India vs Australia, 2nd ODI: Indian batsmen against Australian seamers

Zee Media Bureau/Chaitan Panpai

New Delhi: If India has one of the best batting lineups in the world then after the first ODI Australians have also proved that they have a decent bowling attack that can give the Indians a run for their money. Though the Australians might be without their best bowlers in the on-going seven match ODI series against the home team, but in the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Clint McKay, James Faulkner and Nathan Coulter–Nile and Shane Watson, they have bowlers that can stick to a plan and force the batsman to commit a mistake. In the first ODI in Pune when highly confident Indian team came in to chase the total of 304 runs set by the visiting team, it seemed as if Indians could achieve it without much of a trouble, with such a solid batting lineup. But early on, a tight line by McKay from one end and a fearsome spell by the most experienced Australian bowler in this tour, Mitchell Johnson from the other pushed Indian batsmen on the back-foot. And when Faulkner was introduced into the attack for the very first time by skipper George Bailey, he bowled a gem of a delivery to get rid of the in-form opener Shikhar Dhawan. Breakthrough at regular intervals by the Australian seamers broke the backbone of Indian top and middle order. Australian seamers shared eight wickets among themselves to make sure that their team won the first ODI to get the early momentum in the seven match long series. Faulkner was the highest wicket taking bowler for the visiting team with the figures of 48 for three in eight overs and Johnson showed that he is still the bowler to reckon with. But one can’t underestimate the power packed batting line up of India. So in the next match scheduled to be played on Wednesday, it would be interesting to watch the fight between Indian batsmen and Australian seamers.