Australia Vs India One Day Match At Sydney – Who Will Win?

Australia Is No More A Superior Side

Australia will be taking on India in the one day match in the triangular series in Sydney. The match promises to be an interesting contest. Now the series has reached such a stage that one cannot say Australia is a superior side. Australia’s weakness in bowling has been amply exposed by the Sri Lankan and Indian batsmen. India recorded a win against Australia at Adelaide and Sri Lanka came close to winning it and lost by a cat’s whisker.

Sachin Holds The Record For India In Sydney Ground

Sydney Cricket Ground offers plenty of runs to score for batsmen who play well. The highest ever total recorded on this ground was 368 for 5 by Australia against Sri Lanka on 12^th February 2006. India’s highest on this ground was 299 in 49.1 overs against Australia on 24^th February 2008. India also scored 296 for 4 against Australia on 22^nd January 2004. Highest individual score on this ground is held by A Symonds of Australia with a score of 151. For India, Sachin Tendulkar holds the record with 117 not out.

Ponting And Gambhir Have Scored Centuries In Sydney In 2008

In 2008, India played two one day matches in Sydney. The first match was won by Australia on 24^th February 2008. Australia batted first and totalled 317 runs with Ricky Ponting hitting a century (124). A Symonds also contributed 59. India was bowled out for 299 in 49.1 overs with Gautam Gambhir hitting a century (113). Robin Uttappa also scored 51 runs. India lost the match by 18 runs with Australian fast bowler Lee taking five wickets for 58 runs.

Sachin Lifted India To Victory In 2008

In the second match played in Sydney on 02.03.08, India won the match by 6 wickets. Australia batted first and scored 239 with opening batsman Hayden scoring 82. India scored the victory target with Sachin Tendulkar remaining not out with 117. R G Sharma contributed 66 runs.

A Keen Fight On The Cards

The match will be fought by both sides very keenly. A battle of nerves is on the cards. Australian captain Clarke has been ruled out for the match with a hamstrung injury. Probably Ponting will be the captain of the side. For India, Virender Sehwag returns to the side and will open the innings with Sachin Tendulkar. Gautam Gambhir will have to be rested to accommodate Rohit Sharma as per the rotation policy followed by Indian captain Dhoni.

It Will Be Sad If Gambhir Is Dropped

It is very sad that Gautam Gambhir, who has been in the nick of form and whose contribution is likely to make a difference to India’s fortunes in the match and the series has to be rested compulsorily. Gambhir has scored two outstanding innings, missing century in each only by few runs. In one of the matches, he was adjudged as the man-of-the-match. Why not Dhoni retain the team this time without dropping Gambhir? Rohit Sharma is in any way playing. But Sehwag may feel it is an injustice to him. It will always be better to retain Sehwag in the team. He is the one player who can give an explosive start for India which will make the work of other batsmen lighter. But Sachin cannot be dropped as it will be denying him a chance to score that coveted hundred which everybody is expecting.

Sachin May Do It This Time!

I have an intuition telling me that Sachin may achieve this glorious feet in Sydney in either against Australia or against Sri Lanka (if he is retained in the team). Intuitions can sometimes fail also. Let us see whether it happens. For a change, why not Dhoni drop Rohit Sharma and make an exception of the rotation policy for the team’s sake? After all any policy that you device and follow should be for the sake of your team winning the match. Such being the case, no harm will come of Rohit Sharma is rested in tomorrow’s match as he has failed to utilise all the opportunities given to him so far. I know that Dhoni is not going to listen to my advice and will stick on to his rotation policy. Indian fans have only one hope that Rohit Sharma will come out successful, at least this time and justify his captain’s confidence in him.