The Night We Beat Australia: A Memory I’ll Never Forget

After the India vs England match, Yuvraj Singh had become everyone’s favourite.

Even in school, cricket discussions suddenly increased.

In our building, we also started playing underarm cricket with our own rules — like saying “Umpire both sides!” before every ball. If we forgot to say it, it was automatically a no-ball. Everyone had a favourite player: Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs… and the newest craze — Yuvraj Singh.

It was 22nd September — India vs Australia, second semifinal at Durban, South Africa.

Local time 6 PM.

At home, the atmosphere was fully desi — chai, Good Day biscuits, vada pav, samosa. My parents were talking about the maid’s cleaning, my cousin was excited, and my friend Ravi said proudly, “I’m Yellow House in school, so I’ll support Australia.”

The match started.

India won the toss and elected to bat.

Gambhir and Sehwag got out early. Ravi kept giggling, “Aaj India pakka haaregi.” Brett Lee was bowling deadly yorkers. But Robin Uthappa came and steadied the innings.

And then… all eyes were on Yuvraj Singh.

The moment he came, he started smashing boundaries — no mercy on Brett Lee or Mitchell Johnson. After a brilliant 70, he fell to Michael Clarke.

Then came the young “Hitman” — Rohit Sharma. He hit a six, and my father said, “He is the youngest in the team.” In the last over, Dhoni got run out.

In my society, every house had Star Sports on.

Relatives gathered, friends came over — the Indian match-day culture is something else.

Australia started strong.

Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden used that powerful mongoose bat to destroy the bowling. But Sreesanth broke the partnership by dismissing Gilchrist. Hayden kept hitting until Sreesanth removed him too, and our whole society screamed in joy.

Then came Andrew Symonds — another headache.

He started hitting hard, and you could see pressure on the Indian players.

That’s when Dhoni made a genius move — he walked closer to the stumps for Irfan Pathan.

And boom — Symonds OUT.

Michael Hussey fell early to Joginder Sharma.

The rest of the players couldn’t do much. Mitchell Johnson hit a boundary on the last ball, but it wasn’t enough.

India won by 15 runs.

What I loved the most was Dhoni’s mastermind — field setting, trusting his bowlers, and staying calm. And then, in the post-match presentation, he said one of the most iconic lines:

“Before I start, I should say… I read your article on Cricinfo. You wrote Australia were favourites. Today, I think me and my boys proved you wrong.”

That match didn’t just give India a victory —

it gave me a memory I still carry in my heart.

Harbajan singh after taking Clarke’s wicket

Refrences-Image taken from espn cricket info