Wizards of Oz: India beat Aus to clinch CB Series, Brisbane

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Wizards of Oz: India beat Aus to clinch CB Series, Brisbane

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2nd Final: Australia v India at Brisbane - Mar 4, 2008

India won by 9 runs.

 Australia v India, CB Series, 2nd final, Brisbane Watch Highlights

These moments come hard in a cricketer's career. Going to Australia
and winning a tournament must have began as a distant dream for Dhoni's
men, but it turned out to be a reality. India clinched the humdinger of
a second final against Australia and with it, won a one-day tournament
for the first time in 22 years. Irfan Pathan finished the game off with
two wickets in the final over to give India hard-fought victory at
Brisbane.

 Australia v India, CB Series, 2nd final, Brisbane Watch Highlights

It was a run-chase that had many aspects to it. The initial burst
from Praveen Kumar ripped off Australia's top-order with Adam Gilchrist
leaving caught behind in the first over itself. Then followed Ponting,
attempting an unusual pull-shot early on to one that was straight from
Kumar. He departed for 1, with Australia 2 wickets down for 8. Michael
Clarke then made his way back for 17, when he was cleaned up by the
young UP-all-rounder.

Australia were in all sorts of trouble when the two local boys came
into bat. Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds had a job in hand and they
did manage to pull things back a bit for the Aussies, by adding a
fruitful partnership. The two started cautiously, giving the bowlers
their due when the ball was jagging around. But, once they settled down
- Hayden and Symonds eased into their typical bully-like innings -
scoring at a decent pace to give Australia some hope.

Hayden reached his fifty off 62 balls, and that included six hits to
the fence at that stage. However, four runs later, he saw his end -
thanks to a mix-up between him and Symonds. Hayden's dismissal came at
a wrong time for Australia as a definite partnership was building. One
then became two, as Harbhajan Singh trapped his nemesis, Andrew Symonds
for 42 leg-before and by the time he was gone, the Aussies were five
down.

 Australia v India, CB Series, 2nd final, Brisbane Watch Highlights

James Hopes and Michael Hussey came into the dark with a humungous
task awaiting them - scoring consistently at over a run-a-ball. Hussey
and Hopes seemed like coming to terms with the enormous score ahead of
them and Hussey, in particular with his brisk running between the
wickets and the occasional boundary took Australia close.

The bowling change from Dhoni worked for India, when Sreesanth
dented Australia's chances by removing Hussey caught behind for 44.
Hopes in the meanwhile was suddenly falling short of partners and once
that happened, he started going for the runs himself. Praveen Kumar
then picked up Brett Lee clean bowled to give India a good chance of
clinching the tournament. Sreesanth followed it up with Mitchell
Johnson's wicket and then it was upto Irfan Pathan's brilliant last
over for India to clinch tournament glory. Hopes reached his fifty and
gave Australia a ray of hope with a flat six over mid-wicket off
Sreesanth in the second-last over.

If we had to replay the last over, it went something like this -
Hopes took the single off the first ball with Australia needing 12 off
the last five balls. And then Pathan struck a blow to remove Bracken
caught by Chawla for 1. Hopes got the strike and then took two off the
next ball to take it down to ten. Then the moment - when the Gabba went
berserk, high on an Indian victory - with Hopes driving it up to Chawla
and Pathan finishing things off.

 Australia v India, CB Series, 2nd final, Brisbane Watch Highlights

Thanks: Rab

Source: hindustantimes