Australia only had a handful of fit players for the 6^th ODI, and their bowling stocks had been crumbling before the tour even started. Nathan Bracken had already been ruled out, and he was followed by the likes of Brett Lee, Peter Siddle and James Hopes. So it was quite a feat by the remaining bowlers to have a very experienced Indian batting line up at 27-5 at one stage. That initial burst of wickets was what clinched the series for Australia, and after being down 2-1, they’ve fought back admirably with a depleted squad.

After MS Dhoni decided to bat after winning the toss, in a must-win game, it seemed it might be a prosperous day with the bat when Virender Sehwag hit the second ball of Mitch Johnson’s first over the boundaries. However, it was the response by Johnson which swung the momentum and series to Australia. Two beautiful swinging deliveries on the 4^th and 6^th ball of the over saw Sehwag and Gambhir make early exits.

All of a sudden, it was down to Tendulkar and Yuvraj to stand up and deliver, second time round for the little master. A couple of boundaries were hit and it seemed the two were happy to take the singles and dispatch the bad balls. Nothing too risky. But some super reflexes from Doug Bollinger saw the end of Tendulkar. A crucial wicket, considering the way Tendulkar played last time around

Dhoni strode out to the crease needing to play a blinder, but you wouldn’t have bet against it. The scene seemed set for a classic Dhoni special. Well, until Yuvraj’s luck fell in his face.

The big hitting batter hasn’t been at his best this series and the way he got out perhaps summed up his series. Bollinger’s delivery hit his pads, looped over his shoulders, and in an attempt to get back in the crease he managed to paddle the ball into the stumps. Freakish stuff it was.

When Raina followed almost instantly, India didn’t look like they would make three figures.

Jadeja came and steadied the ship with Dhoni, even if it was at a slow rate. At 50/5 India were slowly recovering, but Dhoni nearly holed out to Voges of McKay. The two continued to build and took the home side to 75/5 to give hope of reaching a mediocre total.

However, Bollinger returned and took out the Indian captain with ball one and Harbhajan with ball three, to dig another hole for India.

Praveen Kumar and Jadeja now had the job of getting a decent score, and they did quite good work. After some big hitting from Kumar and a little bit of luck for Jadeja, they took the score from 75/5 to 149/5. Jadeja had reached a fighting fifty, but his knock came to an end when Bollinger picked up his 5^th wicket of the innings.

Kumar kept hitting, and at one stage it appeared India might reach an unthinkable total of 200, but it was not to be as Kumar ran out of partners and India finished with a total of 170.

Australia was in touching distance of a series win, and really, the pitch didn’t seem like one which was causing a mountain of problems.

Watson and Marsh were in form, and they took Australia to 24/0 after only four overs. However, Munaf Patel trapped Marsh leg before, to rekindle a little light of hope.

Ponting and Watson then started to bat more conservatory as they didn’t need to score at a fast rate. Dhoni was in trouble, so he threw the ball to talismanic Harbhajan Singh. He didn’t disappoint.

He quickly snared both Watson and Ponting in consecutive overs to bring India back into the game. Australia had gone from 84/1 to 90/3 quickly, but they were still in a good position. Meanwhile, India needed another quick wicket to really heap the pressure upon the Aussies.

Hussey and White had other ideas though. The pair added a valuable fifty three runs to take Australia to 143/4 before White was dismissed by Raina. But the hard work had already been done, as Hussey and Voges guided Australia to an impressive six-wicket win.

After a six-wicket performance, no surprises that Bollinger was awarded man of the match. Ponting regarded the series victory as one of the best he’s been involved in, and fair play to the Aussies. While Dhoni conceded that the initial burst of wickets took the game away from India and they were always chasing from there on.