Tendulkar holds innings together
46 overs India 4 for 231 (Tendulkar 91,Dhoni 33*,Pathan 9*)) v Australia
In about two hours of nimble-footed driving mainly to the off side, interspersed with soft on-side strokes, Sachin Tendulkar led a most solid start from India in the second CB Series final in Brisbane. Following on from the excellence shown in Sydney, Tendulkar, with a well-paced half-century, added 94 with Robin Uthappa, in his longest stay at the crease all series, and promised plenty more as India reached the halfway mark on 1 for 121.
India were steady during the Powerplays, scoring 36, 30 and 26 in three blocks, but made their best start of the tournament. Within a couple overs it was evident this was an easy-paced surface, and a slip was taken out to accommodate another man on the leg side as Tendulkar and Uthappa dabbed a few easy singles. The ball didn't speed away to the ropes when the batsmen leaned into their drives and so they smartly adjusted gears, keeping the outfielders busy through a mixture of full-faced dabs to third man and flicks to deep square leg.
Lured forward by Brett Lee's near-perfect length and immaculate seam position on a couple occasions, Tendulkar preferred getting across and trying to work the ball into the gaps. Only once did Lee offer width and Tendulkar promptly tapped him over backward point for four.
Tendulkar had a life on 7 when Ricky Ponting dropped a hard reflex catch at short cover. An utterly mistimed pull attempt off Nathan Bracken was the first sign of frustration but he quickly regained composure and decided to target Stuart Clark, who replaced Brad Hogg in the XI. A punched on-drive, the firmest of flat-batted swats past a very straight mid-on and an attractive offdrive put him into his zone and with Mitchell Johnson unable to locate his radar India had successfully gnawed away at Australia's attack. His fifty came up from his 70th delivery.
While Tendulkar took his time to get started, Uthappa did enough to ensure India didn't slag. His footwork was efficient and his ability to keep rotate the strike, without undue risk, was clinical. Having quickly realized that the outfield was a touch slow, Uthappa sensibly fell back on his aptitude to find the gaps.
Neither of Australia's pace trio managed a wicket at the SCG at here it was the replacement, Clark, who struck first to get rid of Uthappa. Looking to go over the infield, Uthappa could only spoon a catch to mid-off for 30 from 49 balls. It was an uncharacteristic innings but worth plenty in the context of the situation.
Gautam Gambhir, the leading run-scorer of the tournament, opened up with confident drives to maintain India's momentum. The last time Australia surrendered back-to-back finals was 1983-84 and 1984-85, against West Indies, and a loss today would be a chastening blow.
Teams
India: 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk, capt), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Sreesanth.
Australia: 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Nathan Bracken.
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