India had never won a series in Australia - of course, if you discount the 1985 World Championship win, that is. It was time to make amends with Dhoni at the helm of affairs at the Commonwealth Bank Series. As usual, it was a Best-of-Three finals but the Indians ensured that the last one was not required with convincing wins over the Champion team in their own den.
Sachin too did not have a good run in Australia, especially in ODIs where he had not scored a century. He used this opportunity to not only set the record straight but also take the team to victory. Along with Rohit Sharma, Sachin played a knock that all his fans Down Under were waiting for a long time. Dhoni used Piyush Chawla as the surprise weapon in the final to trounce the Aussies. Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma struck regularly to restrict the Aussies to a simple 239 total. The response led by the Master was planned very well with the help of his disciple.
The second ODI was a classic where India batted first and put on 258 on the board once again thanks to Sachin's 91 and useful contributions from Uthappa, Yuvraj and Dhoni. The Aussie response was shocked by Praveen Kumar who took three quick wickets in the beginning. Hayden and Symonds rescued the hosts but some smart bowling and fielding by Harbhajan Singh meant that both of them were dismissed in space of three balls. Despite efforts of Hopes, the Indians sneaked home by 10 runs.
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