India vs Australia 2013: MS Dhoni’s stunning century guides home team out of the woods

Zee Media Bureau/Feroz Khan

Mohali: When India captain MS Dhoni walked to the middle, Australian team was on top after picking two Indian wickets off consecutive deliveries. It was the 13th over of the Indian innings and Mitchell Johnson gave India two body blows by removing Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh off the final two deliveries. India were 76/4 and for company, Dhoni had reliable Virat Kohli. Things weren’t bad as the scoreline suggested but it could have certainly gone wrong considering the precarious condition in which the Indian captain took guard in the middle. Kohli once again played a sensible knock and scored yet another fifty. However, Glenn Maxwell had him caught by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin in the 30th over. Next man Ravindra Jadeja didn’t last long and departed after scoring just 2 (4b). The scoreboard read 154/6 and Dhoni now had the Indian tail to bat alongside. Dhoni has been known for his never-say-die attitude in the past and at Mohali in front of a capacity home crowd, he once again played a sensational knock that not only guided India out of trouble but also took the score past 300-run mark by the end of 50 overs. The Indian skipper scored unbeaten 139* (121b, 4X12, 6X5) and that too batting with non-specialist batsmen in R Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the better part of his knock. He was particularly lethal in the last three overs in which he collected 47 runs! Thanks to his ninth ODI century, India posted a challenging 303/9 against Australia at Mohali in the third ODI of the seven-match series.