Last Leg of the Great Australian Tri Series

So the final leg of the Australian tri series is about to kick off. This will be the last time that Adam Gilchrist will feature in the Tri Series event. Infact, this is the last tri-series that will be played in Australia. The fixture is a wonderful event every year and every year we witness great skills displayed by the touring teams and the world champions. This will be the last time that India will also fight for this coveted trophy, which I reckon is the most important ODI trophy other than the ICC tournaments.
The history pretty phenomenal, but there are a lot of series which will always be in our mind. The 1999-00 edition saw India and Pakistan fight out against Australia. India were butchered,devastated,demolished by the strong Australian and Pakistan sides. India could manage only one victory out of the 8 matches they played. The 2001-02 edition saw a new winner emerge in South Africa.It was only the first time in 5 editions that the Australians lost this trophy. That was the year, when the hosts were removed out of the finals for the first time in 6 years. The same series saw the emergence of Shane Bond as a big fast bowler. Bond took 21 wickets in that series. The other series, I remember a lot is the next Indian tour in 2003-04. India could only beat the Australians only once in the whole series. While, the Indians thrashed the hapless Zimbabweans. Another young talent emerged in the form of Irfan Pathan. Pathan was the leading wicket taker in that edition. The last year's edition was a power packed event. Australia smothered England and New Zealand. But, it was after a long time that the Australians lost this event in the finals 2-0!!!! England played the finals really well and lot of that credit goes to the gutsy performance put up by Paul Collingwood. It was the last time Glenn McGrath played a ODI in Australia.
As this series comes to a close,we are witnessing a rather closely fought CB series for a long time. Australians were beaten twice in the space of 8 matches with a couple of matches being washed out. One of the matches went down till the end against India.
India can show the steely resolve and deliver the knock out punch, one last time in the last week of this long Australian tour. Australia have been knocked over by Srilanka today. Indian bowlers are in good shape and they will know that cometh this Sunday, we will have the battle royale lined up for this historical tournament, one last time.