While lifting India from 76 for 4 to 303 for 9, MS Dhoni had spoiled James Faulkner's
figures at the death. Faulkner took it out on Ishant Sharma at the
death in Australia's chase. Rarely, if ever, has a bowler lost it so
completely while bowling to a fellow bowler. Australia needed 44 off 18
when Ishant was given the ball. Six balls and 30 runs later off
Faulkner's bat, the game was effectively over.
Australia's chase had started strongly, but had been suffocated
mid-innings, chiefly by Ravindra Jadeja's ten overs for 31 runs. George
Bailey and Adam Voges had tried to keep pace, but the asking rate
continued to climb. Voges had gamely hung on amid a clutch of
middle-order wickets, including his own mix-up with Glenn Maxwell, when
Faulkner joined him at 213 for 6. While their partnership lasted and
grew, it seemed more a belated and inadequate attempt than a threatening
one.
Then Ishant was brought back for the 48th over. If you can apply brevity
to carnage, here is what happened. Full and wide, four. Short, six.
Length, six. Short, two. Short, six. Short, six. By the time he pulled
that last six into a shocked Mohali crowd, Faulkner had blasted 54 off
24, and Australia needed 14 off 12.
R Ashwin conceded only five in the 49th, but the damage was
irreversible. Seeing his blinder of a century being nullified by his
bowler's meltdown, Dhoni refused to give in. Seeing Faulkner was
basically swinging them into the leg side, he put all the four
permissible deep fielders there, including two long-ons. He needn't have
bothered. With six needed off four, Vinay Kumar delivered a full toss,
and Faulkner swung it over all those deep fielders.
One wonders what Dhoni feels seeing his bowlers do what they usually do -
lose limited-overs games for him. More than that, one wonders how he
manages to keep what he feels to himself when one of his bowlers is
going through his latest meltdown. It is hard being Dhoni.
When India batted, he twisted his ankle in the 14th over while turning
for a second run. He hadn't even faced a ball. He took treatment,
reached 50 off 77, and then accelerated to his ninth ODI hundred in the
next 30. Dhoni's favourite territory, the final stage of the innings,
was yet to arrive. The Australia captain dropped him first ball of the
penultimate over, off Shane Watson. Dhoni pulverized 34 off the final 12
deliveries to end unbeaten on 139, the third-highest score by a No 6
batsman, after Kapil Dev and Andrew Symonds. Even if it was normal
service coming from Dhoni, that did not make the innings any less
mind-boggling.
The last time Dhoni made an ODI century, in December 2012, he took India
from 29 for 5 against Pakistan to 227 for 6. Helping him that day was
Ashwin, who was around today as well, showing superb calm in adding 76
for the seventh wicket with his captain. Before that, Virat Kohli had
been an equal partner in a fifth-wicket stand of 72, but had fallen
against the run of play for his third successive score of 50-plus this
series.
Admirable as these twin acts were, they were supporting ones. The stage
belonged to Dhoni, who once again showed the entire range of his
limited-overs batsmanship - from precisely-judged singles to hustling
twos, from deftly placed boundaries to the late, towering sixes. And
yes, he turned down three singles in the last two overs with Vinay at
the other end.
Dhoni hit one four in his first 67 deliveries. He ended with 12 fours
and five sixes. Faulkner's first eight overs went for 33, including just
one run off the 46th. Dhoni hung back in the crease at the end, pulling
out scythes, slices, slogs, helicopter-swings. Faulker's last two overs
went for 32. Between those two overs, the threat of Dhoni made even as
experienced a man as Shane Watson bowl two wides.
Before all this Dhoni frenzy, India's specialist batsmen had been
roughed up for the second time in three games by Australian pace and
bounce, especially by Johnson. But after the Dhoni frenzy, for the
second time in the match, Australia frittered away a strong position. A
start of 68 for 0 in 12.1 overs became 88 for 3 in 19.1. India's bowlers
did well, bringing their side back with tight lines and lengths that
squeezed the runs and built pressure.
Voges ran hard and kept hitting the odd boundary, but the game was
slipping away from Australia. Queerly, Dhoni handed the ball to Kohli in
the 40th over, which went for 18, courtesy Brad Haddin. The
wicketkeeper's cameo ensured Australia were not completely out of it
yet, despite the big overs Dhoni had managed late in India's innings. As
it turned out, while they had Dhoni, India also had Ishant, and
Faulkner was ready.