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Five point something
Favourite player from the two sides
Shane Watson. "When I see players like him, I feel the future of Australian cricket is in safe hands," Steve Waugh said when he saw Watson perform in firstclass cricket. He not only got them out, he embarrassed them. Gautam Gambhir will probably have nightmares about the ball that was destined for the deep midwicket fence but ended up dislodging his off stump. Johnson when he gets inswing is unplayable this is rapidly becoming a truism. The early morning start and the nature of the Nehru Stadium pitch demanded a cautious approach, but the Indians played like millionaires. Perhaps pitches like the one at Hyderabad tend to have this kind of effect.
Half the Australian side is missing, but their absence doesn't seem too conspicuous, does it?
One thing I'd have changed about the match
MS Dhoni's decision at the toss. He recognised the risks batting first entailed, and one could maybe call it a brave decision. However, the wicket eased out for the pacers in the second innings, and the crowd could only grind their teeth in frustration.
Faceoff I relished
Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh v Ricky Ponting and Watson. Jadeja was introduced early after the mediumpacers had proved disappointing. He troubled Watson straightaway with his armballs, and had some close shouts against him when he played for the turn. Then Harbhajan got into the act with his onetime bunny Ponting at the crease. It was good cricket: bowlers exerting pressure, batsmen trying to survive, yet not losing any scoring opportunities, and that passage gave the crowd a glimmer of a hope.
Bright young thing
Doug Bollinger. It's impressive how someone with so little international experience can create such an impact in foreign conditions. Perhaps the Champions League helped him. Perhaps it's the quality of the Australian firstclass structure. Whatever it is, the guy deserves a pat on the back.
Wow moment
Praveen Kumar doing a Mahendra Singh Dhoni, playing the trademark whirling flick shot. It made the crowd go delirious. If there is one good thing to emerge from the ruins of this series, it's the discovery of the batsman in Praveen Kumar. Can he be the mediumpacer allrounder India have been looking for? Only time will tell.
Player watch
Ashish Nehra graced the area in front of our stand. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something funny about the way he runs, fields and throws, and he got plenty of laughs as expected.
Shot of the day
The one that set our heartbeats racing Virender Sehwag's six over point off the second ball of the match. That raised our hopes for another runfest like in Hyderabad. But that didn't deter Guwahati from turning up. The rest is the same old story security hassles, bad seats and overpriced food. The Indian cricket fan has gotten used to his misery, and seems to have been bought over by cheap tickets (Rs 210, student discount). When will we get the opportunity to lie on spacious grass banks and sip beer while watching quality cricket?
ODI v Twenty20?
This match was the worst advert for an ODI. The period when Michael Hussey and Cameron White were batting had neither the bubblingunderthesurface tension of Test match cricket nor the explicit intensity of Twenty20. Unlike in Test cricket, bowlers have limited quotas in ODIs, so Hussey and White could afford to play out Harbhajan taking no risks whatsoever. Perhaps the suggestion of allowing unlimited overs to bowlers in ODIs needs to be given a thought.
Marks out of 10
5. It wasn't a highscoring game, so it needed to be close to catch the fancy of the crowd, which it wasn't. On top of it, the home team lost, and it was a rude eyeopener for Indian fans.
A note to the BCCI: the Nehru Stadium is crying out for proper floodlights to allow daynight matches to happen here. Without them, you get 8:30 starts,[url=http://www.floware.fr]michael kors femmes[/url], which are unfair to one team (though Dhoni won the toss here, so he can't complain), and there is always the danger of bad light halting play.