Australia teaches India lesson; wins fifth One-dayer by 9 wickets

Oct 11: Herculean task for the Men in blue to level the series as Australia leads 3-1

The Australian’s has certainly taught Indian cricket team a lesson by convincingly winning the fifth One-day by 9 wickets, after bowling them out at a paltry score of 148, as why they have been tagged World champions time and again because their side has been performing consistently in the international circuit.

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Riding on the performances of Man of the match Mitchell Johnson and wicket keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist Aussie team achieved the scanty target of 148 for the loss of only one wicket in just 25.5 overs, asserting their supremacy in 50-50 format of the game at the fifth ODI match of the seven match series of the Future Cup played at the IPSC ground in Vadodra on Thursday.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar played a lone ranger in his landmark 400th ODI appearance while rest of the team put up a dismal batting display as they were bundled out for just 148 in 39.4overs.

Left-arm pacer Mitchell Johnson grabbed a maiden five-wicket haul, and ended up with a best bowling figure of 5 for 26 by any Australian in India, after shocking India early with a three-wicket first spell in which he sent back Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa and Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Tendulkar scored 47 and hit nine fours in his 73 balls innings during which he saw a parade of batsmen making their way back to the pavilion floundering at 43 for five in less than ten overs.

Electing to bat, India got two early blows in the very first over with Sourav Ganguly being run out after a mix-up and Brett Lee (2-42) trapping Rahul Dravid lbw for a first ball-duck, reducing India to five for two.

Wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist grabbed six catches, four of these off Johnson, and was also instrumental in the Ganguly run out did this feat for the fifth time thus far.

Johnson got rid off Irfan Pathan (26) and Murali Kartik for a duck to finish his second spell.

Tendulkar put on 49 runs with Irfan Pathan (26) for the sixth wicket showed some resilience but departed in the middle of the innings when Lee returned for his second spell. He was caught behind off an out swinger.

The Indians were finding it tough to place their feet in front of aggressive Australians, as they came hard at them after their loss in Chandigarh.

Indian’s started on a miserable note when Tendulkar did not respond to the call for a single by Ganguly who had pushed Brett Lee's fourth ball towards mid-wicket fielder Brad Hodge and went for the run.

A quick-fire 41-run last-wicket stand between Zaheer Khan (28) and Rudra Pratap Singh (12 not out) helped India reach 148 in the 40th over.

Chasing a meagre total of 148, the Australian batsmen were clinical in their approach towards the attainment of target. Adam Gilchrist spearheaded the run riot for his team scoring 79 off 77 balls. He completed his half-century powered with some massive hits off the Indian bowlers.

Both the Australian openers started their game cautiously. They made 28 runs from the first 6 overs of their innings. This came in wake of MS Dhoni’s surprise decision to start off with Harbhajan Singh in the very first over.

India’s RP Singh was the lone wicket taker as he claimed the wicket of Matthew Hayden who had made 29 runs from 39 balls.

Later Glichrist along with skipper Ponting, who scored an unbeaten 39 in equal number of balls, completed the proceedings adding 95 runs for the second wicket. Australia is now leading 2-1 in the seven-match series after having won the second and third matches.

From hereon the series victory is only possible for the Aussies, as they needed only one victory to clinch Future Cup while India could only manage to level the series, that too if they pull off victory in the last two matches of the series, which will be a quite a phenomenal task for the men in blue.