CRICKET NEWSINDIA ENDED their troubled tour of Australia on a high note when they beat the hosts by nine runs yesterday to win their best-of-three finals series 2-0.
Sachin Tendulkar scored a superb 91 and paceman Praveen Kumar went on to capture four wickets as the tourists followed up Sunday's six-wicket win in Sydney with a thrilling victory at the Gabba in Brisbane.
It was a sweet victory for the Indians after they lost the Test series 2-1 and had been embroiled in a long-running feud with their opponents all summer.
The tour was almost cancelled after the Australians accused Harbhajan Singh of racially abusing Andrew Symonds during the second Test. The rival captains agreed to a truce after the International Cricket Council (ICC) called in a mediator but the tensions remained throughout the tour.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting was gracious in defeat, saying the Indians fully deserved their win.
"All credit has to go to the Indian team for the way they've played in the last week," Ponting said at the televised presentation.
"Our level of cricket over the last week has dropped off so that's disappointing . . . but we can't take anything away from India; they dominated us in these two games."
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said of his youthful team's unexpected win: "It's very important because I believe this is a building stage of my team because of our youngsters and that we left off a lot of older players."
Tendulkar just missed out on back-to-back centuries after helping India post 258 for nine after they won the toss. He followed up his unbeaten hundred in Sydney with a patient display to set India on the road to victory.
The Australians, who also lost last year's tri-series finals at home to England, recovered from a terrible start to give themselves a glimmer of hope when James Hopes (63) and Matthew Hayden (55) made half-centuries, only to come up short.
The tourists were heading for a much bigger total when Tendulkar and Robin Uthappa (30) piled on 94 for the first wicket before Australia's bowlers struck back.
Part-time spinner Michael Clarke (3-52) captured three wickets, including the prize scalp of Tendulkar, while paceman Nathan Bracken (3-31) also picked up three wickets in the frantic final few overs. Yuvraj Singh made a run-a-ball 38 in a 54-run stand with Tendulkar but their dismissals triggered a lower-order batting collapse.
The Indians lost six wickets for 50 runs in the last 11 overs after looking as though they would get closer to 300.
The Australians made a terrible start to their run-chase when they lost three wickets in nine overs.
Adam Gilchrist, in his final appearance before retiring from international cricket, was caught behind for two off the third ball of the innings.
Australia needed 13 runs from the last over but were bowled out for 249 with two balls to spare, James Hopes (63) the last man out.
"It's just been a magic ride," Gilchrist said. "It hasn't been the fairytale ending tonight but it's certainly been a fairytale career."
SCOREBOARD
INDIA
A R Uthappa c Hopes b Clark 30
S R Tendulkar c Ponting b Clarke 91
G Gambhir c Johnson b Clarke 15
Yuvraj Singh c Hayden b Symonds 38
M S Dhoni c Clarke b Bracken 36
R G Sharma c Symonds b Clarke 2
I K Pathan b Bracken 12
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Lee 3
P S Kumar c Ponting b Bracken 7
P Chawla not out 6
S Sreesanth not out 1
Extras lb5 w12 pens 0 17
Total 9 wkts (50 overs) 258
Fall of wickets: 1-94, 2-121, 3-175, 4-205, 5-209, 6-237, 7-240, 8-249, 9-255.
Bowling: Lee 10-0-58-1; Bracken 9-1-31-3; Clark 6-0-32-1; Johnson 6-0-33-0; Hopes 6-0-20-0; Clarke 10-0-52-3; Symonds 3-0-27-1.
AUSTRALIA
A C Gilchrist c Dhoni b Kumar 2
M L Hayden run out 55
R T Ponting c Yuvraj Singh b Kumar 1
M J Clarke b Kumar 17
A Symonds lbw b Harbhajan Singh 42
M E K Hussey c Dhoni b Sreesanth 44
J R Hopes c Chawla b Pathan 63
B Lee b Kumar 7
M G Johnson c Dhoni b Sreesanth 8
N W Bracken c Chawla b Pathan 1
S R Clark not out 0
Extras lb2 w7 9
Total (49.4 overs) 249
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-8, 3-32, 4-121, 5-123, 6-199, 7-228, 8-238, 9-247.
Bowling: Kumar 10-2-46-4; Sreesanth 9-0-43-2; Pathan 8.4-0-54-2; Harbhajan Singh 10-0-44-1; Chawla 9-0-45-0; Yuvraj Singh 3-0-15-0.
India win by nine runs
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