Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed a blistering century as India whipped injury-hit Australia by 99 runs on Wednesday to level their seven-match One-day series 1-1.
Dhoni hit 124 off 107 balls and Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina chipped in with half-centuries as India, sent in to bat, accumulated their highest One-day total against Australia – 354/7 from 50 overs.
1st ODI was quite a treat and proved that ODI still has a lot to offer for spectator and players. 9 was needed for India in the last over and Harbhajan nearly won India the match until he was bowled by cool Siddle. This time around, Aussies has been hit by injuries and therefore India will like to take full advantage of this situation. They themselves will have their batting strengthen with the return of Yuvraj Singh. But their main worries will be their bowling and their fielding.
India: (probable) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Praveen Kumar/Munaf Patel, 11 Ashish Nehra.
Australia: (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Adam Voges, 7 Cameron White, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz 10 Doug Bollinger/Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Peter Siddle.
Watch cricket highlights: India vs Australia, the 1st ODI (to be) played at Vadodara on October 25, 2009.
Scoreline: Aus 292/8 Ponting 74, Mike Hussey 73 (54), Paine 50, Cameron White 51 | Ishanth 10-1-50-3
India lose by 4: Gambhir 68, Harbhajan 49 (31), Praveen Kumar 40 (32) Hauritz 9-1-34-1, Lee 6-28-1
Ishanth Sharma shows some semblance of a return despite the dropped pace; Ponting is a cut above his teammates in tough morning conditions; Hussey makes himself heard; Harbhajan makes up for his listless bowling with some stunning hits; Hauritz is the best spinner today; Praveen Kumar who’s been picked until now only in games where conditions suit the moving ball shows glimpses of what he could do with the bat in future (have seen him hit cleaner big ones than he did today); Lee inexplicably bowls just 6 overs; and Ravindra Jadeja justifies the reason he was played today – with Yuvraj still not fit there was no one else to pick. India don’t play 5 bowlers too often and the only other options available were bowlers. Which makes you wonder about the rationale behind dropping Yusuf from the squad and including Jadeja. If Yusuf’s recent run was the reason (not justifiable cos he’s hardly had a fair chance at the bowling), Uthappa would have been a better pick considering you want someone at 7 who’ll win you a game, not someone who at best will get you a pointless 30/40.
Its a seven match ODI series. Some might feel its long, some may feel its exciting. What will it turn out to be, we will just have to wait and see. Players are already talking about this series being the preparation for the world cup. The cricket fans have been injected quite a dose of T20 matches/tournaments recently, and it needs to be seen how those fans will react to these long ODI series, where just two teams are playing. Same sets of players, playing with same style and strategy. However, saying so, it was just these types of series that all cricket fans all over the world used to wait eagerly not so long ago.
Team news is Sehwag is back for India, and Yuvraj is to miss the match due to finger injury but the main worry is their bowling and then fielding. For Australia Clarke will be missed but his place I think will be taken by Marsh.
India (probable): 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Virat Kohli, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma/Amit Mishra, 10 Praveen Kumar, 11 Munaf Patel
Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Cameron White, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz 10 Brett Lee, 11 Doug Bollinger.
1st ODI: India v Australia at Vadodara
Oct 25 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)
2nd ODI: India v Australia at Nagpur
Oct 28 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)
3rd ODI: India v Australia at Delhi
Oct 31 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)
4th ODI: India v Australia at Mohali
Nov 2 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)
5th ODI: India v Australia at Hyderabad (Decc)
Nov 5 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)
6th ODI: India v Australia Nehru Stadium, Guwahati
Nov 8 (09:00 local | 03:30 GMT)
7th ODI – India v Australia Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai
Nov 11 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)