Rampant India crush Australia

The bumper crowd got to witness one of India’s more memorable performances that sealed an emphatic 2-0 series win, a first whitewash against Australia, here at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday. Defying the trend of this short series, which has seen the pendulum of fortune swing back and forth, India crossed the line with rather ridiculous ease.

Chasing 207 from a possible 77 overs to sweep the series, the hosts scaled down the target with a whopping 33 overs and seven wickets in stock. It was supposed to be a tricky target, but the Australian attack failed to make any impact on the Indian batsmen.
In the process, India bucked several other trends. Almost 16 years after beating New Zealand, the world number one Test side registered its first win at this venue, breaking what had grown into a sort of jinx for the home team. Australia, meanwhile, lost for the first time in five matches here, and slipped to fifth in the Test rankings.

To give themselves a realistic chance of a victory on a last-day pitch, one that was fast crumbling, India needed to prise out the Australian tail as quickly as possible and pacemen Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth did just that. Overnight 202 for seven, Australia could add just 21 runs more with Zaheer (3/41) and Sreesanth (2/48) sharing the remaining three wickets between them.

India’s chase began on a shaky note, Virender Sehwag falling early in the innings. Thoughts of a Mohali collapse were difficult to banish, but Murali Vijay (37), a promoted Cheteshwar Pujara (72, 89b, 7x4) and Sachin Tendulkar (53 n.o.) ensured India reached the target without much hiccup.

Tendulkar, who aggregated 403 runs at an astonishing average of over 134, was adjudged both the man of the match and the man of the series. The 37-year-old’s previous century here, 177, had come in a losing cause against Mark Taylor’s Australia in 1998. This time around, though, the little master stayed put till the end to finish the job.   
The elevation of Pujara to the number three slot may have been intended to take the Aussies by surprise, but the Saurashtra batsman did more than just that.
The right-hander, undone in the first innings by an unplayable delivery from Mitchell Johnson, looked positive right from the outset, neatly driving the left-arm paceman through the extra-cover region.

He then punched Ben Hilfenhaus to the fence before going after a lacklustre Nathan Hauritz. The Aussies kept an attacking field for Pujara, but he appeared least perturbed, cutting and driving the off-spinner with impunity. The 22-year-old also pulled Shane Watson as the score board kept ticking. Vijay, trapped in front by Watson, was no less impressive and the second-wicket association yielded a handy 72 runs.

In walked Tendulkar to a deafening sound which only grew stronger with each passing minute. These days, whatever Tendulkar touches turns into gold and the maestro turned Wednesday into one of the golden moments for India. The first-innings double centurion farmed the strike around his younger team-mate as India surely, but not at all slowly, ate into the Australian lead.

The Mumbaikar raised 57 runs in the company of Pujara to take India closer to victory and with an assured Rahul Dravid for company, the maestro batted the hosts home with plenty to spare.

Dravid, held back to provide stability in case of quick dismissals, successfully passed the left-arm over test by Johnson. Ricky Ponting had kept four slips and a gully for an edge, but Dravid refused to walk into the trap.

Only on one occasion in the 40th over did the right-hander try to poke at a sucker delivery, but otherwise his concentration remained unwavering. The epitaphs can wait.

SCORE BOARD

AUSTRALIA (I Innings): 478 all out in 141 overs
INDIA (I Innings): 495 all out in 144.5 over
AUSTRALIA (II Innings; O/n: 202/7):
Watson lbw Ojha    32
(75m, 58b, 4x4)
Katich c Dhoni b Harbhajan    24
(79m, 45b, 2x4)
Ponting lbw Zaheer    72
(170m, 117b, 7x4, 1x6)
Clarke st Dhoni b Ojha    3
(17m, 18b)
Hussey lbw Ojha    20
(64m, 51b, 1x4)
North b Harbhajan    3
(13m, 14b)
Paine c Dhoni b Sreesanth    23
(77m, 63b, 2x4)
Johnson b Zaheer    11
(56m, 30b, 2x4)
Hauritz (not out)    21
(71m, 48b, 2x4)
Hilfenhaus b Sreesanth    0
(7m, 7b)
George c Dhoni b Zaheer    0
(14m, 5b)
Extras (B-1, LB-5, W-3, NB-5)    14
Total (all out, 75.2 overs)    223
Fall of wickets: 1-58 (Watson), 2-58 (Katich), 3-65 (Clarke), 4-126 (Hussey), 5-131 (North), 6-181 (Ponting), 7-185 (Paine), 8-217 (Johnson), 9-218 (Hilfenhaus).
Bowling: Zaheer 11.2-1-41-3 (w-3), Sreesanth 14-2-48-2 (nb-3), Ojha 25-5-57-3 (nb-2), Harbhajan 21-2-63-2, Sehwag 4-0-8-0.
INDIA (II Innings):
Vijay lbw Watson    37
(73m, 45b, 6x4)
Sehwag c Paine b Hilfenhaus    7
(11m, 6b, 1x4)
Pujara b Hauritz    72
(129m, 89b, 7x4)
Tendulkar (not out)    53
(125m, 77b, 5x4, 2x6)
Dravid (not out)    21
(51m, 53b, 2x4)
Extras (B-8, LB-5, W-4)    17
Total (for 3 wkts, 45 overs)    207
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Sehwag), 2-89 (Vijay), 3-146 (Pujara).
Bowling: Ben Hilfenhaus 7-0-27-1, Mitchell Johnson 14-4-42-0 (w-3), Nathan Hauritz 12-0-76-1, Peter George 7-0-29-0 (w-1), Shane Watson 5-0-20-1.