Coming up with a phenomenally diminutive cricketing performance, Indian team fell apart like a pack of cards to lose the sole Twenty20 International match played against Australia by no less than 9 wickets at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, February 1, 2008. The Twenty20 fiasco came as an eye opener to the skipper and the team authorities who chose a young and largely inexperienced team to take on the Aussies in what was considered more of a practice match than anything else.
India won the toss to begin with and chose to bat but was soon faced with the prospect of being bundled out in less than 10 overs when wickets started falling all around like ripe pineapples. Irfan Pathan was the only Indian batsman to be able to hold his own in the midst of chaos and managed to reach double figures which seemed like an achievement in itself when one considers the performance of the team as a whole. Virender Sehwag was the first victim of what could be described as nothing less than a brutal massacre of the cricketing kind, succumbing to a brilliant run-out effort from Clarke. Both established and inexperienced batsmen in the Indian line-up fauiled to come up with any substantial efforts which could make it something of a contest. It was only Irfan Pathan who tried to anchor the innings with his cameo but with wickets falling regularly at the other end, ultimately he too succumbed to the immense pressure as India was bundled out for the second-worst ever Twenty20 cricket score of 74 runs in 17.3 overs.
Last Updated on 24 August 2012
