Australia 'runs away' with second ODI

'There's nothing to get excited about,' Indian coach John Wright told rediff at the end of the Test series. 'We still have to improve our fielding and running between wickets.'

For those of us used to coaches exuding euphoria after a win and refusing to meet the media after a defeat, those words might have sounded needlessly downbeat and critical -- a verbal wet blanket thrown on national celebrations. The second ODI at Pune, on Wednesday, however showed that Wright was right on the money, when he made that call.

India, batting first, was involved in three run-outs. And when it fielded, missed three run-out chances inside of the first 15 overs.

On flat batting tracks, these shortcomings are papered over by the deeds of its array of strokeplayers. But on a track like the one laid out at Pune -- brown, underprepared, with just enough variable bounce and turn to put doubt in the minds of the batsmen, these very shortcomings cost India dear.

It was a very wierd pitch -- inexplicably so, considering that the groundsmen had all the time they needed to prepare it. A belter like in Bangalore would delight those fans who come to watch the ball fly off the bat. A testing track, with something in it for both bowlers and batsmen, would delight the connoisseurs of good, competitive cricket. This one was nothing more or less than a 22-yard puzzle, that had both Steve Waugh and Sourav Ganguly scratching their heads in some perplexity.

India played the safe option, resting Ajit Agarkar for Sunil Joshi, to give it two spinners on a track that showed some sign of taking turn. The other change was a forced one -- Dinesh Mongia coming in for the injured Virendra Sehwag.

Australia for its part went in for wholesale changes -- the famous 'rotation policy' which has been greeted with hype and criticism in equal measure, being put into effect. Shane Warne lost his berth -- on one track he would perhaps have enjoyed bowling on. Out, too, went Ian Harvey -- a surprising omission, given that he had in fact bowled Australia back into the game at Bangalore after the opening bowlers were manhandled. Ponting was rested too -- which didn't surprise anyone. Damien Martyn got promoted to number three, Andrew Symonds, Darren Lehmann and left arm medium pacer Nathan Bracken coming into the side.

The toss was crucial -- and Sourav Ganguly won it, for the second straight time, and immediately opted for first strike, a sensible move given that there was no way to judge just what the pitch would do as the game progressed.

Glenn McGrath (fined, for once, for being too free with his mouth in Bangalore) has through this series been nattering on at Sachin Tendulkar. Who, for his part, opted to focus during the Tests on reining in his temper, and his penchant for risk-taking. The one-dayers appear to have come, for Tendulkar, as payback time -- there is a lot of concentrated venom in the way he has been singling McGrath out, first in Bangalore and then here. As in Bangalore, so too here, there was an element of disdain in the way he went way outside off to lift over square leg for a four and six. McGrath, after a good first over, found 20 runs against his name after he had bowled three.

At the other end, Sourav Ganguly's personal nightmare continued. One over after he had been dismissed by Tendulkar, McGrath came round the wicket, angled one in, Ganguly drove at it without moving his feet the least little bit, got the thick inner edge, and was walking back yet again.

Tendulkar's vendetta aimed at McGrath is certainly providing a lot of entertainment for fans -- but a case could be made for having the team management tell him that if a wicket falls early, it might help the team cause to rein in his enthusiasm a bit. In the over immediately after Ganguly's dismissal, Tendulkar went after Fleming and played what has to be the shot of the match -- an incredible off drive on the up to a ball back of a length and rising. And then he flashed yet again into a hook -- deliberately hitting up aiming for the maximum, mishitting against the slower pace of Fleming, and picking out Darren Lehmann at backward square leg. 32 off 29 balls, Tendulkar -- another spectacular, and spectacularly short-lived, cameo.

Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have been teaming up quite nicely of late -- which makes it all the more surprising when they make a mess of running between wickets. 'Mess' being a polite way to describe Dravid's dismissal, actually -- Laxman played the third ball of the 14th over to midwicket, wide of the fielder. Laxman, while on the subject, appears to have learnt a few lessons -- you notice that he keeps taking off for singles after angling the ball fractionally wide of a fielder, which is good; but you notice too that his partners have tended to look not at Laxman, but at the ball, which is silly. This was one instance -- the ball was angled wide of Bevan at midwicket, Laxman called and took off, Dravid responded, began coming down the track, then stopped and looked at the fielder. Laxman, seeing Dravid stop, retraced his steps -- and then Dravid decided to go through with the run -- and was caught hopelessly out of his ground.

Another aspect that merits mention, while on Dravid's brief tenure at the crease, is that he and Fleming got involved in a little verbal duel. Interestingly, the Aussies have been targetting a few of the Indians -- Ganguly and Dravid in particular, Tendulkar occaisonally -- and have been getting back as good as they give, with the Indians for once figuring that their normally pacifist demeanour won't do any more.

India's run progression tells a little story -- 28/0 in 5 overs, 44/2 in 10, 60/3 in 15. The emphasis on shotplay was getting them runs, but too many wickets were falling too early. Around this period, Damien Martyn and Nathan Bracken teamed up for some controlled line and length bowling, and the run rate dropped even further, India having 75/3 on the board in 20, 101/3 at the halfway stage.

One reason for the low run rate was that on this track, fours weren't as easy to come by. A bigger reason was that the run out -- the second one in two games Laxman has been involved in -- seemed to dampen his spirits, even as his partner, Hemang Badani, responded to each call with obvious suspicion.

The two, however, settled down to a good recovery -- with Laxman for once content to play the waiting game, while Badani settled into the kind of easy, composed batsmanship that has a lot of us wondering just how much longer it will be before he makes the Test XI.

Laxman racked up his first ODI half-century in the 34th over, and at that point, the fourth wicket partnership had flourished to the tune of 92 off 116 balls with Badani racing to a rapid 49. The next over, however, undid all that good work -- Badani played one on the on, there was another episode of hesitant calling, Laxman pushed for the single seemingly intent on helping his partner get his individual fifty, couldn't make it back in time when Badani turned him down, and was taken out by Steve Waugh's direct hit from midwicket.

Badani finally made his 50, off 58 balls -- and then watched yet another partner go to a ridiculous run out. Dinesh Mongia, making his debut, cut Fleming -- very well, what is more. It was Badani's call, he said yes and went easily. Mongia for his part took off and then, for some inexplicable reason, halted in his tracks, looked at Mark Waugh who at point was producing another outstanding bit of fielding, then panicked and ran back into his crease, found Badani there, and started running the other way. It was all quite comical -- except that comedy was not what you wanted of players at this level.

From this point, Badani took charge -- and the way he did, is worth noting, since it shows a certain amount of character in the lad. Rather than let the situation get to him, he took on himself the onus of keeping the board ticking on at speed. In the process, he got a life when, in the 38th over, he attempted to swing a ball over long on and Michael Bevan, normally safer than most houses, got nicely under it and fluffed the simplest of takes.

Vijay Dahiya, a very good bat lower down the order, lost the plot somewhat when, in the 39th over, he opted for the big hit rather than the calculated single that would have let Badani continue his good work. Fleming bowled one from wide of the crease, Dahiya looked to hit over the field on the on side, got it on the high part of the bat, and holed out.

Badani kept getting them in singles and twos, at the other end, batting quite easily with the tail and, always, timing with fluency and a casual grace. He uses a bat personally picked for him, and autographed by, Sachin Tendulkar -- and Tendulkar wouldn't have been disgraced by the way the youngster played today. An interesting aspect of his play was that 50 of his first 80 runs came in the V, on either side of the wicket -- a sign of a batsman who, on a pitch of uncertain character, was comfortable playing very straight. A good cameo partnership with Joshi resucitated a dying innings, before the latter fell to a superb catch by Mark Waugh -- who, today, fielded like a man possessed. Badani got to his first ODI century, off just 98 balls, in the 49th over, then fell a ball later trying to blast one over the on side only to hole out to Lehmann at long on. And India's innings tapered out, to 248/9 in the allotted 50 overs leaving Australia an asking rate of 4.98.

The Aussie openers, Mark Waugh and Mathew Hayden, got the team off to the best opening partnership of this tour. 'Matt the Bat' merely had to continue his incredible run of form -- Waugh had to turn his own form around.

What he -- and Hayden -- had going for him was the relatively low asking rate, which meant they didn't have to play too many shots, but could do it through judicious singles. That is something the Aussies are past masters at -- and their display on the day was full of lessons for the Indians.

One little vignette sums up the story -- at one point, Mark played one gently down, almost at his feet, on the on side. As good batsmen will, he looked immediately at his partner, saw that Hayden was running, and took off without an instant's hesitation. The run was made with ease before the keeper could run around and collect, and from the other end, Mark flashed his partner a thumbs up for a well conceived and taken single. Had Waugh waited to see what Dahiya was doing, he would have been run out by a few yards.

Having said that, there were three occasions in the first 15 overs when the Aussies could have been run out, thanks mainly due to their penchant for running for everything. The Indian fielding, however, was incredibly sloppy -- on one occasion, the fielder were more intent on admiring Srinath's LBW appeal, than collecting the loose ball and taking out the stumps at the non-striker's end. Dinesh Mongia, in the 13th over, fielded well at midwicket, blocking a run that seemed on by racing in very fast -- then spoilt his good work by firing the throw high, from almost handshaking distance. In the 18th over, Yuvraj Singh at point fumbled a throw to the bowler's end, with Hayden a long way out of his ground.

And the Aussies thrived. 29/0 in 5, 48/0 in 10, 80/0 in 15, 112/0 in 20 and 138/0 in 25 meant that the opening partnership ran away with the game.

Full credit needs to go to Mark Waugh -- who, on the day, played the spin of Harbhajan and Sunil Joshi with brilliance. The footwork was perfect, ditto the shot selection -- and for once, we had an Aussie batsman playing spin on a track that turned and bounced with very soft, gentle hands.

Both batsmen eased past their individual 50s and it was only the advent of Zahir Khan -- who for the second straight game, bowled very well on a track that had nothing for him -- that broke the partnership. A quicker ball, swinging away late from line outside off, had Hayden aiming a huge drive, to be beaten by the swing. The ball hit the toe of the bat, went high, and Ganguly held easily at cover.

India at that point had the glimmering of a chance. In the 30th over, Darren Lehmann -- promoted to Martyn's slot at number three -- cut hard, Yuvraj Singh dived at point to produce a brilliant stop, and fired the throw back in to the keeper who, with both batsmen stuck in the middle, had all the time in the world to take out the bails. He did. And Lehmann quickly walked.

The Indians appealed, rightly arguing that Mark Waugh had crossed his partner on that run, and was closer to the batting end when Dahiya took off the bails. The issue was referred to the third umpire -- who, after reviewing the video, figured that the call was too marginal for him to make, and turned the appeal down.

Michael Bevan came in next -- and almost went out again immediately, when Sachin Tendulkar went round the wicket and floated an off break on perfect length, to find the edge. Vijay Dahiya grabbed, and missed, the kind of catch that settles nicely into the glove.

India had wasted too many chances. And Australia capitalised, crusing to an eight-wicket win with 8 wickets in hand. In the process, Mark Waugh completed his 18th ODI tonne, four of which have come against India. Notably, that innings contained 13 fours, but more significantly, it also included 30 singles and 9 twos.

And that really made the difference -- on this track, it was the singles and twos that were going to win it for you. The Indians, probably hungover from their efforts in Bangalore, attempted too many big hits and this, aided by some sophomorish calling and running, cost them the match.

So now, the Aussies are back -- which adds to the interest for the remainder of the series.

In passing, one thought -- as the game meandered to a finish, a section of the crowd started pelting missiles at the Indians fielding near the boundary line. Such behaviour -- against any player, irrespective of whether he belongs to the home team or a touring side -- is despicable, and inexcusable. In this case, it also makes you wonder -- just what was that all about? Is that how you treat a side that, against everyone's expectations, did the country proud in this series against a side universally hailed as world champions in both forms of the game?

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Victory Mark - Images of the match

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