Sharma's temperament sees India home

India's winning runs against Australia in Chennai at the Quadrangular tournament deservingly came off the bat of opener Jaya Sharma who got a splendid hundred - her second in 59 ODIs - which had a perfect mix of defensive and attacking shots. Sharma remained unbeaten at 104 off 140 balls and her stay at the wicket through the innings kept India in the game even as the other batsmen fell around her.

Chasing Australia's 213 - anchored by Lisa Sthalekar's unbeaten 87 - Sharma came to the crease at the beginning of the innings and saw off Cathryn Fitzpatrick's bowling with neat defense. Fitzpatrick bowled a line outside off stump and Sharma left what should be left and put a bat to the rest. Though her first four came off Emma Sampson in the first over she faced - reflecting her aggressive streak - her next came only in the tenth over off Clea Smith.

Sharma explained that once Karuna Jain and Mithali Raj had been dismissed the plan was to just stick around and build partnerships. She did that with Hemalata Kala as the two added 56 for the fourth wicket. "After Hemlata joined me we began opening up," Sharma said. "We lost frequent wickets and the plan was to just stay at the crease." She reached her 50 in 77 balls and 90 in 120 balls but took 48 more to reach her century. Sharma said that was not because she was nervous. "I slowed down because those shots were not meant to be hit."

Though Sharma ensured India's win, it was bowlers Rumeli Dhar and Preeti Dimri who helped India restrict the world champions to a chaseable total. Dimri, especially bowled beautifully, flighting and looping her deliveries. She admits that she had been practicing slowing down her speed through the air. "I basically tried to ensure wicket to wicket bowling and keep my line and length," she said. "I did get some bounce and the plan was to concentrate on getting dot balls."

Sthalekar, the Australian vice-captain, said that the team hadn't played Dimri before and were unfamiliar with the turn and bounce that she got off the pitch. She was disappointed with the loss and said that Australia needed to score a lot more for a chance to win. "When I came in to bat, the idea was to just occupy the crease and see if I could build any partnerships," Sthalekar said echoing Sharma's words about India's gameplan. "Karen [Rolton] and I have had a lot of good partnerships and we play well together so we were hoping to add quite a few."

But in the end Australia fell quite short of a winning score and India, despite a few scares, have now managed eight points from their two games and will face New Zealand next at Chepauk. Both India and New Zealand have won their two games while Australia and England have lost theirs.