Tendulkar's worst fears were realised when the Australian opening pair virtually thumbed their nose at the Indian fieldsmen as if they were saying, `We are going to run for everything until someone is run out.' The ploy worked as India failed to produce a direct hit and this culminated in a very good first 15 overs for Australia. Adam Gilchrist provided the firepower and Mark Waugh the finesse. With Gilchrist blasting boundaries from drives and fierce pulls, Waugh decided to take it easy and just push the ball into the gaps and indulge in an athletics match. This was a sensible approach from Waugh who needed a big score in order to keep his name off the selectors endangered species list.Gilchrist flayed the attack enjoying the short boundaries on a ground where he scored a huge hundred in a Sheffield Shield final. However, just as he appeared certain to score a century, Gilchrist slightly mis-timed a sweep and holed out on the mid-wicket boundary. There were no such miscues from Mark Waugh who glided up to his hundred rather than trying to sprint to three figures. Waugh brought up his fourteenth One Day hundred and Australia has won 10 of those 13 matches when he passed the century mark. That reflected an era when Australia depended far too heavily on the elegant openers' batting skills, but those days are long gone and in this team there are numerous contributors.Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Shane Lee all joined in the feast of big hitting and speedy running as Indian players were reduced to mere spectators. The Indian selectors have some decisions to make as this team is under-manned in the field and that is one area that can be fixed relatively simply if the right types are chosen. The other headache facing the selectors is the fact that of all the in-experienced players brought to Australia this summer, the only one who has enhanced his reputation is Ajit Agarkar. This means a team that has been so reliant on three experienced batsmen and bowlers for sometime, can't look forward to too much support from younger players for some time.The Indian chase began with Australia putting on a fielding clinic, saving runs and placing the batsmen under immediate pressure. Glenn McGrath did what he has done so often for Australia and achieved an early breakthrough - a remarkable catch at first slip by Shane Lee, despite the 'keeper diving across his line of sight. Then Stuart MacGill took a brilliant outfield catch to get rid of Tendulkar, who looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders as he walked from the ground. The sharp fielding had broken the back of the Indian challenge and only Rahul Dravid, with some wristy drives and the odd pull shot, showed any signs of dominating a rampant Australian side.Brett Lee was the star of the attack, charging in and bowling fast to collect his first five-wicket haul at international level. He was on a hat-trick after getting a fortunate lbw decision, but for the 15th time this season a bowler was unable to convert consecutive wickets into a trio of successes. However, Lee was too fast for the tail, finishing off the game in grand style by bowling Debasis Mohanty.This ruthless Australian side led by a relentless Steve Waugh has now won six games on the trot. The loss was a devastating one for India an it did untold damage to their already shaky net run rate and it could spell an early end to the tour. That will at least mean more time to evaluate and think about improvements for the future.
