India vs Australia 5th ODI 2009 Preview & Live Score

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 India vs Australia 5th ODI 2009 Live Online Action

The fifth of the seven-match ODI series between India and Australia will be held on 5 November 2009 at Hyderabad. The series is now level at 2-2 following Australia’s 24-run victory in the fourth ODI in Mohali. The winner of the fifth game would take a lead in the series and would go very close to clinch the series too. That means the series seems to have a lot of excitement left and cricket fans have enough reasons to follow the series. Australia got off to a good start in the series winning the first ODI by only 4 runs, but India bounced back strongly winning the next two games comfortably. However, the Aussies have been back with full swing by winning the fourth game of the series, and thus, leveling the series. So, it seems that the fifth match would be full of excitement as both sides would like to take a lead in the series by winning the fifth match.

Match: India vs Australia; 5th ODI, Seven-match ODI Series 2009

Date: 5 November 2009

Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad, Deccan

Time: 14:30 Local Time (09:00 GMT)

Live TV: Neo Cricket, Fox Sports, Sky Sports, DD Sports

The list of injured players in Australian camp is getting larger game after game with pacer Peter Siddle being the latest inclusion. The pacer played an important role in Australia’s victory in Mohali conceding only 15 runs in 5 overs, but the pacer would head home with an injury during the win in the fourth ODI. Australia’s team physio Kevin Sims has said that Siddle’s injury does not look very serious at this moment, but the team management has decided to send him home not to take any risk with him. You perhaps already know that Brett Lee and James Hopes have already flew back home with injuries during the series, and wicketkeeper batsman Tim Paine has also been out of action after sustaining an injury during the second match of the series. Clint McKay and Moises Henriques have already joined the squad in India to bolster the Aussie pace attack. Now, Cricket Australia (CA) would send another pacer as the replacement of Siddle.

Trak.in reported:

It was the stiffness that prevented the Victorian paceman from bowling more than five overs during Australia’s 24-run triumph over the hosts.

Siddle, 24, who has been impressive throughout the four-match series, will depart from India on the same flight as fellow injury victim James Hopes, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Paceman Brett Lee and wicketkeeper Tim Paine are already back in Australia due to injuries suffered at the start of the seven-match series.

Indian team has at least an injury woe as key batsman Gautam Gambhir missed the fourth ODI and it was a big loss for Indian team as Indian top order could not show enough resistance against Australian bowlers. However, it is expected that the left hander would be available for selection in the final eleven for the fifth ODI. However, he would go through a fitness test.

Batting is said to be the strongest side of Indian team, but Indian top order failed to live up to the expectation so far in the series. Good thing was that Indian middle order was up to the mark, but in the last game, India’s middle order also failed to deliver as per their level. India’s opening pair has not clicked so far in the series. However, both the openers: Tendulkar and Sehwag- are experienced enough to come back with a big score. I have something to say about India’s batting order. I just can not understand why India sends a stroke maker like Suresh Raina at no. 6. He is a talented batsman who can rotate the strike and play big shot whenever needed. So, I think, he should come at no. 4 before Kohli and Dhoni.

Australia has some in-from batsmen in Ponting, Hussey and White, while Watson got run in the last game. However, the only problem with Australian batting line up is their lower middle order. More specifically, Australia is missing someone like Andrew Symonds in the last 10 or 15 overs. For example, in the last match, Australia lost 6 wickets in the last 10 overs. The fear factor in Australia’s lower middle order is now missing and it is the reason behind Australia’s failure to pile on a big total.

However, the biggest improvement on Australian camp is perhaps their spin department, most specially, off spinner Nathan Hauritz who has shown his progress by troubling Indian batsmen in the fourth game. He picked up 2 wickets conceding only 31 runs in 9 overs. When it comes to pace attack, I think, Doug Bollinger has been the most impressive performer in Australian team. He may not have got many wickets, but his economic bowling has kept the pressure on Indian batsmen, and thus, helping other bowlers pick up wickets. Watson also played very well in the last game. Even though Australia is facing too many injuries in their bowling department, Ponting still seems to have a strong bowling line up. After winning the fourth match, Australian captained gave the due credit to his bowlers.

Theage reported:

Ponting said his bowlers deserved a big ''pat on the back'' for the win considering India's strong start to its chase. ''Whenever you take a wicket in one-dayers it's all about trying to build pressure on the incoming batsman and I thought at different stages tonight we did that very well,'' he said.

Indian pacers need to be more consistent, if the men in blue are really interested to be the no. 1 side in the world. It is true that India is missing the service of experienced Zaheer Khan at this moment, but still other pacers should step in and take the responsibility. Pacers like Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma are not consistent in their performance and that has become a big problem for the team. They do very well in one game and then fare very poorly in the next game. I think, Indian management should give Munaf Patel a chance following his recent performance in the domestic cricket.

India’s spin department has been bolstered with Yuvraj Singh coming back to action after injury. No doubt, the left hand spinner has been pretty much effective so far in the series and helped Harbhajan Singh a lot. Harbhajan Singh could not yet dominate over the opposition batsmen consistently, but his performance so far in the series is pretty much satisfactory. However, I should specially mention Ravindra Jadeja’s contribution with his left arm spin. In fact, he has been the most successful spinner for India so far in the series with 6 wickets from 4 games. Overall, India’s spin department has been doing very well.

Online Live Score and Updates

Here, I am giving some live score and update websites from where you can get the live score of the match:

Cricinfo

Action Cricket

Cricket Next

Stickiewicket

Thatscricket

Neither side is favorite for the game. Both sides would like to dominate from the beginning and would like to take a lead in the game. Toss could be vital, given the dew factor in the second innings of the game. Overall, I think, it could be another close match.