Australian batting revives, yet India almost achieve the impossible: CB Series #10

Australia 7/317 [50 overs] (R Ponting 124, A Symonds 59, M Hayden 54) defeated India 299 [49.1 overs] (G Gambhir 113, R Uthappa 51, B Lee 5/58) at SCG, CB Series match 10.

A trifecta of form reversals by Ricky Ponting, 124/133b (7x4, 1x6) , Andrew Symonds, 59/49b (6x4, 2x6) and Matthew Hayden,54/62b (5x4, 1 x6) put colour back into the cheeks of the ailing Australian batting as the side stroked and biffed its way to an apparently, at least by the standards of the series so far, unsurmountable 7/317. Vintage batting, especially by captain Ponting, who needed this innings more than any of his team mates.

In reply India lost 4/51 from 62 balls and the game looked as if it was about to, as so many one sided ODIs do, move into mopping up mode. Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark shared the early wickets, but Gautam Gambhir 113/119b (9x4, 1x6) and most of the rest of the Indian team fought hard and came close to pulling off an impossible win. Lee, as is his custom, didn't give up and his 5/ 58 runs from 9.1 overs kept his team's head in front.

I'm sorry to admit that I switched off when India were 4/51. I thought that they had little Buckley's chance. If a combination of Verinder Sehwag (restored to the side), Sachin Tendulkar (another failure opening) and Yuvraj Singh (back in form in Adelaide) couldn't build a platform for a good tilt at victory then I thought that nobody could. I was wrong and so can't really say much about how they did it, but will direct you, if you wish to find out more, the link to the Cricinfo Bulletin.

Scorecard