Sachin heroics in vain as India lose thriller
Posted on Nov 05, 2009 at 14:06 | Updated Nov 06, 2009 at 13:25
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Hyderabad: Sachin Tendulkar played one of his superlative one-day knocks and crossed the 17,000-run mark in limited-overs cricket, but India, chasing a whopping 351, lost a heart-stopping match by a mere three runs to go down 2-3 in the seven-match series against Australia here on Thursday.
Tendulkar scored a scintillating 175 off 141 balls and such a knock deserved to be on the winning side. He carried on manfully even after losing Virender Sehwag (38), Gautam Gambhir (8), Yuvraj Singh (9) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6) for 162 runs before the half-way stage and found in Suresh Raina (59) a lively partner who could hit big shots when required.
It was the Tendulkar-Raina 137-run fifth-wicket partnership that brought India close to victory at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal. When everything including the run-rate was under control, the two perished and the match was more or less lost. Raina tried to hoick and Tendulkar attempted a paddle shot over fine-leg inside the circle.
Five wickets went tumbling for 36 runs and the last pair of Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel added 12 precious runs which included the former's timely six to bridge the gap. In the end, the duo's run-out proved costly.
Debutant fast bowler Clint McKay had a great day picking up three wickets for 59 while Shane Watson got three for 47.
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