India forced to work hard for five-wicket win

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A five-wicket win chasing 160 might seem a comfortable victory but India made hard work of their success at the MCG, grinding out their first triumph of the CB Series with less than five overs to spare, according to website cricinfo.
Their youngest star Ishant Sharma set up the small target and their oldest warrior Sachin Tendulkar put their batting on track, but it was left to Rohit Sharma and their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to complete the task.
Rohit finished unbeaten on 39 and Dhoni was on 17 as Ricky Ponting ran out of attacking options with only four specialist bowlers in his line-up.
Things were ticking along comfortably at 2 for 89 with Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir both looking dangerous. Gambhir was caught when Brett Lee surprised him with extra bounce but Tendulkar threw his wicket away by driving Mitchell Johnson to mid-off on 44 as the runs began to dry up.
His figures ballooned after an early 12-run over when Tendulkar drove him superbly straight and through cover for three boundaries. Things might have been different had Rudi Koertzen raised his finger when Tendulkar appeared to edge a Clark legcutter to Gilchrist on 24; Gilchrist was extra frustrated as Koertzen also failed to hear a thick edge off his own bat in Australia's first over and wrongly adjudged him lbw.
Dhoni realised the best way to rattle the world champions was all-out attack and he juggled his three main strikers for 21 overs before thinking about spin.
A lack of easy runs also frustrated Michael Clarke into a loose flick straight to midwicket off Irfan Pathan after Andrew Symonds edged behind to give Ishant his third. Australia soon fell to 6 for 92.
Hussey's unbeaten 65 was his first time past fifty in an ODI in nearly a year. Most of his runs were sprinted ones and twos and he found the boundary only four times, although a pull over midwicket from a Sehwag delivery that wasn't that short was particularly impressive.
But Australia's pain had been inflicted long before and Hussey's roll of sticking plaster ran out as the team's wounds gradually gaped wider and wider. The only people who might have enjoyed the game even less than Ponting's men would be Sri Lanka, who on Tuesday face the conquerors of a team that beat them by 128 runs in Sydney.