Sachin Tendulkar beat Australia, and won the Coca-Cola Trophy for India, on his 25th birthday.

Azharuddin who won the toss put Australia on to bat in a surprise decision. But his decision was vindicated when an extremely accurate Prasad and extremely wayward Agarkar picked up 3 quick wickets (one of which was a questionable decision). Two more wickets fell after adding few more runs, but then Lehmann and Steve Waugh built an excellent century partnership to stay in the game. Both made 70 runs. In the end, Australia set a very tough target of 273.

India had Tendulkar in prime form. He had made 80 and 142 in the last two innings he had played against Australia in Sharjah. He continued from where he left and scored his 15th century in ODIs. He was ably helped by Azharuddin who made his first decent knock of the tourney. No Australian bowler looked like getting Tendulkar out. In the end, he was given out to a questionable lbw decision. Azharuddin also perished to another doubtful decision. But by then, India was well on course for a victory. Jadeja and Kanitkar completed the formalities.

Tendulkar picked up the awards for the man of the match, man of the series, an Opel Astra car for player of the tournament, an award for hitting most sixes (9), and an award for scoring the fastest 50 (44 balls). Damien Fleming picked up the best bowler award and Ricky Ponting, the best fielder award.

India won a prize money of $40,000 and Australia, $30,000. New Zealand received $15,000.

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CricInfo and Jagged Internetworks covered the entire series with live audio and slow-mo video and the archived audio and video highlights.

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