By IANS
Hyderabad : Yuvraj Singh’s fighting century went in vain as a professional display by Australia helped them beat India by 47 runs in the third One-day International here Friday and take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.
Although Yuvraj’s 121 (115 balls, 12x4s, 3x6s) was the top score of the match, three Australians, led by hard-hitting Andrew Symonds (67 balls, 5x4s, 5x6s), scored crucial half-centuries to take their team to victory with 2.2 overs to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Besides Symonds, Matthew Hayden (60, 70 balls, 10x4s) and Michael Clarke (59, 71 balls, 4x4s) were architects of the second successive Aussie win in the series.
Australia scored 290 for seven wickets in 50 overs and India were all out for 243 in 47.4 overs.
India will now have to win all four matches to win the series. Or, win at least three to draw the series as the first match in Bangalore was abandoned because of rain.
Chasing Australia’s mammoth total, India were off to a disastrous start. They lost the first three wickets — Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Rahul Dravid — for a mere 13 runs.
India managed to recover through a rearguard century from Yuvraj but his brave effort was not enough to take the team to victory without substantial support from the other mainline batsmen.
Yuvraj was associated with three fine partnerships. While his 95-run fourth wicket association with Sachin Tendulkar (43, 71 balls, 6x4s) and 65-run stand for the fifth wicket with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33, 37 balls, 4x4s) kept India in the hunt, the third partnership with Harbhajan Singh (36 for the eighth wicket) came too late in the day.
While the other batsmen failed to click — Dravid and Uthappa failed to open their accounts — Yuvraj continued his sublime form.
The Australian attack had no answer to his powerful and clean hitting. He was severe on the on side and his hits drew warm applause from both the packed stadium and the opponents.
Barring the first two partnerships, the left-hander from Chandigarh did not get meaningful support from the other batsmen. Another good association up the order could well have taken India close to the Australian total.
India was without Sourav Ganguly, who had missed the defeat in the second match in Kochi with a hamstring injury. On Friday, he was not picked, though he was fit.
Brett Lee and Brad Hogg were the most successful bowlers with three wickets apiece while Mitchell Johnson took two wickets.
Earlier, the Australian batting juggernaut continued to roll on in this series. After putting up a 300-plus total in the previous match in Kochi, their batsmen again dominated the Indian bowlers after captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and batted.
Adam Gilchrist (29) and Matthew Hayden (60, 70 balls, 10x4s) gave Australia a solid start of 76 in 13.2 overs, scoring at a rate of 5.70.
Irfan Pathan castled Gilchrist to give India the first breakthrough.
Hayden then partnered captain Ricky Ponting (25), who was playing for the first time in the series, and they were associated in a 36-run stand for the second wicket.
Pathan again broke this stand when he had Hayden caught by wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Soon after that Yuvraj struck as Ponting played a half-hearted loft and Sreesanth held the catch at long off.
Then Symonds joined hands with in-form Michael Clarke and they completely dominated the bowling attack.
Their 123-run partnership for the fourth wicket was not only the biggest of the innings, but it seemed to have decisively taken the game away from India. They were together at the crease for 16.4 overs and scored at 7.38 runs per over.
Zaheer broke the partnership as Clarke lofted over the bowler, only to find Pathan running across from long-on to take the catch.
Zaheer also dismissed Brad Hodge quickly and cheaply.
The big, burly Symonds was, however, in a murderous mood. He scored his runs at an amazing strike rate of 132.83.
Symonds’ effort to get to his sixth ODI century was cut short by Robin Uthappa when he took the catch off Sreesanth. The batsman will, nonetheless, have the satisfaction of scoring his 24th half-century.
Of the six-man bowling attack, only off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was tidy enough to command respect from the Australians. He conceded 38 runs in his quota of 10 overs, but failed to take a wicket.
Pacers Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan took two wickets each but they all proved too costly to make their efforts count a great deal.
Scoreboard:
Third One-day International, India vs. Australia, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Australia:
Adam Gilchrist b Pathan 29
Matthew Hayden c Dhoni b Pathan 60
Ricky Ponting c Sreesanth b Yuvraj 25
Michael Clarke c Pathan b Zaheer 59
Andrew Symonds c Uthappa b Sreesanth 89
Brad Hodge b Zaheer 3
James Hopes c Dravid b Sreesanth 11
Brett Lee not out 0
Extras: (b 2, lb 3, w 9) 14
Total: (for seven wickets in 50 overs) 290
Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Gilchrist, 13.2 overs), 2-112 (Hayden, 20.3), 3-135 (Ponting, 28.2), 4-258 (Clarke, 44.6), 5-263 (Hodge, 46.4), 6-290 (Symonds, 49.5), 7-290 (Hopes, 49.6)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 10 1 61 2 (2w)
Sreesanth 9 0 58 2 (5w)
Irfan Pathan 10 0 57 2 (1w)
Harbhajan Singh 10 1 38 0
Yuvraj Singh 7 0 49 1
Sachin Tendulkar 4 0 22 0
India:
Gautam Gambhir lbw b Lee 6
Sachin Tendulkar b Hogg 43
Robin Uthappa lbw b Johnson 0
Rahul Dravid c Hayden b Lee 0
Yuvraj Singh b Johnson 121
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Gilchrist b Lee 33
Rohit Sharma c Lee b Hopes 1
Irfan Pathan lbw b Hogg 3
Harbhajan Singh not out 19
Zaheer Khan c & b Hogg 3
Sreesanth b Clarke 1
Extras: (bye 1, leg bye 3, wides 8, no ball 1) 13
Total: (all out in 47.4 overs) 243
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Gambhir, 2.5 overs), 2-11 (Uthappa, 3.5), 3-13 (Dravid, 4.5), 4-108 (Tendulkar, 24.6), 5-173 (Dhoni, 35.6), 6-176 (Sharma, 36.6), 7-183 (Pathan, 38.3), 8-219 (Yuvraj, 43.1), 9-226 (Zaheer, 44.3)
Bowling:
Brett Lee 8 1 37 3 (1nb, 3w)
Mitchell Johnson 10 0 51 2 (3w)
Stuart Clark 8.4 1 44 1
James Hopes 10 0 43 1
Brad Hogg 9 0 46 3 (2w)
Brad Hodge 2 0 18 0
Result: Australia won by 47 runs
Series: Australia lead 2-0
Man of the Match: Andrew Symonds
Toss: Australia (chose to bat)
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Suresh Shastri (India)
Third umpire: G.A. Pratapkumar (India)
Match referee: Chris Broad (England)