Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Sydney: It’s rare for Australia to lose back-to-back matches. Yet, that has happened — at the MCG on Friday, at the hands of Sri Lanka, and at the SCG on Sunday.

It’s also not the norm for the tri-series’ best-of-three finals to go the distance. England, for example, caused a 2-0 upset last season. So, the team which wins the first, has a significant advantage.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is, of course, hoping to do an England and will be keeping fingers crossed for a Team India victory on Tuesday too.

“Today, I’m very happy… Bahut khush hoon,” the captain told The Telegraph on returning to his Radisson Plaza suite after the six-wicket win over the world champions.

It was past midnight that the team returned to the hotel and, so, a one-on-one at length wasn’t possible.

Asked for a comment on MoM Sachin Tendulkar’s statement-making innings, Dhoni replied: “In one word, terrific.” As crisp as a smart stumping that.

The Australians aren’t used to being under this kind of pressure, certainly not at home, so it will be interesting to see how they respond at The Gabba.

Ricky Ponting has already given his team a tongue-lashing or, as he put it, “a kick up the backside,” but the fact is that the captain has himself not been performing (an average of just over 21).

It’s obvious that the controversies have taken their toll and reduced one of the greats of the present times to a situation where his first target is to have at least 20 against his name on the board.

What a comedown.

That Sachin has, finally, struck form has only made it worse for Ponting and Co. The captain admitted as much. “He controlled everything beautifully… He has the ability to sum up situations… It’s now about us staying one step ahead of him… We need to start well and put some pressure on him on Tuesday.”

Sachin, who placed his latest hundred “right up there,” and rightly so, batted in the manner he’d done during the fourth and last Test (at the SCG itself) four years ago.

Then, Sachin had been desperate for a big one and scripted an unbeaten 241. It wasn’t any different this time, except that the hundred came in an ODI.

Meanwhile, overworked quick Ishant Sharma, who went off after the 20th over and couldn’t complete his quota, hasn’t suffered a “serious injury” on his right middle finger.

“Ishant, who developed a swelling and fluid accumulation, hasn’t suffered a serious injury… He’s being treated and his fitness will be assessed on Tuesday morning,” is what manager Dr Bimal Soni said.