*Australia won by 9 wickets (with 31 balls remaining)
Shane Watson and David Warner are easily the most explosive opening pair in limited-overs international cricket. They complement each other beautifully, one right-handed and the other left-handed, with both of muscling the cricket ball a long, long way.
At the R Premadasa
Stadium on Friday night, both made half-centuries and showed exactly why they
are so feared by opposition attacks across the world, launching a fearsome
onslaught that knocked the stuffing out of India.
India had packed its
line-up with three specialist spinners – the major component of a five-pronged
attack, with Virender Sehwag again warming the bench – but they were all
smashed out of the equation as Watson and Warner defied all predictions to
fashion a ridiculously easy victory for Australia in its opening Group 2 Super
Eights clash at the ICC World Twenty20.
The spinners dominated
Friday’s opening match between Pakistan and South Africa, and while India
wouldn’t have been entirely happy with its middling tally of 140 for 7, it must
have thought it was in with a chance of making a match of it. Watson and Warner
destroyed that belief with a blistering assault, fours and sixes flying with
astonishing regularity to the delight of a large gathering that was decidedly
pro-Australia.
In a sustained burst of
aggression that only ended with Watson’s dismissal, eight short of victory,
Australia made this a no-contest, romping to a nine-wicket victory with a massive
5.1 overs in the bag. It was comprehensive, spectacular and achieved with a
clinical professionalism and ruthlessness that doesn’t bode well for the rest
of the field.
By the time Watson was
dismissed, 133 had been realised in 81 deliveries. Glenn Maxwell came out to
help Warner complete the formalities, as Australia hurtled to 141 for 1 in just
14.5 overs.
India will point to a
seven-minute interruption due to rain in the first over of the Australian chase
as one of the main reasons for the ineffectiveness of R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh
and Piyush Chawla. It’s not an argument without merit, because a wet ball did
make it hard for the spinners to grip it properly, leave alone impart
considerable spin. But that was only half the story.
Warner was the early
aggressor, latching on to Ashwin both before and after the stoppage, but once
Watson flexed his muscles, even Warner had to take a back seat. Coming off two
man of the match award-winning performances in his previous two games, Watson
was determined to show that even had the boundaries been pushed 20 yards back,
he would have cleared them comfortably.
The run-fest actually got
underway in the fifth over, as Ashwin went for two sixes and 16 runs in his
third over. It led to an amazing sequence of sixes as Watson set about Chawla
and Irfan Pathan, and Warner turned his attention to Harbhajan.
Harbhajan and Chawla, who
looked so potent against England, suddenly had no answers. Watson’s strength
and Warner’s aggression were simply too much for them, as India keeled over
without a fight and subsided to its seventh successive Super Eights defeat in
ICC World Twenty20 competitions.
Beyond the toss, which
Mahendra Singh Dhoni must have believed was a crucial one and a promising
start, very little went right for India. Gautam Gambhir looked in excellent
touch before being run out as Pat Cummins side-kicked the ball on to the
stumps, Virat Kohli again began fluently and Pathan was gradually warming to
his role as opener.
Australia was under fire
for the first seven overs that produced 56, though it continued to persist with
its short-of-length barrage that didn’t really trouble India’s batsmen, but
still yielded rich dividend. Kohli was the first to perish to the pull,
top-edging Watson for Daniel Christian to cling on to an excellent catch
running back and to his right from mid-off. It ended a promising stand of 35 –
which in the end was the highest of the innings – and set the cat among the
pigeons as India’s middle order imploded.
Contrary to expectations,
it wasn’t spin that did the trick. All the six Indian wickets that fell went to
the pace bowlers. Yuvraj Singh was the second of the top four to perish to the
short ball. Pathan tamely drove Watson, again the man of the match, to
mid-wicket and Rohit Sharma was undone by one from Mitchell Starc that shaped
in and stayed down a touch.
At 74 for 5, India was in
grave danger of being embarrassed, but Dhoni steadied the innings in Suresh
Raina’s company. Ashwin played a brilliant cameo towards the end. By then,
though, plenty of damage had already been done and India never found any
acceleration worth the name despite the first five overs having brought 42.
It was a competent
bowling performance by Australia, but all that was forgotten once the
Watson-Warner show got underway. Australia is here, and thirsting for a fight,
its short visit to the UAE for a draining limited-overs series having toughened
it. Next up is South Africa, which is in a must-win situation, on Sunday afternoon.
No prizes for guessing which team will be favourite then.
(source: icc-cricket.com)
