Indians ground to dust by indomitable Aussies  - Scorecard Melbourne, Feb 6: India were outclassed in all departments of the game as Australia pulverised the visitors for a seven-wicket victory and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three cricket tri-series finals here today. Chasing a modest Indian total of 222, the world champions raced to the target in 40.1 overs, thanks to a quickfire 80-ball 88 by captain Ricky Ponting and his 139-run stand with half-centurion Matthew Hayden. Beaten hands down in the one-sided contest, India have now 48 hours to regroup for the second final slated for Sunday in Sydney and take the final series to the third match in Brisbane on February 10. India were hardly ever allowed into the game once Adam Gilchrist gave a characteristic whirlwind start to the Australian innings with a 20-ball 38 and Ponting revived memories of his World Cup form with his blitzkrieg. The hosts raced to the 100-run mark while losing just one wicket in the 18th over and although they did lose a couple of quick wickets, it hardly mattered as they had already cantered to the 200-run mark by then. Nothing seemed to go right for the Indians ever since Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat as they lost six wickets with just 75 runs on the board. It was only through a rearguard action by Hemang Badani (60 n.o.) and Ajit Agarkar (53) that they were saved from further ignominy. The record 102-run stand between Badani and Agarkar for the seventh wicket turned out to be the only saving grace for the Indians who looked a pale shadow of the side that had been quite impressive right through the summer. Having restricted the Indians to a quite manageable total on a good batting track at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Aussies launched the chase in their usual aggressive fashion, entertaining the near 50,000 crowd to the hilt. Gilchrist was simply amazing as he slammed seven fours to rip apart the pedestrian Indian attack before he pulled a catch to Sachin Tendulkar at fine leg off Lakshmipathy Balaji who also picked the only other two wickets to fall in the Australian innings. Ponting then took off from where his deputy left, cracking seven fours and two sixes in his 80-ball knock. He was dismissed when he fine edged to be caught behind by Rahul Dravid. The dismissal of Hayden, who was subdued during his 91-ball 50, was a little dramatic as Balaji made a half-hearted appeal after he had the batsman caught off a half-volley. Umpire Steve Bucknor thought it had carried on the bounce but the third umpire ruled in favour of the bowler after much thought. Damien Martyn (20 n.o) then got some useful batting practice in the company of Andrew Symonds (10 n.o) to take Australia home. That the winning four runs came through an overthrow only summed up India's miserable day. Earlier, the ghosts of Perth revisited India, despite the wicket at the MCG being not even a shade as bouncy. The star-studded top order batsmen were made to look like a bunch of schoolboys by Brett Lee and company. With six of the top batsmen back in the pavilion for just 75 runs in 22 overs, India owed their competitive total to Badani and Agarkar whose 63-ball 53 (4x4, 2x6) must have done enough to blow away his batting blues Down Under. The duo stitched the most valuable stand for the Indians, putting on 102 runs off 119 balls for the seventh wicket to better the previous record of 100 runs between Ganguly and Sunil Joshi in Singer Cup in Colombo in 1996. Lee carried his form from Perth, rattling the famed Indian batting line-up once again with his sheer pace and picking two wickets for 34, including the prized scalp of Sachin Tendulkar (8). But more than good bowling, the Indian batsmen owed their failure to poor application and ambitious strokeplay. Had Ponting not allowed them to run away with some easy runs in the middle overs, the Indian scorecard could have cut a really sorry figure. India's misery began with the third successive failure of their openers -- Virender Sehwag (3) and Tendulkar being dismissed with only 14 runs on the board in the seventh over. Sehwag was caught unawares by a lifting delivery from Jason Gillespie (2/39) which hit his handle and lobbed up for wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist to take the catch. But Lee did not need any assistance to get Tendulkar out, the straight and quick delivery screaming past the batsman's defence and uprooting the off-stump. V V S Laxman (24) and Rahul Dravid (12) led a brief revival before both fell at 48 within an over of each other. Ganguly (6) too looked out of sorts and unconvincing but still hung around with Yuvraj Singh (21) for some time before both departed for 75. The Indian captain tried to cut Harvey and was caught by the wicketkeeper standing close to the wickets. Lee was recalled for his second spell in the sixth over and struck with his first ball, angling it across the left-hander Yuvraj Singh's bat to induce an edge, gloved neatly by Gilchrist. Agarkar and Badani then took over, though the former was terrible to start with, repeatedly missing his deliveries outside his off-stump. But Agarkar soon got going with some bold strokes, none better than two sixes off Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey as he raced ahead of his specialist partner to his half century in just 52 balls. (Agencies) - Scorecard Published: Friday, February 06, 2004 Back to Index