Email Us Forum Mail Article Print Article

2nd Final: India humiliated

Monday, February 9 2004

Australia thrashed India by 208 runs in the 2nd Final of the VB series at the SCG, on the back of an amazing display of batting by Hayden, Symonds and Martyn, to win the best-of-3 Final series 2-0.

VB Series - 2nd Final
Australia vs. India
SCG, Sydney (D/N)
8 Feb 2004

India went into the 2nd Final already on the backseat, with traumatic memories of the 1st Final, as well as injuries to Ajit Agarkar and Anil Kumble - the two bowlers who have had the largest impact on this tour. They had to be replaced by paceman Ashish Nehra, who hadn't had a decent bowl since a long time, and left arm spinner Murali Kartik, whose outing in the few games he has played has been far from convincing. Australia, however went unchanged from the previous match's victorious squad.

India's luck didn't get any better, as Australian skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss, and without hesitation decided to bat first. Before this match, India had never defeated Australia in the Final(s) of any tournament bowling first since the Sharjah Cup in 1997-98.

For India to have any chance of restricting Australia to a gettable total, they had to take every chance given their way by the Aussie openers. One such chance went begging, when in the 3rd over of the Aussie innnings Matthew Hayden tried to steal a single, and would have been way out of the crease, if Sachin Tendulkar would have got a direct hit at the stumps. Hayden took full advantage of this missed chance, swapping roles of the aggressor with Adam Gilchrist, who played second fiddle this time. Gilchrist went for 29 in the 9th over when he was caught at mid-on after mistiming a pull off Nehra. However, his short innings did include some of his trademark shots.

Ponting followed soon after though, for 4, when he was caught behind the wickets off Irfan Pathan. At that stage, India were presented with an oppotunity of coming back into the match, with the Aussie score at a precarious 73/2. However, Damien Martyn, starting off caustiously, but then later picking up the tempo, denied that. Coming into this match, Martyn didn't have a good score to show for the entire series, as well as was very much in the danger of losing his spot in the side for upcoming tours because on an extended form slump.

While Martyn tried to rescurrect his form as well as pride, Hayden on the other end continued the punishment on the Indian bowlers. He reached his 50 with off just 37 balls. Hayden had another lucky break, when Kartik - just introduced into the attack after Hayden's 50 - trapped him in front with one that pitched on leg and was heading for the top of off-stump. Australian umpire Daryl Harper though turned the appeal down. Despite such close calls, Hayden did not stop his torrent, as he reached a 100 off just 95 balls, which included 3 mammoth sixes.

After 30 overs, Australia were 180/2, in sight of another huge total, and the ghosts of the 2003 World Cup returned to haunt the Indians. Martyn slowly, but surely returned to his classy fluent form, also reaching his half-century, his first in nine innings, with Australia also crossingthe 200-run mark in the 33rd over. Martyn finally fell to Pathan, mistiming a pull in the deep to Hemang Badani, ending a 157 run partnership, which definitely had put Australia in the driver's seat.

Hayden also went through a lean patch after Martyn's fall, scoring very few runs. Sachin Tendulkar, who was brought into bowl by Sourav Ganguly for the first time in the VB series managed to keep the scoring in check temporarily. Hayden survived another chance, when he seemed to have knicked Pathan to Dravid, but was given not out. He, however didn't look the same after that, falling shortly to a poorly executed reverse sweep off Tendulkar. Australia were 230/4 when Hayden got out, and in a position where they could faulter and end up with only about 300-310, much less than what they would have hoped for, and looked to get.

However, blistering batting performances by Andrew Symonds, and Michael Clarke made sure that Australia end up scoring a virtually impossible total to chase. Symonds was the more severe of the two, scoring 66 runs off just 39 balls, 3 sixes included. Indian bowlers didn't have a clue as to where to bowl to the two, especially Symonds as he over-powered most of the deliveries to produce outstanding shots. By the time Symonds fell to Nehra off a yorker, it was too late. Australia had reached very close to 350, thanks to the 99-run partnership between the two off as less as 45 balls.

Australia finished with 359/5 in 50 overs, with Michael Clarke unbeaten on 33, and Katich finishing off the final over with two consecutuive boundaries. Australia scored 117 runs off the last 10 overs, decimating the confidence of the Indians ahead of the run chase.

India got off to the most perfect start they would have liked, with Virendar Sehwag leg-glancing the first ball of the innings off Jason Gillespie for a six. However, the perfect start, was as short-lived as it could get, for in the 3rd over, with the score on just 22, Brett Lee pulled off an amazing catch of Virendar Sehwag, while he was leg-glancing again to Gillespie. India never came out of the hole after that, losing wickets regularly.

Tendulkar gave Gillespie his second scalp when he edged to Lee at square leg and VVS Laxman was caught and bowled by Lee in the space of five balls. A combination of consistent bowling and superb fielding put India out of contention to chase the total down. Ian Harvey also joined the party picking up two wickets, those of Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh. Before that, the Wall Rahul Dravid was run-out for a duck thanks to a direct hit from Martyn. Ganguly got out flashing to point, while Yuvraj edged to Gilchrist, reducing India to 59/6.

India never looked to get even close to the target after that, with the batsman following playing only to salvage some pride. Hemang Badani and Irfan Pathan put together a partnership, shamefully the highest of the innings, of 40 runs. Badani was a victim of another run-out, falling for 18. Pathan and Kartik too tried to take the score to a respectable position, but in vain. Pathan, who has looked a decent tail-ender the entire series top scored the Indian innings with 30, before he fell to Lee. Kartik followed soon after to Williams.

Ashish Nehra tried to have fun in a vain cause, hitting two boundaries and a massive six off Gillespie. But the miserable run chase soon ended when Brad Williams got through Balaji's defences. India never got a partnership going, especially from the top-order. For a team to chase a target as huge as 360, not one, but two or three of the top-order batsman have to stick in there for a large number of overs. But sadly, it didn't happen, thus authoring a kind of anti-climax.

This brought a lackluster end to a valiant Indian tour. India took Australia to the limits in the Tests. And looked good enough to give Australia a run for their money in the ODIs too. However, Australia started the demolition act last Sunday in Perth, and never looked back.

Matthew Hayden was named the Man of the Match for his century, while Adam Gilchrist was named the Player of the VB series, scoring close to 500 runs at an average of 70+.

Brief Scorecard:

Australia: 359/5 in 50 overs
Matthew Hayden 126(122), Damien Martyn 67(76), Andrew Symonds 66(39), Irfan Pathan 75/2(10), Ashish Nehra 63/2(10)

India: 151 all out in 33.2 overs
Sachin Tendulkar 27(40), Irfan Pathan 30(41), Brett Lee 39/2(10), Brad Williams 12/2(6.2), Ian Harvey 30/2(5)

Result: Australia won the match by 208 runs, and the VB series Final 2-0.

Man of the Match: Matthew Hayden (Aus)

Player of the Series: Adam Gilchrist (Aus)

Posted by Sudeep