Opportunity Wasted

      Australian Cricket team tour of India begin with hype and they were here to play seven matches one day series and at the time of beginning of series it was believed that India will defeat Australia easily and it had lot of reasons which were in favour of India and will reach on top of one day international ranking after completion of series as Australian Cricket team is number one team with 128 points after playing 33 matches and India is number two team with 124 points after playing 31 matches. Circumstances which were in India’s favour that India will become number one team after defeating Australia in their home turf were-       India was playing in their home conditions so they know much more about local condition weather wise, and track prepared for the series was considering India’s plus points like turning tracks and batsman friendly as Indian cricket team is known as best squad of spinner and it’s batsman. Whenever Indian cricket team play cricket matches anywhere in the world it is supported and greeted by huge number of local Indians who present in the ground only to back up Indian team. One more reason which was in India’s favour was that Australian Cricket team’s lot of senior player like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Mathew Hayden, Shane warn and Glenn McGrath retired and recently joined squad James Hopes, Brett Lee, Tim Pains and Peter Siddle injured themselves in the first two matches all it make Australian Cricket team with new players or second level team when we compare them with Indian Team which had all the known faces whom we give them the name of Superstars.
To refresh memory here is brief recalling of seven matches –

1.  Match played on 25th October, 2009 at Reliance Stadium, Vadodara and it was day match. Australia won the toss and opted to Bat first. In their allotted fifty overs Australia made 292 scores after loosing eight wickets and in reply to Australia Indian were able to make only 288 scores and lost eight wickets in their fifty overs thus Australia won by four runs and India down in the series 0-1;MEK Hussey of Australia declared Man of the Match.
2. Match played between the team on 28th October, 2009 at Vidarbha Cricket Association Cricket Ground, Nagpur and was day and night match. Again Australia won the toss but this time opted to field first considering that in the night dew factor will hamper to bowl effectively, India made 354 runs losing seven wickets in their fifty overs, but Australia all out in 48.3 overs made 255 runs, India won the match by 99 runs and level the series 1-1; MS Dhoni declared man of the Match.
3. Match played on 31st October, 2009 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi it was also day and night match. Australia third time in row won toss and this time opted to bat first. In their allotted fifty overs Australia made 229 for the loss of five wickets and while chasing India reach the target in 48.2 overs for the lose of 4 wickets and won the match by six wickets with ten balls remaining. India get lead in the series 2-1; Yuvraj Singh declared man of the Match.

   India need to won the next match to become number one cricket team of the world while snatching the top position from Australia by defeating Australia, so next match was very important for both the team.

  4.   Match played on 2nd November, 2009 at Punjab Cricket Association, Mohali it was day and night fixture. India won the toss first time in the series and opted to field first. Australia all out in 49.2 overs and made 250,but India bundled out for 226 in 46.4 overs, Australia won the match by 24 runs, SR Watson declared Man of the Match, so Australia square the series 2-2 and become obstacle in India’s way to become number one team.

  5.   Played on 5th November, 2009 at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad and it was schedule to play day and night game, Australia won the toss and choose to bat first and made 350 runs in their fifty overs for the loss of 4 wickets, India all out and manage to make only 347 runs in 49.4 overs, India lost the game by just three runs in nail biting finish. Australia get the lead in the series 3-2; Sachin Tendulkar declared Man of the Match.

  6.   Game played on 8th November, 2009 at Nehru Stadium, Guwahati and it was day game, India won the toss and elected to bat first but they were bundled out for only 170 runs in 48 overs and Australia reach the target (172 runs) in 41.5 overs after loosing 4 wickets; and get the undefeatable lead in the series 4-2; DE Bollinger adjudged man of the match. For India it was all over to become number one team in one day international ranking after this series and next match for India was only a formality and they have to play for pride.

 7.   Game had to play on 11th November, 2009 at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai but match was abandon without a single bowl deliver because of bad weather.
     Now the ODI ranking which was updated on November 11, 2009 first three position changed, they are-
1. Australia played 39 games and has 130 points.
2. South Africa played 23 games and has 122 points.
3. India played 37 games and has 122 points.
     It is lesson for our players to learn that games are played on the ground not on to the pitches of media as Harbhajan Singh said lot of time in the media that Australian team is not invincible and then instead of focusing on and practicing they were busy in for shooting advertisement. So if Indian has to retain number one position then they have to practice hard on the ground and avoid putting pressure on themselves by issuing any statement.