India have been beaten at their own game. After their crushing defeat against Australia in Vadodara on October 11, it dawned on the hosts that playing to their strengths was the only way to contain the rampaging Australians. It is learnt that the Indian team management decided to take the slower route and, accordingly, sounded out the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to ensure that the tracks for the last two one-dayers would be dustbowls which would help the likes of Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh prosper. Though curator Ashok Pradhan refused to explain in detail, he however, did admit that the track was spin-friendly. However, it now appears that the Australians have managed to give India a taste of their own medicine. While the India’s four slow bowlers gave away 128 runs in 23 overs, the Australian duo of Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds gave away 88 runs in 20 overs. In fact, Ricky Ponting’s decision to bring on Symonds and Hogg to replace Lee and Johnson paid off when Symonds — the Man-of-the-Match — bowled his first two overs giving away just three runs. The effort not only kept the Indian openers quiet but also helped Hogg to come from the other end and remove Tendulkar and Irfan Pathan. “Hogg has made a huge difference for us in this series. We wanted him to deliver in conditions that traditionally suit spin better and he’s done an excellent job,” Ponting said after the series win. In six matches, Hogg has taken 11 wickets at an economy rate of 4.49.In contrast, the Indian spinners, with the exception of Kartik and Tendulkar who managed to keep the scoring rate less than 4.21 per over, Harbhajan and Yuvraj were sent to the cleaners. “(Andrew) Symonds used his feet excellently against Harbhajan,” Dhoni said later, also explaining that removing Tendulkar from the attack after five overs — a huge mistake in retrospect — was a gamble he had to take.
