The debate about the survival of one day cricket was in full flow when the ODI series between India and Australia got under way. The Reliance cricket stadium in Vadodara was packed and what followed and climaxed into an incredible finish promising that, with games like this, ODI cricket will always be there against the T-2O cricket.

It was one of the rare occasions when both the captains were happy after the toss. Dhoni wanted to bowl first to use the moisture of the track and Ponting reckoned that the track would get slower and it would be good to have the first use of the batting conditions.

Ponting had to come early to combat some good swing bowling specially by Ashish Nehra and after surviving some early anxious moments Ponting looked rock solid. With the absence of Yuvraj and both Sachin and Sehwag not fit enough to toss the ball up till then, Dhoni had a tough day thinking about his part time spin options.

Playing Praveen over Munaf was baffling too as Praveen’s strength, swing, was not warranted on this slow track. Harbhajan had an off day with the ball as he could never make the batsmen drive and gave away easy scoring opportunities quite regularly.

Bowling in death has always been a problem for India and with the fielding standards of the team being at all time low, the situation becomes tougher for the captain. Dhoni’s defensive approach against someone like Cameron White also did not help the team too.

India took the batting power play with 7 wickets in hand and 126 needed. A good use of power play fetching around 35-40 runs would have done the trick for India but they floundered in batting power play and lost 3 batsmen in the next 3.2 overs for only 19 runs.

By the time Praveen joined Harbhajan, India’s obituary was almost written for this match with India still needing 92 in 61 balls. But these two men had some different thoughts as they decided to show their batting abilities to the world and their batting heroics took India agonisingly close to a win.

The partnership between these two was as astonishing and unbelievable as some of the shots played by them. Look at all the sixes hit by both Hrabhajn and Praveen, with flicked six over fine leg being the best, none was a slog. The quality of shots played during the partnership was just as good as any top order partnership.

Australia have the luxury of six regular bowlers with 4 of them (Lee, Siddle, Jhonson and Watson) having abilities to rip through any batting line up on any kind of surface. They have part timers like Hopes and a good spinner in Hauritz and all the bowlers supported by some great fielding led by the skipper himself. On the other hand, India have been struggling in all these departments for quite some time now.

The biggest question for Dhoni is to find part time bowling options. If Yuvraj comes back and is fit enough to roll his arms over even in that case Dhoni needs another one to support him and if he is not fit enough to bowl then it will certainly create a headache to Dhoni. He will have to use his available part time bowling options like Raina, Kohli a bit more but tactfully.

The conventional approach is not going to help their cause. There has to be a plan B ready if the plan A does not work and Dhoni should be flexible enough to opt for some unconventional or bold moves like starting with a spinner to just bring a surprise element into the match.

Dhoni will also have to be a bit pro active. Keep men inside the ring or put in a few close in catching men like silly point, slip or short leg especially with Harbhajan. He will have to use Harbhajan as a strike bowler for attacking the Australians and making them go for big shots and using their feet against him.

Australia is certainly not an unbeatable side any more but still they are really very tough opponent. If India really wants to win then they will have to perform better in all the 3 departments of the game i.e. batting, bowling and fielding from their opponents and they will have to do it without wasting much of the time.