Adelaide: Needing 13 runs of the final over, Mahendra Singh Dhoni kept his best for the last as the Indian skipper hit a mighty six off Clint Mcay’s third ball and steered his team to a four-wicket win with two balls to spare against Australia in the fourth ODI of the Tri-series here on Sunday.
Earlier Gautam Gambhir played a polished innings of 92 runs to give India a platform to chase the not-so-easy target of 270 set by the Aussies. But it was Captain Cool’s (44) and his last over heroics that saw India through in the match.
Chasing the target, India started off well with openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir adding 50 runs in the ninth over. But the Najafgarh Nawab went soon after when he edged a delivery from McKay giving a simple catch to Hussey. McKay tasted another success when he had Kohli (18) caught by Peter Forrest at deep extra cover for 18. After losing Gautam Gambhir (92) and Rohit Sharma (33) in quick succession, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina played sensibly, adding 61-run for the fifth wicket and took India close to the target. Raina played a quick cameo of 38 off 30 balls which included a six and three boundaries.
Earlier in the match it was Australia who won the toss and elected to bat first. The new opening pair of Ricky Ponting and David Warner did not last for long as the former Australian captain got out to Vinay Kumar. Peter Forrest, who was making his debut, however scored a good half century and along with David Hussey (72) took Australian innings forward after the fall of three wickets. But the Indian pacers did a fine job towards the end and managed in restricting Australia to 269.
For India, Umesh Yadav and R Vinay Kumar took two wickets each as Australia scored 269/8 in their 50 overs.
