January 29, was India Day in Australia. A great day for Indian sports as top seeded women’s doubles pair Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis overwhelmed Czech seventh seeds Andrea Hlavackova and lucie Hradecka 7-6 (1), 6-3 to win the Australian Open crown on Friday. Meanwhile, in a first, the Indian women’s cricket team won the series in Australia, while the Men in Blue too produced another all-round performance against Australia to record a 27-run win in the second T20 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and bag the series with a game remaining.
At the MCG, Dhoni led India to turn tables from a disappointing ODI series and seal the T20 series by winning the second T20 by 28 runs. The team now leads the three-match series 2-0.
Further down the road, Indian women cricketers made history by beating three-time World Champions Australia for their maiden T20 series triumph. Indian eves reached their reduced target of 66 in 10 overs in a rain interrupted match without losing a wicket and with five balls to spare.
Just 500 metres from the MCG, at the Rod laver Arena, the Indo-Swiss pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis stretched its unbeaten streak to 36 matches after winning the women’s doubles title at the Australian Open comfortably over Andrea Hlavackova and lucie Hradecka.
This was their third consecutive Grand Slam and Sania’s second doubles title in Melbourne.
Bowling first, Mithali Raj captained Indian side restrained the home side to 125 runs after showers had reduced the match to 18 overs. In reply, India were in blistering form with Raj (37 not out from 32 balls) providing the winning runs after the match had been reduced further when the visitors were at 52/0 in 7.5 overs.
On a day of girl power, Mirza added to the cheer with a straight sets win at Melbourne Park. With the win, the dominant pairing have arguably become the best women’s doubles pair that has graced the sport. However, there was despair for Mirza later in the day when she and her Croatian partner Ivan Dodig lost in the semis of the mixed doubles event.
Not to be outdone, the men’s cricket team made it a euphoric end to Friday down under by beating the Aussies in rather comfortable fashion for their first bilateral series win down-under. The series ends in Sydney on Sunday.