The Australians will go into their crucial Champions Trophy match against India tomorrow in complete dark about Mahendra Singh Dhoni after their mission to 'gain intelligence' on the swashbuckling wicketkeeper failed due to a TV blackout.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Aussies, who have seen little of the dashing stumper, desperately wanted to have a look at Dhoni and had planned to record his 51-run innings against West Indies but a short-circuit prevented them from doing so.
Ricky Ponting's men will take on India in Mohali on Sunday in a do-or-die group A match, which will see one of the two sides eliminated from the Champions Trophy.
Video analyst Richard McInnes was assigned the job of obtaining footage of Dhoni's latest innings but "the television went hazy and then completely black" just as the right-hander was beginning to accelerate.
Despite "several urgent calls to the hotel's help desk", said McInnes, the problem took close to an hour to fix but Dhoni's wicket had fallen by then.
"Dhoni was the one player we really wanted to see," coach John Buchanan said.
{{/usCountry}}"Dhoni was the one player we really wanted to see," coach John Buchanan said.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian, who has invited comparisons with Aussie wicketkeeper-bat Adam Gilchrist for his swashbuckling style, is a player the Aussies are yet to get familiar with.