 |
India's worst tour of Australia in the last 45 years ended on Friday when their faint hopes of qualifying for the tri-series finals were dashed with Sri Lanka pulling off a nail-biting nine-run victory over Australia in the last league in Melbourne.
India needed an Australian win to qualify for the finals but it was Sri Lanka who secured a passage to the summit showdown as they scraped past the hosts in a match which saw fortunes fluctuate till the very end at the MCG.
Electing to bat, Sri Lanka put up a modest 238 runs and then bowled out the hosts for 229 to win with five balls to spare.
In the nerve-wrecking final moments of the game, Australia needed 10 runs in the last over off Nuwan Kulasekar but David Hussey's mighty heave was caught by Tillakaratne Dilshan at long-off to trigger off wild celebrations in the Sri Lankan camp.
The Indians had lost a Test series 0-4 on Australian soil way back in 1967-68 and the current 0-4 whitewash is the heaviest defeat since then. India have been whitewashed in a Test series three times in Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment