Brilliant Hussey powers Aus to 292
Australian batsmen put up a brilliant team effort to set a target of 293 for India in the opening encounter of the seven-game series at Vadodara. The Aussie assault was led by skipper Ponting, who magnificently anchored the innings with 74. Later, Michael Hussey played the role of a perfect finisher with a fine knock of 73.
The Indian seamers disappointed with their line and often erred in length, giving the Aussie batsmen enough time and width to play their shots. Only Ashish Nehra was immaculate with his line and length.
Australia, on the other hand, did really well to survive the early threat posed by Nehra. After Shane Watson was caught in his crease off a late swinging Nehra delivery, Ponting and Paine dropped anchor and began milking the bowlers at will.
Dhoni tried to put pressure on Ponting by introducing Harbhajan into the attack in the 12th over and soon introduced double change by bringing in Ishant Sharma. The Indians expected something to happen when both these bowlers were bowling in tandem, as they have given Ponting hard times in the past. But the in-form Aussie skipper continued unruffled along with Paine and runs never seemed hard to come by. The smooth Aussie ride was also assisted by some shoddy work in the field by the Indian fielders, which conceded bonus runs to the guests.
Paine, who batted fluently for his 50, played a loose shot immediately after reaching the landmark and was caught behind off a short and slightly wide delivery by Ishant Sharma. Thus, the brilliant 97 run partnership between him and the skipper came to a tame end.
But Ponting, at the other hand, carried his prolific run and scored runs at a good pace without any fuss or risk, until a beautiful turning delivery from young Ravindra Jadeja wrapped him on his pads.
Just when things seemed to slow down a bit for Australia after the captain departed for 74, Cameron White and Mike Hussey took the baton on and built another valuable partnership in quick time.
The Indian skipper tried his best to unsettle the two men at the crease by making constant bowling changes between the 30th and the 40th over but neither White nor Hussey gave a hint of discomfort. With two very well set men out in the middle, Australia opted for their batting powerplay in the 43rd over but couldn’t make the most of it, amassing 33 runs and losing 3 wickets in the bargain.
Michael Hussey showed his class and played a perfect finisher with his 73 off 54 balls. He paced his innings beautifully, accumulating singles in the beginning and taking the attack to the opposition in the death overs.
Overall, it was a splendid one day batting performance by Australia, who capitalized their solid start brilliantly to reach close to the 300 mark.
India, on the other hand, would be disappointed to have loosened the strings after they started to gain a bit of control in the middle overs. One might also think the hosts would have been successful in keeping the target on the lower side, had they been more agile on the field and not leaked those extra runs.
