Sixth one-day international: Guwahati: Australia 172-4 (41.5 overs) beat India 170 (48 overs) by six wickets
Match scorecard
Inspired bowling by left-armers Doug Bollinger and Mitchell Johnson led Australia to a series-clinching victory over India in Guwahati. The injury-hit tourists won by six wickets to take a 4-2 lead in the series with one match still to play. India slumped to 75-7 as Bollinger (5-35) and Johnson (3-39) ran through the top order and were all out for 170. Ravidra Jadeja (57) and Praveen Kumar (54 not out) batted well but Australia cruised home with 8.1 overs to spare. Shane Watson set them on their way with 10 fours in an aggressive knock which ended with him one short of a half century when he top-edged an attempted slog-sweep off spinner Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan also accounted for Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, caught at leg-slip by Suresh Raina, but Mike Hussey continued his excellent form with an unbeaten 35 and Adam Voges (23) hit two successive fours off Sachin Tendulkar to bring the game to an end.  | 606: DEBATE GJ The Aussie Stud - Australia 2010/2011 Ashes Winners in Australia |
A series win is a tremendous result for an Australian side which had lost Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, James Hopes, Tim Paine and Moises Henriques because of injuries. "India is a hard place to come and win and this victory means a lot, especially when you haven't got all your players to pick from. "It makes it even harder when players are getting off planes and turning up and playing," said Ponting. "No-one's shirking and no-one's whining, we have just got on with it and tried to do the best that we could. "With each game that we have played, we have just gotten better and better so its really good signs for the team." India's hopes of a sizeable total were undermined in the opening over when Johnson bowled Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the space of three deliveries. But the real body blow came when Tendulkar, who hit a magnificent 175 in the previous game, gave a sharp return catch to Bollinger having made only 10. Yuvraj Singh followed in unusual fashion when a ball from Bollinger struck him on the pad, looped into the air and deflected on to the stumps off his bat as it fell back to the ground. "At the toss I believed the first half hour would be crucial, but as it turned out 15 minutes was all that was needed. We were never in the game after we lost those wickets," said skipper Mahendra Dhoni. Suresh Raina departed for a duck in the next over when he chipped a catch to mid-on off Johnson, leaving India on 27-5 and although Dhoni and Jadeja temporarily halted the slump with a stand of 48, it took them 22 overs to do so. Bollinger eventually had Dhoni lbw for 24 and cleaned up Harbhajan for nought in the same over.  Jadeja's innings at least gave India some respectability |
But 20-year-old Jadeja went on to reach his second international fifty off 96 balls with the help of five boundaries and Kumar finally managed to put Australia on the back foot with some positive strokeplay. Their stand was ended in the final over of the batting powerplay when Jadeja was caught by Cameron White but Kumar took 14 off an over from paceman Clint McKay to see the total past the 150 mark. His 51-ball knock included a six and seven fours but he ran out of partners when Watson removed Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel in the 48th over. Australia suffered an early setback at the start of their reply when Shaun Marsh was lbw to Patel for six but Watson refused to rein in his attacking instincts as he and Ponting added 61 for the second wicket. They went in quick succession, leaving Australia 90-3, but India's hopes of a collapse were ended by Mike Hussey and White, who put on 53 for the fourth wicket. White's dismissal, lbw to Raina for 25 as he shaped to play the ball into the leg-side, was tame, but Hussey followed scores in the series of 73, 53, 81 not out, 40 and 31 not out with another sensible innings to guide his side to the bring of victory. Dhoni turned to Tendulkar for the 47th over but two successive long-hops were put away by Voges for the winning runs as Australia finished on 172-4.
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