Over the years, the Indian cricket team has mastered the art of somehow keeping their passionate fans’ hopes alive even in the most desperate of situations, before completely and dramatically trashing them at the end. They managed to do it yet again at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.

With Sachin Tendulkar having scored an amazing 141-ball 175, India seemed to be heading towards a historic victory against the Australians. That is, before Tendulkar was dismissed and the rest of the lower-order self-destructed in very similar fashion to the way they did more than 10 years ago at the MA Chidambaran Stadium in Chennai against Pakistan.

The fifth ODI, though, did go according to the unpredictable script that this series has followed, with the pendulum swinging both ways till the very end. While Australia stuck to their guns to regain the crucial lead in Hyderabad, India failed to deliver the killer blow for the third time in the series.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni believed that his team had failed in winning the mental part of the contest. “It is disappointing to do all the hard work and come so close and lose. As long as Sachin and Raina were at the crease we had hopes of getting close to the target. It is unfortunate that we ended up losing by just three runs,” said Dhoni.

Dhoni, who fell to an amazing catch by Adam Voges at backward point during India’s chase, said the three dropped catches during Australia’s innings was the real turning point. “We dropped Shaun Marsh twice, even though a couple of them were a little difficult. The top-order including myself also failed to bat around Sachin,” he explained.

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