Commonwealth Bank Series Game 7 - Australia vs India at Adelaide Oval

[Ljp86]

Commonwealth Bank Series Game 7 - Australia vs India at Adelaide Oval

Game 7 is already underway. Australia won the toss and decided to bat but so far it hasn't paid off and India are on top. Gilchrist was out early for 15, Ponting's poor form continued after being dismissed for 10 and Hayden was the last man out for a slow 13.

Australia are currently 3/45 in the 14th over. Ishant Sharma, Pathan and Patel each have one wicket.

Australia XI: +Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, *Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, James Hopes, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark

India XI: Sachin Tendulkar, Guatam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, *+Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel

 

[Ljp86]

Re: Commonwealth Bank Series Game 7 - Australia vs India at Adelaide Oval

Symonds falls to Sharma, 4/50 in the 16th over.

Australia in big trouble now, I don't think they know how to play the Indian bowlers properly at the moment, they've troubled them all series.

 

[Ljp86]

Re: Commonwealth Bank Series Game 7 - Australia vs India at Adelaide Oval

Australia struggled to 9/203 off their 50 overs. Michael Clarke was the standout with an important 79 and Brad Hogg made a crucial 32 batting at number eight before being run out.

Irfan Pathan was the best Indian bowler with 4/41, Ishant Sharma chipped in with 2/32.

In reply, India are 5/117 after 30 overs. Sachin Tendulkar was the first to fall for five, trapped in front by Nathan Bracken. He was followed by Pathan, Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and just recently Yuvraj Singh who was out to Brad Hogg. Gambhir has top score with 34 with MS Dhoni undefeated on 30.

James Hopes has 2/5 off four overs with Bracken, Johnson and Hogg the other wickets.

Game in the balance here, yet another low scoring game on a pitch that is conducive for batting. The ball has most definitely dominated the bat in this series, something which doesn't happen all too often. The bowlers won't be complaining too much though.

 

[Ljp86]

Re: Commonwealth Bank Series Game 7 - Australia vs India at Adelaide Oval

Well, India choked badly in the end and fell well short of the target score.

Yuvraj's dismissal proved to be the turning point of the game. India were going along well enough until a rash, unneeded shot from Yuvraj saw him on his way for 26. Dhoni then ran himself out, Harbhajan was bounced out by Mitch Johnson and then gave Gilchrist the easiest of catches and then when Robin Uthappa tried to smash one over cover but only edged the ball to Gilchrist, the game was pretty much over.

Sreesanth was the next to go and when Patel edged behind, that dismissal saw India all out for 153 and gave Australia victory by 50 runs.

It was yet another great bowling effort from the Aussies. They once again bowled with good line and discipline and managed to strangle the Indian batters or created enough pressure for the Indians to make fatal errors. Yuvraj's shot was poor and Uthappa's attempted slog only for him to edge the ball to Gilchrist was also not needed and ultimately lead to their demise. Dhoni's run out also didn't help the Indian cause.

Dhoni top scored with 37 and Gambhir's 34 early on remained the second highest scorer for the Indians. Mitch Johnson was Australia's most effective bowler with 3/42 with Hopes, Bracken and Hogg taking two wickets and then there was Dhoni's run out which was courtesy of Matthew Hayden.

So, an easy win to Australia in the end, I thought 203 would be nowhere near enough but the pitch proved to be a slowish one which once again aided the bowlers efforts in this game. Michael Clarke was named Man of the Match for his 78.

To the points table, that win sees Australia move further ahead of India and Sri Lanka. Australia now have a clear buffer on 17 points with India and Sri Lanka clustered together in positions two and three on the ladder.

Team       Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts  NetRR     For     Against 
Australia  5    3   1    0    1  17   +1.135 851/200.0 611/195.5 
India      5    1   2    0    2   8   -0.348 466/116.5 516/119.0 
Sri Lanka  4    1   2    0    1   6   -1.507 452/119.0 642/121.0

A win against Sri Lanka on Friday Night would secure a finals berth for the Aussies while the two remaining fixtures between Sri Lanka and India will go a long way to deciding who will also take a spot in the finals series.

The next game in the series is a day/night game between India and Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval starting on Tuesday.