Ind rout OZ batting, dismiss them for 250
Four run-outs-all off direct hits- in an India-Australia cricket match doesn’t sound surprising at all. Australia has always been a brilliant fielding unit and Indian batsmen do tend to be rusty between the wickets. But what if its India who has run-out four Aussie batsmen in a match and that too, all direct hits to the stump? Ridiculously unbelievable, isn’t it? Well, this is what Team Indian is known for-surprising the hell out of anyone with their brilliance and insipidness alike.
Today, the PCA stadium of Mohali saw a different Indian team in the field, as they routed the Aussie batting with their tight bowling and even tighter fielding, to dismiss the world champions for 250 on a nice, hard batting track.
Praveen Kumar started off the proceedings with a brilliant in-swinger to Shane Watson which resulted in a big appeal, which the batsman survived. He backed it up with a splendid first over, producing five beauties on the trot.
While Praveen was impressive with his swinging deliveries, Nehra surprised the Aussie openers by generating an extra bounce. Nehra finally got his due when he caught Marsh plumb in front of the wickets with a perfectly pitched in-swinger. Ponting announced his arrival at the wicket in grand style by pulling away a short delivery by Nehra to the fence.
 PCA stadium of Mohali saw a different Indian team in the field, as they routed the Aussie batting with their tight bowling and even tighter fielding, to dismiss the world champions for 250 on a nice, hard batting track. © AFP |
The Indian bowlers kept in tight in the first 10 overs, giving away just 37 runs. But the story changed after that, as the Aussie batsmen decided to make amends for the quiet start and Ishant Sharma was made the target. They scored 30 off his first four overs.
Ponting definitely looked like a man in sublime form when he clobbered Ishant Sharma for a straight six and followed it up with a four over the long-off fence. Ishant Sharma couldn’t maintain the miserly economy rate of Praveen and Nehra as both, Ponting and Watson took him on and came up with a flurry of boundaries. The second powerplay fetched Australia 36 runs.
Just when the both these batsmen started to look threatening, Dhoni threw the ball to his wily off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh. The crowd went wild when the local boy sent Watson back off the very first ball he bowled. Harbhajan tossed the ball up in the air and Watson ended nicking it to Dhoni, who took a smart sharp catch. Watson once again failed to capitalize on a good start, falling one short of his half century.
It was spinners in tandem once again for India, as has been the case most of the times. Yuvraj and Harbhajan tightened the ropes once again, which meant, Ponting and Cameron White had to sweat it out between the wickets. They were doing just that when an astounding direct-hit by a dynamic Ravindra Jadeja running in from deep square-leg spelled doom for the Australian captain. Ponting departed for 52, leaving his team in trouble. Looking at the fluency with which Ponting was batting, one can say that this was the only way the Indians could have got him. Jadeja is slowly proving to be Ponting’s latest nemesis, it seems! For the records, this was only the second time in 53 innings that Ponting was run-out against India.
After the captain’s departure, there was only one man who could keep the Aussie boat from sinking- Michael Hussey! He got on with his consolidation job, working the ball around for singles and waiting for a loose ball to ease it to the boundary.
Ishant took over the proceedings with the second new ball and continued to disappoint, bowling short and wide. White and Hussey made merry in the middle, as they helped themselves to some classy boundaries.
But the party didn’t last too long, as the Dhoni once again turned to his spinners, who spun their way into the Aussie top order. Yuvraj got rid of danger man Hussey, who was held out by Ishant at deep mid-wicket, mistiming a pull shot after batting nicely for his 41 ball 40.
Harbhajan once again got his team and the crowd roaring, as he accounted for Henriques’ wicket with a stumping from Dhoni. Australia were now floundering at 217-5 in the 43rd over.
In the absence of Hussey and Ponting, Cameron White took the onus of standing for his team and batted well for his 62. But it all ended with terrific presence of mind and agility shown by Ashish Nehra, who sent White back into the hut with a sharp direct throw to the stumps. The Nehra show continued though, as very soon he cleaned Johnson up, who was Australia’s last hope of gathering some runs in the batting powerplay. The left-armer continued to enjoy a dream comeback with an outstanding spell of eight overs, scalping three wickets for 37 runs.
The Indians’ newly formed love affair with the direct-hits continued, as this time it was Praveen Kumar who caught Graham Manou out of his crease and sent him into the pavilion. By now, the Australian innings had fallen into complete disarray. They fell like nine-pins and finished with a below-par total of 250.
Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Jadeja bowled beautifully and never let their legs off the break. Praveen Kumar was impressively economical once again. it was one of the best effort in the field by India.
