In an action-packed match, Australia effectively sealed its victory in the ongoing seven-match series against India after securing its 4th win by 18 runs in the 6th ODI played at Vidarbha C.A. Ground, Nagpur on Sunday.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Australia lost the early wicket of Michael Clarke, which, however, could not make much impact even as Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting went ahead to create a solid second-wicket partnership of 96 runs before Harbhajan Singh claimed the wicket of Ponting.
Later, India also came up with a memorable 140 run opening partnership stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly which, nonetheless, proved not good enough to get India the required score, especially as the Indian middle order collapsed like a pack of cards under mounting pressure.
None of the big names, including Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni could make any substantial contribution with the bat except for a commendable 72 run partnership created between MS Dhoni and Robin Uthappa, in which, however, it was Uthappa calling all the shots while Dhoni failed to live up to the expectations and could not provide the much-needed support from the other end which ultimately took a toll in the form of both of their wickets.
After putting up a close-enough chase, India ended up with 299 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in its allotted Quota of 50 overs to lose by 18 runs to the visiting Australians. With this loss India went 4-1 down in the seven-match ODI Series against Australia with no hope left of squaring it up. The last ODI of the series between India and Australia is going to be played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday, October 17, 2007.
It is irrelevant in terms of the result of the series but India needs to show its cricketing prowess on the field and needs to come up with a memorable win in the match to make some impression with the Australians.
Last Updated on 24 August 2012
