One day international series – Australia has chance of victory against India

Cricket Odds:

Australia vs. India - Saturday, November 7, 10pm

India –160

Australia +130

Sachin Tendulkar demonstrated that his career is far from over following a masterful 175 in his own attempt to chase down Australia’s eventual winning total of 350 in the fifth one-day international match in Hyderabad.

Tendulkar cemented his role in Indian cricket folklore and international folklore for that matter, and has now starred in two of the three highest aggregate match scores in one-day international history.

The Little Maestro earlier this year scored 163 before retiring hurt in setting New Zealand an unlikely 393 to win Christchurch in March.

Despite this innings, India still lost and it is that point which will stick in the throat of Indian cricket fans.

Only a select few teams in the world can even fathom chasing down 350, India being the top of the list but they faltered. They showed that despite having the world’s best batsmen scoring half of their runs, that they are far from being a complete team.

When every member of the team contributes, they are unbeatable, but that’s what you expect from a top three international team.

To be the best team in the world though, a squad needs to have depth, have enough confidence in each of its players to be able to build on a classic innings such as Tendulkar’s.

But they didn’t, needing 19 runs off 17 balls to close out the match, India’s lower order lost its way.

Australia on the other hand, having been brutally assaulted by Tendulkar all evening, swooped in like a pack of hyenas after his dismissal and circled the remaining batsmen, picking them off at will.

After squaring the series in match four and snatching a victory in match five, the tourists against all odds can seal a series win in Guwahati. This is a team don’t forget that has lost five players to injury so far this tour – Peter Siddle, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Moises Henriques and James Hopes have all succumbed to injury however their replacements have stood up to be counted.

Tim Paine’s opening spot was taken by Shaun Marsh who scored a ton in the last match, his replacement behind the stumps, Graham Manou, has kept cleanly and Clint McKay and Doug Bollinger have taken their chances with the ball.

While India remain favourites for the sixth match, they need their bowlers to tighten their lines and their batsmen to value their wicket.

Yuvraj Singh has struggled in the last two matches and if not for his 78 in match two of the series, his return would be considered a write-off yielding just 122 runs at an average of 30.50 while Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni both failed in the last match.

The bowling from India hasn’t been that bad. Despite the 350 scored against them in match five, the bowlers in blue have kept the Aussies in and around the 250 to 290 mark.

The fielding has been, as per usual with India, atrocious but the real issue has been commitment to the cause – if they lack commitment in this match, they can kiss the series goodbye.