Dhoni�s youth brigade breathes fire to tame Kangaroos

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Dhoni�s youth brigade breathes fire to tame Kangaroos

India scripted a 2-0 whitewash of Australia in the finals of Commonwealth Bank tri-series to herald a new chapter in its cricket history. Earlier, Indian colts routed S African colts to lift the Under-19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

CJ: Avinash Kumar

Wed, Mar 05, 2008 17:35:49 IST

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India Australia Cricket :

THE CRICKET crazy nation erupted into unbridled celebration last night as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young turks won a cliff-hanger against a faltering world-beating Australian cricket team. The streets of Delhi witnessed a festival time as people went gaga over the emphatic victory.

As the controversy ridden tour down under came to a nail-biting finish, Dhoni’s men kept their nerves to restrict the Aussies to 249 in 49.4 overs after scoring a respectable 258 in their stipulated 50 overs. The Australian hopes came crashing as James Hopes (63 off 80 balls) miscued Irfan Pathan and the baby-faced Piyush Chawla covered the distance to complete a fine catch. The Indian dressing room turned into festive mood instantaneously.

Young paceman Pravin Kumar was declared man of the finals for his incisive bowling that reduced Australia to 32 for three at one stage. He returned to scalp the big hitting Brett Lee towards the death. He was ably supported by Sreesanth and Harbhajan, who tightened the noose on the Australian batsmen after Praveen had dismissed Gilchrist, Ponting and Clarke cheaply.

Hayden and Symonds led a minor recovery before Harbhajan bowled an eventful 26th over to send both the batsmen back to pavilion. Hussey and Hopes added 76 runs for the sixth wicket. Sreesanth induced an edge from Hussey into the safe hands of Dhoni. Irfan Pathan held his nerve in the decisive final over to ensure an Indian win.

Earlier, the living legend of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, showed tremendous application and grit to score a fighting 91 (121 balls, 7x4). He was ably supported by Uthappa, Yuvraj and Dhoni, who all reached thirties only to squander their fine starts. Yuvraj looked in ominous touch, clouting two sixes in his 38 before a rush of blood led to his downfall.

Nathan Bracken was declared man of the series for his steady bowling right through the tournament.

In the post-match conference, Dhoni hailed the team effort of his young guns and termed Tendulkar as “the best in the world.” Ricky Ponting blamed his batsmen for the loss. His own dismal form was strongly criticised by the captain.

Former cricketers praised the determination of the team and the inspiring leadership of Dhoni, who had been severely criticised for keeping senior cricketers Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman out of the ODI team for the past few months. Dhoni’s insistence on blooding the youth seems to be paying dividends and his critics seem to have no clue as to what to say.

Gautam Gambhir has emerged as a dependable number three for India. Considered to be the best player of spin in the country after the great Tendulkar, Gambhir showed tremendous determination to notch up two centuries and a match-winning half-century in the tri-series.

But the find of the tournament has been Ishant Sharma. The lanky Delhi speed merchant clocked 150-plus and drew parallels from Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar. Arguably the quickest fast bowler in the country ever, Sharma bowled a nagging line and length right through the series. Though Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth touched 150 km per hour during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, they could not sustain the speed for long. Ishant has promised a lot and too much depends on the way he is handled by the management in the near future.

More than anything else, the series will be remembered for the unending controversies it witnessed. “The series has only one parallel in the history of the game as far as the controversies are concerned – the Bodyline series in 1930s. The horrible umpiring of Buckner, though, has no parallels,” quipped Deepa Verma, an English literature student.

While the seniors were marching towards glory in Australia, the Indian colts led by Virat Kohli went unbeaten to lift the Under-19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. India’s dominance in the junior level tournaments in the last ten years beckons a bright future for Indian cricket. It is up to the selectors and the BCCI to hone the talent of these promising cricketers to convert them into a world-beating side at the highest level in the near future.

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