Yuvraj Singh's heroic 121 went in vain as a ruthless Australia maintained
their stranglehold in the series with a comfortable 47-run victory over India
in the third cricket one dayer here today.
The formidable Australians rattled up 290 for seven and then bundled out the
home team for 243 in 47.4 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series,
leaving the hosts with the herculean task of winning four matches in a row to
win the rubber.
It was another display of awesome cricket by the world champions,
who never allowed the Indians to recover from a horrendous start of 13 for three,
although the in-form Yuvraj's 115-ball knock injected some life in the match,
which was refreshingly free of any on-field skirmishes.
The Australian innings was largely built around Andrew Symonds blistering
83-ball 89, while opener Matthew Hayden (60) and Michael Clarke
(59) chipped in with useful contributions.
Barring Yuvraj, none of the other Indian batsmen could get
going on a good batting strip at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium
and fell well short of the target despite packing the team with seven specialist
batsmen.
Sachin Tendulkar (43) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) got
the starts but could not convert it into big knock as the Aussies kept up the
pressure by claiming wickets at regular intervals.
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