Sports Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Mohali, Oct 19: Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, some matches cannot be predicted until the last man gets out or the last ball is bowled. India's loss by four wickets against Australia in Mohali on Saturday indeed has given some 'food for thought' for the team selectors, as fast bowler Ishant Sharma, despite poor shows in the last three tournaments, was retained in the team, sidelining outstanding talents like Umesh Yadav, Unadkat and others who have been sitting out.
It was in the Champions Trophy in England during June this year when Ishant's poor form started. Despite his inability to bowl in the death overs, and conceding over 8 runs per over in the last several matches, he was retained in the 11-member playing team. The fact is, he is Dhoni's blue-eyed boy.
The selectors must act quickly and he should be dropped immediately from the Indian team for the rest of the four matches. Young players must be given a chance, and Ishant should be allowed to find his form again, like Zaheer Khan.
Ishant was the sole bowler responsible for India's loss against Australia in Mohali. Dhoni's heroic 139 not out under the most difficult situation has gone in vain. The match was completely in India's pocket until Ishant was given the 48th over, in which he bowled like a school boy and gave away 30 runs. It is a shame that he did not make any efforts to contain the tailender Faulkner.
This is high time India gets its best bowlers to handle the death overs.
ODI no 3 - Post match Analysis:
How did India lose this one? Questions will be directed at the bowlers today. They seemed to have things well under control until the horror at the death. When Faulkner came to the middle, all seemed to be lost for the visitors. Dhoni tried to be too cheeky, Kohli came into the bowling attack and conceded 18 runs from his only over.
Still, with 66 needed from the final 5 overs, it looked like a game only India could lose. Vinay conceded 14 runs in the 46th, Ashwin pulled back things with only 8 from the 47th.
The 48th over though left the Indians bewildered. Ishant leaked 30 runs and almost gave the match away on a platter.
Ashwin conceded only 5 runs in the 49th over, but there was no way back as Faulkner swung Vinay over the ropes to seal India's fate.
Massive celebrations in the Aussie camp, Faulkner and Voges celebrate in the middle. Serious fist pumping in the middle, India will feel robbed.
Man of the match Faulkner: 'I definitely wouldn't say it was easy to bat out there. It was a great game of cricket. I thought if we could play Ashwin carefully we could chase this down and I didn't want to take a chance against him with the long boundary on the on-side. It was a great team effort. MS batted extremely well for them as well. Voges batted well to carry his bat and I think, with four cracking games left, this series is going to be really interesting.'
James Faulkner is the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 29-ball 64 which took the game away from India.
Ausies captain Bailey : 'It was some extra-ordinary hitting from Faulkner. Those sixes were as good as I have seen. We kept talking about having wickets in hand. If we hung on to our catches we might have been chasing 30 runs less. The bowlers bowled really well, 300 is always a difficult score to chase down but the batsmen did really well. There are no easy games between these two sides and there are no easy overs as well. It is closely contested between the top two sides.'
India captain Dhoni: 'Well the way we bowled in the last overs is very disappointing. The concerning thing is that it is getting worse. Yes there was a a bit of dew, but the bowlers needed to back themselves and do well. At the international level you don't need to spoon feed. They have to come up with their own plans. We could have batted better, we kept losing wickets. We were fortunate to go past 300. We should have got more on this surface. Jadeja bowled really well in the middle overs. It is good to go back to your hometown, it is a good place to play cricket and hopefully the spectators will enjoy the game.'
This is also the first time Australia have successfully chased over 300 against India in India.
Aakash Chopra tweets: Death bowling died today. Dhoni put it on life support in the 1st half, Faulkner pulled the plug in the second. Sensational game!
Ausies cricketer Voges: 'We just thought if we could have some wickets in the end we could chase this down. It was an outstanding effort from Faulkner. He told me that he will go for broke (in Ishant Sharma's over). Haddin took some pressure off me with some fine hits after the mix-up with Maxwell. Faulkner hit them all as cleanly as possible. We will take a lot of confidence out of this. It was sad to lose the second game but very happy to pull this off. I haven't had much of a chance with the bat earlier as the top-order has done such a good job.'