5 High voltage India v Australia clashes in ODIs

2. India v Australia, 2003 World Cup, Final:

If ever Sourav Ganguly had to regret any decision from his past, it’ll be the one where he asked Australia to bat first after winning the toss in the 2003 World Cup final. It seemed a right call considering India had pulled off some remarkable chases in that tournament, but against a rampant Aussie side, it was quite a gamble and that turned out to be a nightmare.

Remember the “Ricky Ponting’s spring bat” myth? Well, that obviously wasn’t true but the Aussie skipper’s performance in that game was so inhuman that few people did believe it was a god-made bat which helped him pull off an innings of such dominance at the biggest stage there can ever be. He spanked a breathtaking 140 off just 121 balls and received great support from Damien Martyn, who was playing with a fractured finger and yet scored 88 off 84 balls.

The Indian fans were half dead watching Australia post a mammoth 359 on the board, but the only hope for them was the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. When Glenn McGrath picked his wicket in the very first over, the game was almost done and the fans were distraught. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid’s partnership did pull the Indian fans towards the TV sets as they were catching up with the required rate, but it was all temporary.

After they both fell in quick succession, wickets kept falling like a pack of cards and the team from down under won the finale by 125 runs. Australia managed to become the second team in cricket history to win a World Cup without losing a single game in the tournament after West Indies (1975).