MUMBAI: India reaffirmed their status as world champions by spanking Australia by seven wickets in a one-off Twenty20 International, riding on Gautam Gambhir's blistering strokeplay.
The Indians first restricted Australia to 166 for five and then rattled up the required runs with 11 balls to spare in a thrilling flood-lit contest at the Brabourne Stadium. India lost an early wicket when Virender Sehwag edged Brett Lee to Adam Gilchrist for only five with the score reading 20 in the third over.
But man of the match Gambhir and Uthappa took the attack to the bowlers and the Australians were clearly rattled. Both batsmen played audacious strokes all around the wicket to the delight of the packed gathering as their match winning partnership took just 52 balls.
Both were unafraid to step down the track to the pacers, including Aussie pace spearhead Brett Lee who was hit for 20 runs in an over, and cart them around mercilessly as the scoring rate rattled along merrily at over ten an over.
The pair was separated only after pushing the score past the 100-mark in 10.3 overs when Uthappa tried to glide left arm slow bowler Michael Clarke and got a thin edge to Gilchrist. But Yuvraj, another star performer in South Africa, stepped in to ensure victory with a quick-fire knock in which he hooked Stuart Clark for successive sixes over long leg.
He also added 41 runs with Gambhir. The capacity crowd at the stadium, already in a festive mood on the eve of Dusshera, burst into celebration as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hit the winning runs by clobbering Brett Lee for a mighty six.
It was an awesome batting display by the hosts in their first ever Twenty20 international on home soil as they completely tore apart the Australian bowling attack with their lusty hitting. The skies lit up with dazzling fireworks providing the perfect finish to the absorbing contest which also saw useful contributions by Yuvraj Singh (31 in 25 balls) and Harbhajan Singh, who conceded only 17 runs in his four overs.
Ricky Ponting's men did not help their own cause as they helped the Indians with front foot no-balls giving the batsmen free hits. Also, overthrows and inaccurate bowling added to the Indian score.
Indian victory prevented Australia from finishing the tour on a high after having clinched the one-day series 4-2. Gambhir, who was one of the architects of India's T20 triumph in South Africa, seemed to continue where he left off there and put behind his poor form in the initial part of the ODI series.
He slammed Nathan Bracken for three fours in the second over to push the scoring rate along. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the Indian team had proved that their Twenty20 World Cup victory was not a fluke as they mauled Australia by seven wickets in the one-off Twenty20 international.
"It (victory) means a lot. We wanted to prove that World Cup victory (in South Africa) was not a fluke," he said after the match. Dhoni said that team wanted to enjoy and play with intensity. "We wanted to enjoy.
The benchmark was to play with intensity and to put up a good fielding and bowling performance," he said. The Indian captain also hailed opener Gautam Gambhir for his splendid show with the bat. "Gautan played excellently.
The way he batted was amazing. He was out of the team because of injury and made a good comeback. I hope he bats the same in the Pakistan series," he said. Man of the match Gambhir said he was keen to carry on his good form in the one-day format.
Print
Tell friend
Top
