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T20 heroes beat Aussies, finally
Finally, India managed to beat Australia. The Blues did win the T20 world cup, no doubt, but it took team India 12 games and almost four years to beat the real world champions and in a50-over match they last defeated the Aussies on jan. 18, 2004, in brisbane by 19 runs. On Monday, India barely managed to squeeze past pointing’s men to grab the winning pole by a wafer thin margin o f8 runs.
The T20 broughaha not with standing, the real story of our sponsors darlings has been that when that when it came to a real game of One Day cricket, our over hyped tigers have always huffed and puffed trying to match wits with the wizards of oz.
Even on Monday, the Australians were crusing towards an easy win chasing India’s 291/4 after Mathew Hayden top scored with 92 and Andrew Symonds hit 75. It seemed that the T20 world Cup winners may have to wait for another opportunity to beat the champions from down under. But then the game turned on its head through some spirited bowling by the Indians at the death.
left arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh changed the complexion of the match in the 47th over when he clean bowled Symonds and then ranout Brad Hogg on the next ball. Needing 16 off zaheer Khan’s last over, james Hopes hit a four off the first ball but could manage only three more runs off it in the company of Brett Lee. India finally had a victory over their tormentors and the seven match series stood at 2-1 with first game being a wash out.
Earlier, man of the match Dhoni made two brilliant stumpings after making a 35-ball 50 which helped India finish strongly despite a sedate start. while the India’s ageing duo, sachin and ganguly, chipped in with 91 and 41 respectively. It was dhoni’s first man of the match award against the Aussies.
“we were not able to chase earlier on in the series so we decide to bat first. Credit should go to Tendulkar and Ganguly for giving us a good start. Our bowlers also bowled very well in the middle overs,” Dhoni said.
But the Australian bowlers couldn’t have had a worse day, conceding 39 runs in extras, a rare bowling flop. Team India couldn’t have asked more. Abad day in office for the aussies was probably what the doctor ordered, helping India pip them in Chandigarh. The action now shifts to Vadodara and it remains to be seen if the the victory was a flash in the pan or whether the T20 World Cup winners have the stuff to beat the World champions again in a real game of One -day cricket.