But the star of the show was to be Ricky Ponting. After making
his way to a watchful half-century off 74 balls, Australia's
captain showed the world exactly what he was capable of
perpetrating on hapless bowlers, beginning with consecutive sixes
off Harbhajan Singh. The assault forced Ganguly to turn to his
pacemen. But it didn't ruffle the Australian captain one whit. A
Nehra slower ball was clattered into the stands at square leg and
Zaheer Khan's attempted yorker was sent on its way for a six over
midwicket with a most remarkable short-arm jab. The rousing
applause that Ponting got when he reached his 13th ODI century in
the 46th over, was well deserved. A captain's innings if there
ever was one, on the biggest stage one-day cricket can throw up,
saw Australia post a mammoth total.