India vs Australia: Five memorable ODIs of the 21st century

It is fair to say India vs Australia has been the rivalry of the 21st century. Be it Test cricket, ODI cricket or even Twenty20 cricket, no two countries have produced more contests that have proceeded to leave the fans on the edge-of-their-seats than these two proud cricketing nations.

If we talk about ODI cricket, who can forget Yuvraj’s memorable knock in the ICC Knockout 2000; one that paved way for the pre-mature exit of the defending champions from the marquee event or Ricky Ponting’s epic annihilation of the Indians in the 2003 World Cup final or Yuvraj and India’s redemption eight years later?

Who can forget the six that Brett Lee hit off Laxmipathi Balaji to seal a memorable win for the Aussies at the SCG in 2004 or Irfan Pathan’s epic battle with Matthew Hayden at Brisbane in the same series? If you talk of recent bouts, none comes closer than Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s epic annihilation of the Aussies in the 2013 series or Aaron Finch sides’ epic comeback from a 0-2 scoreline last year.

The next few chapters of the Indo-Australian rivalry is set to be written in the upcoming three-match ODI series. So, why not take this moment and delve on the memorable chapters of the past.

Here’s a look at five memorable India vs Australia ODIs of the 21st Century:

5. Sachin Tendulkar’s masterclass in vain as Australia win a high-scoring nerve-jangler

Occasion- 5th ODI of the seven-match series, Hyderabad (2009)

During the course of his 24-year-old career Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar played a lot of memorable innings where he should have ended up on the winning side, but he didn’t. The 5th ODI of the seven-match series against Australia was another such game where Tendulkar played possibly one of the best innings of his ODI career, only to be let down by his teammates.

It would have been a special game for Tendulkar, had India ended up as the winning side. Not only had he scored a masterly 175 off 141 balls, but this was also the game where the Master Blaster notched up an insurmountable 17,000 runs in One-day International cricket. But, ultimately, all of that didn’t matter as India eventually fell short of what would have been their highest run-chase in ODI cricket at the time.

Chasing 351, India looked set for a shellacking when they were reduced to 4-162 with Gautam Gambhir [8], Yuvraj Singh [9] and MS Dhoni [6] all fell in quick succession after a seemingly good start. But, the Master Blaster had different ideas. In what was a masterclass of highest proportions, Tendulkar, flayed the Aussie attack to the tune of 175 off 141 ball- an innings which included 19 fours and 4 sixes.

But with just 19 runs to get, Tendulkar played a very UnTendulkar like stroke when he went for a paddle-sweep, only to end top-edging it. The crowd went silent and what ensued was Chennai 1999 heartbreak- Vol 2.0, as Ravindra Jadeja and Praveen Kumar threw their wicket away with atrocious running. Australia eventually won the game by three runs, and Tendulkar’s tryst with run-chases ending in heart-breaking fashion completed a full circle.