Tuesday, March 22, 2011

IND vs AUS

ICC CWC Warm-up LIVE: IND vs AUS

What a warm-up win for India! Chasing 215 runs for victory, Australia were bundled out for 176. For latest, stay tuned with ESPNSTAR.com.

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So finally, Indian spinners got the better of Australian batsmen and ensured that Men in Blue start the ICC Cricket World Cup campaign in style.

Over 34.4: Smart work by MS Dhoni as Ricky Ponting fails to get his back-foot back in time. Harbhajan Singh finally won the little battle.

Over 30.4: Chawla dismisses Callum Fergusson. Shane Warne kind of delivery! Slip coming into operation as Kohli completes the formality.

Piyush Chawla is living a dream spell. A huge blow for Australia as they have now lost 7 wickets for 148 runs with Ricky Ponting playing on 51.

Over 28.2: Huge wicket! David Hussey gets a stunner on the very first ball he faces as MS Dhoni rattles the stump.

Over 28.1: Piyush Chawla induces a false shot Cameron White lofts, only to perish at mid-on.

Over 21.5: Yuvraj Singh has struck for India as Tim Paine's lofted shot lands staright in Munaf Patel's hand. Great running catch from Munaf.

Over 20.2: Oh! hoo! A spectators catch by Sreesanth in the deep on a top edge of Harbhajan Singh's ball just made Indian fans interested. A contest you would not like to miss. For the moment - Aussie skipper survives.

Harbhajan Singh gets the ball and bowls a tight over. But what India desperately need at this moment is wickets and that too in bunch.

Over 18: Chasing 215 for victory, Australia found themselves cruising along with 103/1.

Shane Watson led Ausssie chase in style as he carted Indian pacers all-aroun the park. Kangaroos would take huge confidence if at all they win the current match as lot of pre-match talks centered around how the visitors would fare on a slow pitch. India Innings: 214/10

An impressive Brett Lee produced a fast and furious second spell to skittle out India for a modest 214 in their first warm-up match ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Lee (3/35) accounted for three Indian wickets in his second spell of five overs, giving away just 12 runs. He was ably supported by John Hastings who returned with figures of two for 24 from his six overs.

David Hussey also picked up two wickets during the fag end of the Indian innings with the part-time off-spinner giving away 25 runs.

Opting to bat, India produced a listless batting display as they lost wickets at intervals to be eventually bundled out under 250 in 44.3 overs.

(Can Sachin Tendulkar really change India's fortunes? We would value your comments!)

Virender Sehwag was the top-scorer for India with a 56-ball 54 while Yusuf Pathan took his time to the open up during his 32 that came off 39 balls and was studded with two towering sixes.

Apart from Sehwag, the Indian batters were found wanting from the onset against Australia's lethal pace battery. Virat Kohli (21), skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (11) and Suresh Raina (12) all got starts but gave away their wickets when the team needed them.

India's agony in the batting department can be gauged from the fact that they failed to notch up a single 50-run partnership, the highest being the 49-run ninth wicket stand between Pathan and R Ashwin (25 not out).

Gautam Gambhir never looked in his comfort zone from the very first ball. He was circumspect throughout his 15-ball stay, which included a maiden first over from Brett Lee.

His agony finally came to an end in the fourth over when he edged a Doug Bollinger delivery to Cameron White at the second slip.

Virat Kohli (21) looked in supreme confidence from the time he arrived at the crease and hit a boundary both of Lee and Bollinger in consecutive overs to continue his impressive run of form that was visible in the five-match ODI series in South Africa.

Sehwag, on the other hand, patiently waited for the bad deliveries to hit and brought up India's 50 in style in the 10th over, clobbering John Hastings to the cover boundary.

But just when it seemed Kohli is in for a big innings the right-hander slashed a full length Hastings' delivery to David Hussey at point.

After just two overs spell, Ponting replaced Hastings and introduced spin in the form of Jason Krejza, but it was left-arm pacer Mitchell Johnson who struck the third blow for Australia. Yuvraj Singh's awful form continued as he looked completely out of sorts from the time of arriving at the crease. He scored just one run of seven balls before edging an accurate Johnson bouncer to Tim Paine behind the stumps.

The bowling powerplay worked wonders for Australia as they conceded just 12 runs, picking up two vital wickets in those five overs.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni too did little justice to his reputation as he contributed just 11 runs before edging a Hastings delivery on to the stumps to cut short his stay at the crease with the India scoreboard reading 101 for four.

Sehwag, however, was at his full display at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as he took Krezja for special treatment before the off-spinner picked up his man.

After a sedate start, Sehwag opened up and struck as many as eight boundaries and a six during his 56-ball innings before giving away his wicket after doing all the hard work.

Sehwag raised his half-century in ominous fashion sending Krejza over the long-off fence. But the off-spinner took his revenge in the very next ball when he bowled the Indian opener as he went for a cut only to get an inside on to the stumps.

With two new batsmen out on the pitch in the form of Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan, Ponting gave the ball back to his strike bowler Lee and the right-arm pacer did not disappoint, striking twin blows in the 28th over.

Raina, who is struggling to find a place in the playing eleven, did little help to his cause and was Lee's first victim. Going for his trademark on-the-up cover drive off good length delivery the left-hander gave a simple catch to Paine behind the wicket.

As if that was not enough, a ball later Lee castled through the defence of Harbhajan Singh with a full length fast delivery to leave India tottering at 136 for seven after 28 overs.

Lee was unlucky not to have picked up his third wicket in the next over when Paine dropped dangerman Pathan. But the Australian pacer was not to be denied as two balls later he sent Piyush Chawla packing for a duck.

Pathan got another life when he was on 13. Going for a big swing over the off-side off a Johnson delivery he got a thick edge, which flew fast to Watson at the first slip but the Australian opener failed to latch on to the chance.

Ponting was bang on target with his bowling changes today. He brought David Hussey on to the attack in the 39th over and the part-time spinner did not disappoint his captain.

Inspite of being hit for two huge sixes by Pathan soon after his arrival, Hussey did not lose his cool and got the big-hitting right-hander in the same over as he went for one too many.

India managed to cross the 200-mark thanks mainly to Ashwin and Ashish Nehra (19), who stitched 27 runs together for the last wicket.

Ponting: Nice to get back to playing cricket and atmosphere is just huge. Not sure about the pitch at Bengaluru so we will concentrate on making inroads.

MS Dhoni: Not a bad start, especially when you are used to losing tosses. Sachin and Zaheer won't play today. Others will get a chance to feature and get some practice. It is very important to concentrate on basics, it will be good to play in front of a packed home crowd.

Pitch News: Ian Chappell says there is a bit of even grass and a couple of cracks ahead of the good length spot. Harbhajan Singh will fancy it.

Teams:

Australia (Playing XV): Shane Watson, Brad Haddin(w), Ricky Ponting(c), Michael Clarke, Cameron White, David Hussey, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Jason Krejza, Doug Bollinger, John Hastings, Tim Paine, Shaun Tait, Callum Ferguson

India (Playing XIII): Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth
Follow these links to find out all you want to know about the Teams, Star Players , Captains, Statistics, Factoids, History, Venues and of course the Fixtures of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

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