Bollinger's fifth keeps India to 170

Mitchell Johnson found his mojo and combined with Doug Bollinger to reduce India to 27 for 5 before MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja fought hard to push it to 62 for 5 half-way through their innings in the sixth ODI at Guwahati.

Were the conditions so English that the ball was swinging wildly? No. Was the pitch aiding alarming movement? No. There was just a bit of movement, in the air and off the pitch, and Australia exploited it superbly to bundle India out.

Johnson, whose inability to swing the ball into the right-handers had blunted his threat in the recent times, found that inswing today and immediately looked a different bowler. With a slightly round-armish action which helped him to tilt the ball back in, Johnson gnawed away at the batsmen at disconcerting pace.

For a year Australians have fretted and puzzled over this man's inconsistency. They were proud of his performances against South Africa and cussed him over his poor showing in Ashes but they have always known that Johnson is a different bowler when he gets that inswing going.

Today was one such day. It was an early-morning start, the pitch was damp and there was hope in the air. The start wasn't flattering - his second delivery was whiplashed for a six over point by Virender Sehwag - but Johnson bounced back in the same over to start the demolition job. It was the full delivery, Sehwag shaped for his big drive but the ball curved in to thread the bat and pad gap and splayed the stumps.

Egged on by the success, Johnson went from strength to strength and unfurled his full repertoire: The rapid pace, the extra bounce, the slinging round-arm, and the consistent line and length. He removed Gautam Gambhir with little bit of help from the batsman, who perhaps was swayed by Johnson's bad days when the ball wouldn't swing away from the left-handed batsmen. It was a delivery on the off and middle and Gambhir shaped to work it to the on side as if he expected the ball to angle in to his pads but to his horror, the ball straightened to take out to the off stump.

Johnson went on to trouble Yuvraj Singh in the corridor before he took out Suresh Raina after harassing him with his bounce. There was something very obvious in the set-up - bowl a few short balls and push the batsman back before you slip in that fatal full delivery - but Raina fell for it again. Perhaps the ball stopped on him a bit, but Raina was late in getting forward to a full delivery and ended up flicking it straight to short mid-on.

If Johnson created an opening with his incisive bowling, it was Doug Bollinger who provided the perfect supporting act with his unspectacular but consistent seam bowling. There is nothing flashy about Bollinger; you know what you will get from him: the steady line and length, the changes in pace, and the ability to bowl to his fields and it was enough today to get him two big wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.

Tendulkar was restricted to just one run from seven Bollinger deliveries when he pushed at a back-of-length ball a touch early. Perhaps, it stopped on him a bit and he ended up pushing it straight back to Bollinger who took a good reflex catch. There was a bit more luck in his second dismissal. The ball ricocheted off Yuvraj's pad over his right shoulder and as Yuvraj, clueless about where the ball went, turned behind to place the bat back inside the crease, he only succeeded in pushing the ball back to the stumps.

At the half-way mark, India's good run in bilateral series - they have lost just two out of 14 since 2006 - looked most likely to end.

Source : Cricinfo