Ricky Ponting wouldn’t have minded taking a few of the Indian batsmen out for dinner last night, but the Aussie skipper spent time celebrating with his own team, relieved at having escaped defeat, and pleased at having thrown a punch or two at the Indians.

Even as the last of the 35,000-odd fans left the PCA stadium, stunned at how the Indian batting choked chasing a very gettable 251, the home dressing room presented a stark contrast to how it had been during the mid-innings break. The bowlers had done their job then, and for the second game running, their fielding had been top notch, accounting for four run-outs. But, by the time the last ball of the day had been bowled, the players couldn't figure out how they had thrown it away.

From a position of great strength, they lost the match by 24 runs, and a series that India seemed to be dominating against a ragged Australian outfit is now tied 2-2. The fifth one-dayer will be played in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Slow and steady

As if signalling how nothing was going in favour of visiting skipper Ricky Ponting, Dhoni even won his first toss of the series, and he must have had the evening dew on his mind when he asked the Australians to bat first.

Shaun Marsh fell early to Ashish Nehra but Shane Watson and Ponting rescued the side with a 64-run stand for the second wicket. They kept the scoreboard moving without being flashy until Watson's dismissal — off the first delivery by Punjab off-spinner Harbhajan Singh — seemed to change the script.

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