Yuvraj Singh's Run Out: The Major Turning Point to Level the Series By Australia

INDIAN supporters may argue the turning point of its team's clash on Monday night with Australia was a poor leg-before decision against Sachin Tendulkar. But, the real trigger for Australia's series-levelling victory came five overs later, when Ricky Ponting's pick-up and throw from cover point ran out Yuvraj Singh for 12.

''We knew that if we got Yuvraj out and [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni, because they'd been the ones who'd scored a few runs in the last couple of games, we knew we were definitely well in the game,'' all-rounder Shane Watson said.

That they were. India, chasing a target of 251 that Ponting later admitted seemed 30 or 40 runs too skinny on an impressive PCA Stadium pitch, wilted to slip from 2-94 to all out for 226, handing the visitors an unlikely 24-run win. It also preserved their No. 1 ranking for one-dayers.

Australia's biggest irritation towards the end of the match came from long-time foe Harbhajan Singh, who again proved destructive in the lower order in slapping 31, including five boundaries and a six. But, Ponting said he never panicked about the rapid scoring of Harbhajan and his fellow tailender Praveen Kumar (16).

''They took the powerplay, they had nothing to lose. When you have tailenders playing extravagant shots like they were tonight … you feel like you're a good chance of picking up a wicket there, which is what we did,'' he said. ''It just goes to show the fighting qualities of this side. Whenever everyone thinks that we're down we can manage to pull out a result like tonight, which is very satisfying for me as the leader of the team.''

The win was significant because it came despite the team's most senior paceman, Mitchell Johnson, finishing with career-worst figures of 0-74 from nine overs - on his 28th birthday, no less. Johnson was plundered for 34 runs off his first three overs, primarily by Virender Sehwag (30 from 19 balls).

Australia, having been surprisingly sent in by Indian captain Dhoni, capitulated in its last 11 overs to lose 7-54 on its way to being all out for 250 in the last over. ''If someone got a hundred tonight we most definitely would have got 300,'' said Ponting, who made 52.

The difference was that no Indian batsmen got as far as Ponting. Tendulkar (40) looked capable of going on until he was given out on an angled delivery from Nathan Hauritz that hit him in line with leg stump but looked certain to slide wide.

Ponting said his bowlers deserved a big ''pat on the back'' for the win considering India's strong start to its chase. ''Whenever you take a wicket in one-dayers it's all about trying to build pressure on the incoming batsman and I thought at different stages tonight we did that very well,'' he said.