By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
Mumbai : Gautam Gambhir scored an attractive half-century to propel world Twenty20 champions India to a seven-wicket win over One-Day kings Australia in the one-off Twenty20 International here Saturday night.
Gambhir scored 63 off 52 balls (4x6s, 1×6) to help India to live up to their reputation. India had also beaten Australia in the semi-finals on way to winning the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last month.
The win, registered with 11 balls to spare, was some consolation for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side that lost the One-Day International series 2-4 just before this match at a packed Brabourne Stadium.
It was a fine all-round performance by India as their bowlers first restricted Australia to 166 for five wickets in the stipulated 20 overs and then their batsmen finished at 167 for three in 18.1 overs.
Besides left-handed Gambhir’s well-paced knock, Robin Uthappa (35, 26 balls, 6x4s) and Yuvraj Singh (31 not out, 25 balls, 1x4s, 3x6s) were the main contributors besides an unusually high number of ‘extras’, 24. Dhoni, who sealed the win with a pulled six off Brett Lee, remained unbeaten on nine.
Gambhir was adjudged the Man of the Match and he won a car for his effort.
India will now play five ODIs and three Tests against Pakistan at home, starting next month.
Chasing the target at a shade over 8.30 runs per over, Gambhir hit fast bowler Nathan Bracken for two boundaries on the off side to indicate a confident start.
Gambhir’s Delhi teammate Virender Sehwag, who became father of a son Friday, promised to emulate the left-hander when he just tapped a Lee delivery to long on boundary. But off the next ball Sehwag, who turned 29 Saturday, snicked an away going delivery to be caught by wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.
Uthappa hit pacer Ben Hilfenhaus to mid-wicket fence to start what would be a fruitful association between him and Gambhir. In a Lee over, Uthappa hit two boundaries and Gambhir one to make their intentions clear.
Another productive over from India’s viewpoint was that of Hilfenhaus, who conceded 18, including a six and a four to Gambhir and a boundary to Uthappa.
The 82-run second-wicket partnership ended when Uthappa tried to steer the ball past the wicketkeeper but Gilchrist grabbed the snick off Clarke. This stand put India firmly in the driver’s seat with the score reading 102 for two in the 11th over.
Gambhir duly completed his half-century, off 40 balls and it included five boundaries and one six. Then, the in-form Yuvraj chanced his arms, hitting Symonds for a four and Clarke for a six.
The association was broken when Gambhir mistimed a pull shot off Hilfenhaus and Ricky Ponting took the catch at mid-on.
Yuvraj hit two successive sixes off Clarke to take India on the verge of victory. Both were superbly connected pulled shots, one landed over fine leg boundary and the other over back square leg.
Soon, the Dhoni shot sailed over square leg to spark off fireworks and celebrations. The team had a ride in the car Gambhir had won, reminding the famous ride at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1985 when India won the World Championship of Cricket.
Earlier in the day, Gilchrist, in the company of a fit-again Matthew Hayden, threatened to tear the Indian bowling attack apart after captain Ponting won the toss and elected to bat.
In the very first over bowled by pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, Gilchrist slashed the ball between wicketkeeper Dhoni and Sehwag at first slip for a four at third man. He drove the next ball to cover boundary and then pulled the left-armer for another boundary.
The aggression was too good to last long, and off the fifth ball, the Uttar Pradesh bowler extracted revenge as he yorked him and the middle stump went cart-wheeling.
In R.P. Singh’s next over, the third of the innings, Ponting hammered three boundaries and then Sreesanth conceded 10, including Hayden’s six over the long leg fence. The gangling batsman also hit off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for a six in his first over.
Irfan Pathan, who replaced Sreesanth, was badly mauled by Ponting as the Tasmanian slammed four boundaries in the over that cost the left-armer 16 runs.
Harbhajan kept a tight leash and also dismissed the danger-man Hayden, who chopped the ball on to his stumps. But by that time Hayden and Ponting had added 48 for the second wicket.
Dhoni then introduced a double spin attack as he brought in left-armer Murali Kartik from the other end.
Ponting too would have departed had Dhoni taken the difficult catch in Sreesanth’s first over of his second spell and the ball crossed the third man boundary. The batsman was on 45 in Australia’s total of 92 for two. Undaunted, Ponting smashed two successive boundaries as 14 came off the over.
But off the first off the next over, a misunderstanding with Ponting led to Andrew Symonds being run out after surviving a return catch to bowler Harbhajan off the leading edge. Although he failed to reach the ball in time, Harbhajan threw it to Yuvraj who broke he stumps at the none-striker’s end, terminating the fabulous 50-run partnership.
Ponting was finally out when his attempted pull of Pathan landed on to his stumps. He and Michael Clarke added 42 for the fifth wicket. Clarke remained unbeaten on 25 (15 balls, 2x4s) and Brad Haddin on five.
Pathan was the pick of the bowlers with two scalps while R.P. Singh and Harbhajan took one wicket each.
SCOREBOARD
One-off Twenty20 International, India vs. Australia, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
Australia:
Adam Gilchrist b R.P. Singh 12
Matthew Hayden b Harbhajan 17
Ricky Ponting b Pathan 76
Andrew Symonds run out (Harbhajan/Yuvraj) 20
Brad Hodge b Pathan 2
Michael Clarke not out 25
Brad Haddin not out 5
Extras: (leg byes 2, wides 7) 9
Total: (for five wickets in 20 overs) 166
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Gilchrist, 0.5 over), 2-60 (Hayden, 6.6), 3-110 (Symonds, 13.1), 4-116 (Hodge, 14.6), 5-158 (Ponting, 18.6)
Bowling:
Rudra Pratap Singh 4 0 39 1 (1w)
Sreesanth 4 0 47 0 (2w)
Irfan Pathan 4 0 34 2
Harbhajan Singh 4 0 17 1
Murali Kartik 4 0 27 0
India:
Gautam Gambhir c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 63
Virender Sehwag c Gilchrist b Lee 5
Robin Uthappa c Gilchrist b Clarke 35
Yuvraj Singh not out 31
Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 9
Extras: (lb 12, w 9, nb 3) 24
Total: (for three wickets in 18.1 overs) 167
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Sehwag, 2.2 overs), 2-102 (Uthappa, 10.3), 3-143 (Gambhir, 15.4)
Bowling:
Brett Lee 3.1 0 35 1 (1nb, 1w)
Nathan Bracken 2 0 19 0 (1w)
Ben W Hilfenhaus 4 0 28 1 (2nb)
Stuart Clark 4 0 33 0 (2w)
Andrew Symonds 3 0 26 0
Michael Clarke 2 0 14 1 (1w)
Result: India won by seven wickets
Man of the Match: Gautam Gambhir
Umpires: Ameesh Saheba and Suresh Shastri (both India)
Third umpire: G.A. Pratapkumar (India)
Fourth umpire: Bhanu Prakash (India)