Australia survive for tense victory

Australia survive for tense victory

If the best way to spark interest in a seven-match ODI series is to stage a brilliantly tense opener, then Australia and India achieved their goal in Vadodara. Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey set up what looked like being a comfortable Australian win until a lively, crowd-lifting partnership from Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar threatened to snatch victory for India.

In the end, nine were required from the final over and Peter Siddle held his nerve to confirm a four-run margin in Australia's favour. The key moment came when Harbhajan (49) was bowled from the second ball of the 50th, trying to launch a boundary off Siddle. Six from the last ball was too much for Ashish Nehra to produce.

The feisty 84-run stand from Harbhajan and Praveen was unexpected after India fell to 201 for 7 with ten overs remaining, when they needed more than nine an over. Shane Watson won't want to watch the replay of his final overs; he became predictable with his full tosses outside off and when he sent down the 49th of the innings it cost Australia 20 runs.

Ultimately, Australia got off the hook, largely because India had let themselves down in the field and through the middle overs of their own innings. Although Praveen, with his unbeaten 40 from 32 balls nearly got them home, his ten overs earlier in the day had cost 77 and Australia's batting contributions were even and widespread.

Ricky Ponting thinks a seven-match one-day series is too long; Michael Hussey would play cricket 365 days a year if he could. Both men looked sharp at the start of this tour in setting up the challenging total of 292 for 8. Ponting and Tim Paine built the platform before Cameron White and Hussey drove the total higher, and all four men posted half-centuries.

Australia took their batting Powerplay from the 43rd over and it brought 3 for 33 (India's would later result in 3 for 32) after the powerful White skied a catch for 51 from the second delivery. It was important that Hussey bat until the end and he did survive to the final few balls, accumulating his runs in typically anonymous and understated fashion.

One exception came in the penultimate over when he launched Praveen for a monstrous straight six that left the ground and was so impressive that Hussey was even caught by the TV cameras raising his eyebrows and mouthing "that's big" to his partner. But for the most part, Hussey pierced the field along the ground and ticked the score over with hard, tireless running between the wickets.