Jadeja leads; Australia beat India

India Ma(nnava)de a couple of changes to their playing eleven – skipper Sachin Tendulkar and wicketkeeper Prasad made way for Sadagoppan Ramesh and Vinod Kambli. Australia made just one change to the eleven that last played the Indians – Damien Fleming made way for Glenn McGrath.

On winning the toss, Ajay Jadeja, India’s stand-in skipper, inserted the Australians. Mark Waugh, whose 28-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 18. Fifty-two balls into the match, he was caught by Rahul Dravid, the wicketkeeper. Javagal Srinath broke the 40-run stand.

Adam Gilchrist, the player of the match, scored 77. His 84-ball innings included nine boundaries. A hundred and sixteen balls later, he was caught by Srinath. Nikhil Chopra broke the 110-run stand. Andrew Symonds, whose 60-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 45. A couple of balls later, he was caught by Dravid. Srinath broke the two-run stand.

The fourth-wicket pair put on 48. Darren Lehmann, whose 40-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 28. Sixty-seven balls later, Jadeja ran him out. Steve Waugh, who faced 11 balls, scored half-a-dozen. Fourteen balls later, he was caught by Robin Singh, who broke the 13-run stand.

Michael Bevan, who faced 11 balls, wasn’t in seventh heaven. Twenty balls later, Venkatesh Prasad broke the 14-run stand. Ricky Ponting, whose 46-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 32. Half-a-dozen ballS(huk)later, he was caught by the substitute, Laxmi Ratan. Needless to say, Venkatesh was in seventh heaven.

Tom Moody faced 14 balls, scoring as many. He was unbeaten. Shane Warne, who faced half-a-dozen balls, scored four. Ten balls later, he was caught by Shukla. Anil Kumble broke the one-run stand. Jason Gillespie, who faced three balls, scored a couple. He was unbeaten.

India conceded 19 extras. Australia scored 252 for the loss of eight wickets off 50 overs. Sourav Ganguly, who bowled three wicketless overs, conceded 18. Singh, who bowled eight overs, conceded 41. He picked up a wicket.

Kumble, who bowled nine overs, conceded 48. He picked up a wicket, as did Chopra, who bowled 10 overs, conceding 62. Srinath and Venkatesh bowled 10 overs each, picking up a couple of scalps apiece. While the former, whose spell conceded a maiden, conceded 43, the latter conceded 29.

India were fined an over for a slow over rate. Ganguly, who faced four balls, scored eight. His runs came by way of boundaries. Four balls later, he was caught by Warne. McGrath broke the eight-run stand.

Amay Khurasiya, whose 13-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 12. Twenty-nine balls later, Gillespie broke the 23-run stand. The Wall, who faced a couple of balls, D(rav)idn’t get off the mark. A couple of dot balls later, he was caught by Gilchrist off the bowling of Gillespie.

Jadeja, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t get off the mark. Three dot balls later, he was trapped leg before wicket by McGrath, who faced the one-run stand. Kambli, who faced 17 balls, scored just three. Forty balls later, he was caught by Gilchrist. Gillespie broke the 12-run stand.

Ramesh, whose 123-ball innings included four boundaries, scored 71. A hundred and seventy balls later, he was caught by Mark. Symonds broke the 123-run partnership. The seventh-wicket pair put on half-a-dozen. Chopra, whose seven-ball innings included a boundary, scored five. Eight balls later, Symonds and Gilchrist ran him out.

Srinath, whose run-a-ball innings included a boundary, scored 15. Twenty-one balls later, he was caught by Gilchrist. Gillespie broke the 25-run stand. Singh, whose 105-ball innings included four boundaries and the only six of the match, scored 75. Thirteen balls later, he was caught by Symonds. Lehmann broke the run-a-ball stand.

The last-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Kumble had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored just four. The next ball, he was dismissed by Lehmann. Venkatesh, who didn’t open his account, was unbeaten.

Australia conceded 18 extras. India, who were dismissed for 211 off 48.3 overs, scored by 41 runs. Bevan, who bowled five wicketless overs, conceded 21. Warne, who bowled seven wicketless overs, conceded 41. Moody bowled 10 wicketless overs, including four maidens. He conceded 28.

Symonds, who bowled seven overs, conceded 32. He picked up a wicket. Lehmann bowled three balls, conceding four. He picked up two wickets, as did McGrath, who bowled 10 overs, conceding 55. Gillespie bowled nine overs, including a maiden. He conceded 26, picking up four scalps.