#12: Brisbane – 91(121) vs Australia 2008
“Performance is one thing, but performing back-to-back is something else. He is the best.” is what India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said about his senior most batsman after his team’s victory in the second final of the CB Series 2008 in Australia, resulting in the first triumphant ODI campaign down under after 23 years. India defeated Australia by 9 runs at Brisbane, following up on their 6 wicket win at Sydney and the man of the finals was none other than SRT!
India didn’t start that well but improved as the tournament went on. India’s batting had been their biggest weakness throughout the tournament; however, it came into its own during the finals with Sachin Tendulkar hitting top form. Master followed up his stellar unbeaten ton at the SCG with a vital 91 in Brisbane. Sachin had very ordinary first seven games by his standards accumulating around 135 runs in seven games. He had some promising starts but got out in 30s & 40s in few games. It all changes in team’s last league encounter – a must win against Sri Lanka where he smashed 63 of 54 and got back in his own stride and never looked back.
Ton at Sydney in the first final was aggressive and yet masterful resulting in a successful 
chase of 240. At Brisbane, Dhoni chose to bat first and negotiating the early conditions was crucial. Uthappa and Sachin did just that with a stable 94 runs opening stand lasting 20 overs and laid a rock solid platform. Sachin started very cautiously and then changed gears in no time. Yuvi and little master added 50 at about run-a-ball pace and shifted the momentum in India’s favor. Little master had answer to everything that the Aussies threw at him.
Just when it looked like a successive ton was on the card, unfortunate dismissal came against the run of play. Sachin, who was by them dominating the spin of Clarke, came down the track and popped up a soft push towards Ponting at short mid-on who took off and dived forward to take a brilliant catch. Master’s another brilliant knock was abruptly curtailed at 91 (121), however, he had secured India to a solid position of 205/4 in the 40th over.
Some late wickets and excellent efforts by Clarke-Bracken restricted India to only 258, about 15-20 runs short of what they could have achieved in the last 10 overs. Praveen Kumar’s brilliant new ball spell left the Aussies reeling at 3/32 but Hayden-Symonds rebuilt the innings. The huge blow cam e when Hayden couldn’t beat Yuvraj’s quick throw and then Harbhajan followed it up with key wicket of Symonds. Hussey-Hopes fought hard but India seamers bowled well at the death to etch out a 9 run win!!
India had won first ODI tournament down under since 1985 B & H Championship win under the leadership of Sunny G. Sachin had scored 208 runs in the finals of the India’s total 500 runs. Praveen emerged with 6 wickets. India emerged victorious despite various injuries. They lost Viru for both the finals but Uthappa fulfilled the duties. In-form Ishant was injured for the last final but Sreesanth came good. Rohit had an innings of his life at Sydney with 123 runs stand with Sachin. It was truly a team effort.
Captain Dhoni summed it up right at the end of the successful campaign – “The role of the captain was not the only one. The captain is one guy who gathers the pressure and then channels it to the individual player and then it depends on how that individual reacts”. Indeed his senior most player had responded to the challenge in the greatest fashion and ended up the tournament with 400+ runs in 10 games at an average of 45!!!
-Nikhil Sharad Jadhav
CricAdda 