Ind Aus ODI 6 Half Time:Guwahati Horrors For Team India

Ind Aus ODI 6 Half Time:Guwahati Horrors for Team India

Sreelata Yellamrazu | Nov 8 2009

Take away Ravinda Jadeja and Praveen Kumar out of the equation and all team India would have been left with in the sixth ODI of the India Australia ODI series would be ignominy in Guwahati.
Indian fans woke up early to witness horror as India crashed to five down twenty-seven in just 8.5 overs with all but Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja back in the pavilion. Mitchell Johnson’s birthday party had begun early and Doug Bollinger brought the biggest present.
Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag found their stumps cartwheeling thanks to Johnson and India’s score read seven runs for the loss of two wickets by the end of the first over.
Sachin Tendulkar, hero of the Hyderabad match, fell to a soft caught and bowled dismissal by Bollinger. The score card - three down for twenty-three in 5.1 overs. End of the eighth over saw Yuvraj Singh walking back, bowled by Bollinger for six.
And the match was developing a very dire state at five down for twenty-seven when Suresh Raina was sent packing by Johnson as the Indian captain simply stared in disgust.

But one would have to wonder whether the Indian captain made the right decision in choosing to bat first with the game starting so early (8.30 am start) and dew was expected to play a big part in the morning part. The Australian bowlers did not waste the opportunity to exploit the situation and the result could have been worse had it not been for the unlikely suspects.
Jadeja began his innings with Dhoni still looking to occupy the crease. But with the Indian captain’s dismissal of lbw to Doug Bollinger for twenty-four followed quickly by Harbhajan Singh with the score reading seven down for seventy-five in the thirty-first over, Jadeja knew it was him or no one from that point.
Jadeja bit back the past criticism and disappointments and took fresh guard with Praveen Kumar. Once again the duo set about rectifying what was a very tough situation for India to crawl out of. The Australians knew they had India in the bag but did they let the cat out of the bag?
Jadeja’s fifty-seven run innings became the anchor weight and the belligerent streak in Praveen Kumar ensured he would be rewarded with his maiden half century for his bravery to fight back against the Australians. Their partnership of seventy-four runs doubled the score as India inched towards respectability as the innings came to a close.
Bollinger finished with five for thirty-five from his ten overs, Mitchell Johnson had three wickets to his name while Shane Watson picked up two.
India’s 170 all out by the end of the forty-eighth over would not have really inspired too many fans to believe India can defend the total to stay alive in the series, but given the horrors of the morning, this was like waking from a pleasant dream.