India skipper Sourav Ganguly was once again left ruing a lost opportunity to beat Australia after being in a good position in a pulsating VB tri-series match in Sydney on Thursday.
"I am a little bit disappointed. We were in a good position. The wicket had livened up after the rain, but they played well in the end," said the skipper.
The thrilling encounter, under floodlights, saw Australia achieve the revised target of 225 in 34 overs, with two wickets in hand and a ball to spare.
Also Read
Yuvraj Singh was lordly
But was it ball tampering?
Narrowest defeats for India
Laxman-Yuvraj in record stand
India had scored 296 for four in 50 overs.
"The match could have gone either way," Ganguly said, praising both his bowlers and batsmen.
India had narrowly lost the tri-series opener to Australia in Melbourne before paying back the compliment in the next match between the two teams in Brisbane.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting said the Indians forced them on the backfoot with a good batting display but his team did well to finish on top in the end.
"We got some early wickets. But a great partnership [between Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman] put us on the backfoot."
Ponting said they started off well but lost their way to concede the advantage.
"We lost some wickets in the middle. The wicket had freshened up after the rain. But the boys played well in the end," Ponting said, praising Brett Lee for the crucial six he hit in the last over of the match.
Despite the defeat, Ganguly lauded the efforts of his batsmen and bowlers.
"The youngsters bowled their hearts out... they will learn as they play. As for Yuvraj, it was one of the best one-day knocks I have ever seen. He is a class act. Batting at number six he does not get enough opportunity. But he showed today what a quality player he is.
"[VVS] Laxman too is in fantastic form. It was a tough situation as three of our wickets were down for 80 runs. But he played very sensibly."
Man-of-the-match Yuvraj Singh said the award "would have meant more" had India won the match. "But I think it was one of my best one-day knocks. It feels great to have scored a hundred against the best side in the world. But, again, at the end of the day we lost the game."
Yuvraj said he had been itching to play on Australian tracks.
"When I watched the Tests on TV back home I was very eager to get here [Australia]. The pitches here have genuine bounce and I love playing in these conditions."
The one-day specialist paced his innings beautifully to hit a career-best 139 off just 122 balls.
