OTD: Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma’s batting helped India win their first Commonwealth Bank Series final in 2008

On This Day: Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma‘s batting helped India win their first Commonwealth Bank Series final in 2008. India’s victory in the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Series is one of the most famous victories for the Men in Blue in Australia. A young team led by MS Dhoni prevailed over Australia and Sri Lanka in a long and grueling tournament. On this day, India won the first final and took a bold step forward towards winning the series. The main protagonists of this victory for India were Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma, two players at different ends of their careers. 

India bowlers kept it tight

Ricky Ponting won the toss for Australia in the first final and decided to put runs on the board. It was a good toss to win for the Kangaroos as runs on the board in any knockout contest give an edge. However, the young Indian bowling unit did not let the home team start the first innings on a high. Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clarke were back in the pavilion in the first six overs. 

Matthew Hayden tried to turn the tide with a partnership with Andrew Symonds. A 100-run partnership between these two brought Australia back into the game. But after Symonds’ dismissal, Australia once again slid into the spiral of fall of wickets. However, a few lower-order contributions gave the Kangaroos enough runs to fight in the second innings Australia gave the target of 240 runs for India to chase. 

The Master and the apprentice take India home

It was certainly not a massive target for India to chase but chasing any target against Australia in Australia is a tricky job. India got a good start as Sachin and Robin Uthappa added 50 runs for the opening stand. However, Australia made a solid comeback as they struck 3 wickets for 37 runs after that. 

Now, the responsibility was on the shoulders of young Rohit Sharma to stay on the wicket with Sachin Tendulkar. Rohit did the job brilliantly and his partnership with Sachin almost ensured India’s victory. By the time Rohit got out India had already scored 210 runs. The young middle-order batter scored 66 runs whereas Sachin ended up having a century. In the end, India won the first final by 6 wickets.