Ben there,does it again

Indian batting collapse,a feature during the Test series,leads to a 110-run loss to Australia

Face down to the green velvet bedding of the Gabba,Michael Hussey began his walk back as a dejected man after being stumped by MS Dhoni. It was the 29th over of the first innings,and the hosts had just lost their fourth wicket arguably the most important for just one run with just 118 sluggish runs on the board.

The Indian huddle celebrated like a team possessed. It was fair enough,considering that Matthew Wade,Australias top-scorer until then,was dismissed in the previous over for an excruciatingly slow innings of 45.

Now,just four balls later,the third umpire had indicated that Hussey had been out of his crease when Dhonis toppled the bails off Suresh Rainas bowling. But Bruce Oxenford,the TV umpire,realised he had pressed the wrong button.

Before Hussey could cross over the boundary ropes,on-field umpire Billy Bowden grabbed him by his arm and dragged him back to the pitch.

In hindsight,despite Ben Hilfenhauss maiden five-wicket haul in ODI cricket and Brett Lees return to form with three crucial Indian strikes,the Hussey stumping/non-stumping was the outright turning point of the match. When the incident occurred,India had Australia on a sleeper hold at 4.17 runs/over.

By the time Hussey walked off the field for real in the 44th over as Australias top-scorer with 59,they were going at a shade above five.

The Aussie innings ended at 288 for five in 50 overs,thanks to the platform that Hussey had built for them. Dan Christian constructed a tower on it with his pyro,with the lower middle-order scoring 91 runs in the last 10 overs.

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India would lose by roughly that margin at the end of the match,one that bore striking resemblance to each of their spineless defeats in the Test series. The presence of a rampaging Hilfenhaus with the ball only added to that appearance of outright humiliation.

Bogeyman returns

Hilfenhaus had been the leading wicket-taker in the Test series from both sides,with 27 scalps to his credit. But the only blotch to his fine record was that he had not claimed Sachin Tendulkar8217;s wicket this summer even once. He added Tendulkar to his list of scalps on Sunday when the Indian batsman was caught by Xavier Doherty at third man.

Rohit Sharma was dismissed for nought,and India found themselves at 16 for 3. Hilfenhaus made it four with Kohlis scalp in the 11th over. While Suresh Raina put up some resistance at No.6,the score always looked beyond him with the pacers dishing out the short-pitched stuff in abundance.

Raina gave Wade his third caught behind of the day when he dangled his bat at Christians back-of-a-length ball. While Dhonis streak of big runs down the order continued at the Gabba on Sunday with 56,this time he couldnt pull off a Houdini like in the previous two games without the support of any other batsmen. It soon became apparent that Dhoni was trying to save Australia from winning the bonus point by hoping to take India past 230 runs.