A stunning spell of fast bowling from Ishant Sharma set up a five-wicket victory for India against Australia in the Commonwealth Bank Series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Ishant was in destructive form, claiming four wickets as the hosts were dismissed for just 159 inside 44 overs.
India stuttered in reply, but 44 from Sachin Tendulkar and an unbeaten 39 from Rohit Sharma was enough to see them home.
advertisement
Australia got off to a disappointing start when Adam Gilchrist was controversially adjudged lbw off the bowling of Sreesanth without scoring.
Matthew Hayden (25) became Ishant's first victim soon after when he was caught behind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
And the hosts looked in danger of an embarrassing collapse when Ricky Ponting was caught at first slip by Sachin Tendulkar for nine, again of the bowling of Ishant.
The wickets continued to tumble as Australia found themselves 92 for six, and it was not long before Ishant claimed his fourth wicket as Stuart Clark edged his first delivery to Dhoni to wrap up the innings.
Ishant was the star with the ball for India, claiming four for 38, and Sreesanth (three for 31) offered good support.
The writing was on the wall early on for Australia as the second ball of India's reply went for four off the edge of Virender Sehwag's bat.
And although the visitors were teetering on 102 for five, Rohit Sharma and captain Dhoni dug in to rebuild and compiled an unbeaten partnership of 58 to guide India home.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
