As a post-game summariser, Steve Waugh bears comparison with any, even when, or perhaps especially when, his Australian team have just lost an ICC KnockOut quarter-final by 20 runs to India.

"We didn’t want it enough," Waugh said bluntly at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club on Saturday night. "India certainly wanted it more than us. They were more desperate and keen and we were sloppy. So no excuses. We were outplayed. We never under rate India. We knew what we had to do, we just didn’t do it for some reason."

If not a major upset, India’s victory was unexpected, but thoroughly deserved for all that.

An early onslaught from Sachin Tendulkar on Glenn McGrath set the tone for the innings and after he had gone for 38 off 37 balls, the 18-year-old Yuvraj Singh played magnificently in his first ODI innings.

Left-handed, tall and upright, Singh showed few nerves, apart from a tendency to want to go on and off the field more often than is usual, and he steered India to 265 for nine with an utterly assured 84 off just 80 deliveries.

"As a striker of the ball he played an excellent innings," noted Waugh. "He kept the composure of the side going and he saw them basically through to the end so it was a match-winning innings."

Singh was understandably a little less analytical. "I feel very good,” he said, "because Australia are always the top dogs."

To add to Australia’s problems, they got through their overs far too slowly and found themselves docked two overs when they went off in search of victory.

Waugh had no complaints about the penalty. “We deserved that,” he said. “We were slow and it was fair enough.”

The Australians, however, would not have expected one of the finest ever Indian displays in the field. India are not usually regarded as being in the same league as Australia or South Africa in the field, but on Saturday they would not have looked out of place in yellow or green strips.

Virtually every chance that went to hand was held. Yuvraj Singh held a snorter to dismiss Ian Harvey and was responsible for a sublime pickup and throw to run out Michael Bevan. Saurav Ganguly ran out Shane Lee with a direct hit, but the high point of an outstanding performance came from Robin Singh, who caught Ricky Ponting at square leg in the moment that turned the game conclusively towards India.

Five of the Australian top six got into the 20s, but Ponting’s 46 was the highest score of the innings as India refused to allow their opponents any breathing space and only a late charge from Brett Lee, who hit Zaheer Khan for a six that might well have landed halfway up the Great South Stand at the MCG, kept the 1999 World Cup champions in the match.

In the end it was a famous victory for India, one achieved with new faces in Yuvraj Singh and the impressive young left-arm quick Zaheer. It may not have established them as favourites to win the tournament – Waugh named South Africa as probably the side to beat – but Ganguly’s side served notice that they could be a forced to be reckoned with.

For Australia, meanwhile, there might be a little soul-searching.

"We had a couple of days off and we relaxed," said Waugh, "which I thought was a good thing for the team. But we didn’t switch on today so we won’t be having such luxuries next time."

© Cricinfo Ltd.