Chandigarh: Pulled down by umpire Asoka de Silva, Sachin Tendulkar failed to climb a peak in Mohali, on Monday. Australia, on the other hand, ensured that they weren’t left with having a mountain to climb.

The fourth ODI saw the visitors win by 24 runs, a result which took the Hero Honda Cup scoreline to 2-2. Another loss and they would’ve faced the Everest.

That apart, a defeat would’ve given the No.1 ranking back to India. For now, the Australians don’t have to head for the nearest oxygen parlour.

In fact, their strong comeback may just do wonders in the remainder of the seven-match series.

Actually, Ricky Ponting began on the wrong foot, losing the toss to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Then, four run outs didn’t exactly help and 250 was managed in 49.2 overs, a good 25-30 runs short of a dominating total.

However, that proved to be match-winning, even though the ball was often almost impossible to grip when the hosts set out to bat under the lights.

The failure of Sachin and Virender Sehwag, yet again, to script a solid start made it easier for Ponting and his men. A best of 40 (on Monday) in four ODIs is, well, poor.

“Yes, Sachin hasn’t been dominating us, but as long as he’s in, India would fancy their chances... We’ve kept Sachin in check, not allowed him to play extravagant shots,” is how Ponting put it.

Sachin, for the record, is now seven short of the 17,000-mark.

Instead of Australia slipping on the dew, the Indians got it all wrong, when a treating-the-ball-on-merit approach would’ve been enough.

One did, at times, get the impression that Dhoni and Co. were a tad complacent. That’s disastrous when the opponent happens to be the World Cup holders.

Towards the end, Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar did try to repeat their splendid (albeit futile) Vadodara effort, but their partnership ended when Harbhajan’s balle-balle show got over on 31 — 204 for eight.

“It’s a good win, particularly as we’d scored 30-40 short... After the first few overs, our bowling had been excellent, defending a smallish total... With all the troubles, our team’s balance isn’t perfect, but we can pick ourselves up when people think we’re down,” remarked Ponting.

MoM Shane Watson (49 and three for 29) was spot on when he said: “We were good enough to get wickets at important times... I’d say it’s a great win for us...”

Dhoni pointed out that his bowlers (save Ishant Sharma, who was taken to the cleaners) did a superb job in restricting Australia, but the batting “failed as a unit.”

Clearly, it did.

“It’s not a real setback... It’s difficult to say what exactly was the turning point... We had a good start, but kept losing wickets and failed to take advantage of that... We should’ve been able to chase,” Dhoni maintained.

He was, of course, mighty pleased with the fielding. “One won’t always get run outs, but the fielding today was very good... We’ll have to continue with this effort...”

Asked if he was disappointed by the failure of Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja to take the team over the finish-line, Dhoni replied: “Not really... It’s a cruel game and the players need to grab opportunities...”

Understandably, Dhoni steered clear of the controversy surrounding Sachin’s dismissal off Nathan Hauritz. “It’s a part and parcel of the game... I didn’t see the hawk-eye replay,” was his answer on being asked whether he’d been disappointed with the decision.

Among others, the match was watched by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt. “I hope to see a fine contest,” he’d told The Telegraph, in the morning.

It wasn’t quite that.

Footnote: The constant movement behind the sightscreen at the pavilion end came in for much criticism, and rightly so, from both captains. It probably distracted Yuvraj Singh to the extent that he was run out.