Stunning Faulkner eclipses Dhoni’s brilliance to give Australia a great victory

Australia rode on a exceptional innings from James Faulkner to claw back into the seven match one-day series against India and take a 2-1 lead. Chasing a formidable total of 303/9 Australia finished the match with 4 wickets in hand and 3 balls to spare. Adam Voges played a crucial part in the innings as he top-scored for the visitors with a solid 76*.

Earlier in the day Australia won the toss for the third time on a row and put the hosts in. The Australian bowlers used the conditions which offered a lot to the pacers and seamers as they put the Indians in real trouble with the good use of the short ball. Their vulnerability in front of the short balls once again came to the fore as the Aussie pacers rattled the Indian batting line-up with some disciplined aggressive bowling. Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were the two exceptions as they played the short balls beautifully and attacked the loose ones keep the score board ticking. Kohli scored a crafty 68 from 73 balls before getting out edging Maxwell to the keeper. Mahendra Singh Dhoni took up the pieces from Kohli as he absolutely smashed the visitors to all parts of the field. He remained not out on 139 (12 4s, 5 6s) facing only 121 balls as India crossed the 300-run mark.

The Aussie openers gave themselves just the perfect start as they kept the required rate under control. However as they lost the wicket of Phil Hughes (22), the required began to creep up slowly. Wickets kept on tumbling as the hosts put them under huge pressure with some disciplined bowling. The match almost looked over once Brad Haddin went Australia still needing 91 form just 53 balls. But Faulkner had something different in his minds. He came on with a great intent and got himself set within few overs. But the turning point of the match came just before the 48^th over when Dhoni tossed the ball to Ishant Sharma. Faulkner simply bludgeoned Ishant for four clean hits  over the boundary picking up as many as 30 runs as he went on bowling short-of-length deliveries. Faulkner then finished it off with three balls remaining in the match sending an awful full toss on leg stump from R Vinay Kumar to silence the home crowd.

James Faulkner was adjudged the man of the match for his heroics with the bat. Dhoni had simply nothing to do as a captain as his bowlers, particularly Ishant Sharma, missed the lengths on several occasions towards the end. He might consider himself simply unlucky not to get the man of the match award for his classy innings was somewhat overshadowed by Faulkner’s display of stroke-play. Today’s innings of Faulkner, however, could bring well bring an early end to the career of ‘talented young pacer’ Ishant Sharma.

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About Argha Ghosh

An ardent follower of sports and die-hard Manchester United fan, Argha's ultimate dream is to watch a Manchester derby from the Stretford End at the Old Trafford.