000th run after playing 17 deliveries in the innings, things thereafter looked quite different. He came to his blazing best after the best moment and all know what he went on to do. Wickets on the other hand kept on tumbling but the master was almost till the end, till the 48th over. But then disaster struck India. After a great come-back in the innings by the batsmen, the innings faltered like a cycle stand.

When, India opened with Tendulkar and Sehwag, the latter looked, as usual, the beast of all. At a moment, it seemed that Sehwag would take away the match away from the opposition but it wasn’t that way. The thirtieth ball he faced, he got carried away with a very defined short-ball by Ben Hilfenhaus. And, that was it, Bollinger took a real good catch and Sehwag departed for 38. Nevertheless, he did his part. Gambhir too didn’t last long. Just when it looked he was looking good, a short delivery outside off by the debutant Clint McKay did him. He played it just too square and straight down the throat of Hilfenhaus who pouched it safely at third man implying the first wicket in international cricket from McKay. But, Tendulkar continued on the other hand. When Gambhir departed at 92/2, Tendulkar had already scored 42 off 40 balls. Yuvraj and Dhoni were dismissed very softly by Watson and McKay respectively. At 162-4, Raina came in with SRT at 95 off 75. The duo held on for a wonderful partnership of 137 until Raina lost his cool and gave away his wicket, again on a short delivery from Watson. Harbhajan then was promoted for a fiery act, but failed and went without scoring a run. Jadeja kept his cool and as the batting powerplay approached after 45 overs, he played his part.

Tendulkar was then the next to go. His dismissal really bamboozled me. When, the victory was possible within singles, why go for the lofted paddle sweep. But, he was not to blame; he did a wonderful role scoring as many as 50% of the runs to be chased. I felt that he was looking for a double as he was getting frustrated very regularly if he didn’t got the strike back. Earlier in the year, while he scored 163* against NZ and eventually had to retire hurt, he spoke about the double then. Jadeja later made a complete mess of his wicket displaying immense inexperience. When it came to the tail, Pravin gave some hopes but all in vain.

Australians bowled really well in the latter part. They kept their nerves and went on to win the game. And moreover, they always had the upper hand after putting 350 on the boards.

India will try and take some positives out of this game and will bank on their performance as they chased unsuccessfully 347! 

The teams clash again for the sixth one-day at Guwahati on Sunday, the November 8, 2009. The game will be a day clash and will start 9 ‘o clock local time.