Source: The Sunday Tasmanian, 1 April, 2001, p.61

Aussies destroyed

 
 
By ROBERT CRADDOCK 
 
In Indore

AUSTRALIA's puzzling 
decision to rest player-
of-the-tour Matthew 
Hayden got the 
sobering follow-up it 
asked for when the team 
went belly-up for a 
record-equalling loss 
against India yesterday.

Sachin Tendulkar (139 off 125 
balls) got the 34 runs he 
needed to become the first 
batsman in history to reach 
10,000 runs in one-day cricket 
and surged on to claim his 28th 
one-day century and his sixth 
against Australia.

The roar from the 25,000 fans 
cramming the tiny ground 
when he scored a single off 
Shane Warne to take his tally 
to five figures was deafening.

India, taking a 2-1 lead 
in the five-match series, 
scored a ground-record 8-
299, after surprisingly 
being sent into bat at Nehru 
Stadium.

Australia was bowled out for 
181, with the victory margin 
of 118 runs equaling India's 
1983 World Cup win at 
Chelmsford in England as 
India's biggest win against 
Australia in 65 one-day 
contests.

Whoever's idea it was to rest 
Hayden, the player who had 
scored more than twice as many 
runs as any team-mate, 
effectively sentenced 
Australia to batting doom, 
particularly with Mark Waugh 
out for the series with a 
broken finger.

Australia, playing like a team 
ready for home and lacking zip 
in most things they did, 
batted poorly on a wicket that 
got a little worse as the 
day progressed but was no 
terror track.

Adam Gilchrist survived two 
chances for his 63, but once 
he left after pulling to short mid-
wicket, the top order fell like 
ninepins to a series of 
misjudged attacking shots 
that seemed a product of weary 
minds.

Ricky Ponting (23), with his 
seventh failure from as
many major innings on tour 
waved his bat in frustration 
after bunting a limp catch 
back to Ajit Agarkar.

Yet again, Harbhajan Singh, 
with his feisty mixture of off-
spinners and straight balls, 
did the damage.

Though India's score was 41 
more than any international 
side had scored at the stadium 
before, Australia did soundly 
to recover from a second-
wicket stand of 199 between 
Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman 
(83) which left India perched 
on 2-231 after 37 overs.

For the second match in 
succession, Damien Fleming 
(2-34) was Australia's best 
bowler.

Steve Waugh's fragile 
relationship with Indian 
skipper Sourav Ganguly 
became even further strained 
after a clash at the toss.

The toss was conducted
with an Indian coin with a 
number two on one side, 
which match referee Cammie 
Smith decreed would be heads.

Yet, when Waugh called 
"heads" correctly, Ganguly 
claimed victory and said he 
wanted to bat. Waugh ap-
proached Smith, who 
overruled Ganguly, and Waugh 
surprisingly elected to field 
first.

Ganguly's former Indian 
teammate Sanjay Manjrekar 
believed the problem was an 
honest mistake in that it is 
traditional in India
for the coin number to rep-
resent tails and that Ganguly 
was unaware that Smith has 
ruled it as heads.

Ganguly continued his form 
slump yesterday, falling for a 
third-ball duck when he skied 
an ugly, agitated slog off 
Fleming.

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