Brisbane, Mar 4: India claimed the Commonwealth Bank Series in immaculate style with the young guns beating the World Champions by 9 runs infront of a full house Gabba crowd. The series win came after a long hiatus of 23 years, a victory that became the symbol of defiance to a hard series that made headlines on the ground…and off it as well.

Irfan Pathan came of age in the final nail biting over and got the final two wickets that spelled doom for Australia’s chances of stretching the series.

Sreesanth made his presence felt in the electrifying Brisbane atmosphere as he got the right wicket at the right time with Australia falling short of apt reply to the stinging deliveries of the Indian pacers.

Praveen Kumar yet again proved his weight in gold as he castled Brett Lee with a beautiful swinger that bamboozled the batsman. With the match headed for a nail biter, the wicket gave India a window of hope against a valiant Aussie tail. James Hopes hit a valiant fifty in the face of trying times.

Speedster S Sreesanth joined the festivities at Brisbane as he claimed the wicket of Mike Hussey just at the juncture when the team required it the most. The batsman edged a fuller length, outside the off stump delivery into the hands of MS Dhoni but the decision was delayed as the third umpire was called due to a judgemental arrear on the field umpires’ part.

India clawed their way back into the match due to the mix-up between Hayden and Symonds that resulted in the former batsman’s exit from the ground. This was followed by a scintillating delivery from Harbhajan that got Symonds plumb in front of the wicket. With the two set batsmen out in a single over, India sensed a historic victory on Oz soil.

Hayden and Symonds led Australia’s recovery process. The duo brought up their 50 run partnership keeping the hosts’ hope of a third final alive. The pair, was however lucky on more than one occasion, surviving few inside edges and close appeals.

Earlier in the Australian innings, Praveen Kumar made his presence felt at Brisbane as he got the wicket of Michael Clarke just when the duo of Clarke/Hayden started to lend some stability to the innings. The speedster proved yet again that his swing was becoming fearsome for the Oz batsmen by every delivery, giving the breakthroughs to his team at the right time.

Kumar stunned Ricky Ponting with a tearing fast delivery that got his wicket in the crucial final at Gabba. The fall of second wicket in the first few overs of the innings sent shockwaves down the Oz camp as they started the run chase in a nightmarish manner in front of a charged up crowd.

Kumar sounded the warning bells for the Aussie line-up early on in the innings as he claimed the prized wicket of Gilchrist at a score of just 2 runs. The batsman edged a beautiful fuller length, slanting delivery into the hands of MS Dhoni as the Indian supporters at Gabba erupted with wild cheers.

Rising from the ashes, the Australian bowlers had conjured up a brilliant final spell to restrict the Indian total to 258 runs. The death overs saw a number of wickets falling, the result of which was negative to the total accumulation of runs for India. The battle of nerves saw Australia emerging as the winner in the first half of the final with India looking determined to give them a run for their money in the second half.

Brett Lee claimed Harbhajan in the penultimate over as he was plumb in front of the wicket to a fuller length delivery from the speedster.

MS Dhoni was the next batsman to follow as Bracken bowled a well disguised delivery which the batsman failed to read clearly and in the process, lobbed an easy catch to Clarke.

Bracken castled Pathan in the 48th over to restrict the Indian scoring. Pathan departed after scoring 12 runs, bringing Harbhajan Singh to the crease that got a loud cheer from the crowd at Gabba.

Australia pulled back the match to life just when the Indians seemed to have them under the mat with the prized wicket of Tendulkar, who was in the nineties. Skipper Ponting plucked the cherry out of thin air to effect a dismissal that spelled troubled for India. The next batsman on the crease, Rohit Sharma departed in quick succession as Clarke spun a vicious web around the Indian middle order that had lost 5 crucial wickets.

Yuvraj Singh was earlier claimed by Andrew Symonds off a half tracker while he was trying to clear the ropes yet again. He departed after scoring a run-a-ball 38 runs as the Indian scoreboard read 175 runs for the loss of three wickets. Skipper MS Dhoni was the new batsman on crease to give company to Sachin Tendulkar, who looked all set to score another century as India posted 200 runs on the board.

India had previously crossed the 150 run mark with the pair of Yuvraj and Sachin powering the charge with some captivating shot making. The duet of the two cracking batsmen was on song and looked set to give their team a massive score against the home team. The latest fifty runs came from a mere 52 balls as the willow wielders worked their magic against the Aussies.

Clarke became the unlikely provider of tremors in the Indian dressing room as he claimed the wicket of Gautam Gambhir. The batsman tried to take the aerial route to the spinner and was caught in the deep by Mitchell Johnson for a score of 15 runs. The fall of India’s second wicket brought the big hitting southpaw Yuvraj Singh to the pitch who started the festivities with a massive six.

Earlier, Stuart Clark had got the desired breakthrough for his team as he claimed the wicket of opener Robin Uthappa. The batsman got out due to an ordinary looking shot that lobbed the cherry into the hands of James Hopes at a score of 30 runs.

Batting stalwart Sachin Tendulkar carved a well crafted half-century to give India an imposing start in the second final of the Commonwealth Bank Series against Australia. His effort was marked with a plethora of boundaries ricocheting from his blade as he was aptly supported by Robin Uthappa.

The dynamic duo of Sachin and Robin started the Indian campaign on a positive note as they did not allow the Australian bowlers to make inroads early on in the innings. They rotated the strike well to take India past fifty runs for no loss of wickets amidst some brilliant shot making by Sachin.

Indian skipper MS Dhoni started the morning on a winning note as he won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the second final of the Commonwealth Bank Series. Speedster Ishant Sharma had to be left out due to a finger injury, his place was taken by S Sreesanth.

This was the only change in the Indian squad’s line up whereas Australia too made a change in the team composition. They brought in pacer Stuart Clark in place of tweaker Brad Hogg to have a more stinging pace attack on a Brisbane pitch that’s expected to be hard and bouncy.