ICC T20 World Cup: India vs Australia - As it happened...

Zeenews Sports Bureau

MS Dhoni and his ‘Men in Blue’ were caught in a whirlpool of boundaries and sixes as Shane Watson and David Warner made a light affair of chasing 141 runs to hammer their opponents by nine wickets on Friday. SCORECARD» | MATCH REPORT» Man of the match Shane Watson first took three wickets for his team after Dhoni elected to bat first after winning the toss and then scored 72 (42b) opening the innings hitting two boundaries and seven sixes to guide his team to a comfortable win in their opening fixture of the Super-8 round. He was ably supported by David Warner who completed a fifty of his own remaining unbeaten on 63 (41b, 7X4, 3X6). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is how the match panned out: Australian innings India 140/7 | Australia Over: 14.5 | Score: 141/1 Glen Maxwell is the new batsman and he has the honour of hitting the winning run as Australia hammer India in their first match if the Super-8 without dropping a sweat bu nine wickets. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 14 | Score: 138/1 Out! And the Indians finally manage to pick a wicket in Shane Watson. Nobody is smiling though as they know it’s all but over. Just short of length from Yuvraj and Watson tries hitting it off backfoot over cover but Manoj Tiwary takes a good catch at extra cover to end his innings. Shane Watson departs after playing a superb knock of 72 (42b, 2X4, 7X6). Warner had hit Yuvraj for a six over deep midwicket off the first delivery and slog-swept him for a boundary off the fifth delivery. 14 runs and a wicket from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 13 | Score: 124/0 Eight bowler in the form of Rohit Sharma introduced into the attack by Dhoni. Watson ends the over with a boundary between midwicket and long on. 12 runs from it. Mind you these were the bowlers that had smothered England earlier in the tournament. On the same track where Pakistani bowlers had South Africa searching for runs today, the Indians have been dumbstruck thanks to the onslaught from Oz openers! India 140/7 | Australia Over: 12 | Score: 112/0 Yuvraj comes in to bowl his first over. A good over from the lefty as he concedes just two runs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 11 | Score: 110/0 Virat comes in to bowl his first over. Didn’t do much with the bat, Dhoni hopes to get something off his bowling. But who can stop Watson when he is in full flow? A beautiful six straight over the bowlers’ head scored off the penultimate delivery by Watson. 10 runs from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 10 | Score: 100/0 Fifty for Shane Watson in no time! All Dhoni can do is change his bowlers but the run flow continues as Watson keeps them hitting for huge sixes. Irfan Pathan has been taken to the cleaners here by the Oz allrounder. Two consecutive sixes over midwicket and square leg boundaries while the next delivery went for a four towards fine leg! They look in a hurry to finish off things here. 19 runs from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 9 | Score: 81/0 Warner is showing absolutely no respect! He is hitting everything that is fired at him! Bhajji has been hit for two consecutive sixes – the first one being a mishit but still clearing the midwicket boundary while the next was a colossal hit, again, over midwicket boundary. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 8 | Score: 67/0 The Australians are cruising along nicely. Piyush Chawla has been deposited for two sixes by Watson. The first of those came off the first delivery that was nicely pulled over square leg boundary. The next came off the last ball that was played straight over Chawla’s head for a biggie. 14 runs from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 7 | Score: 53/0 Now, offie Harbhajan Singh introduced into the attack. Warner scores a boundary off his fourth delivery placing it perfectly between long on and midwicket fielder. Six runs from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 6 | Score: 47/0 The Australians are having fun in the middle. It’s now Warner’s turn to score runs and he has hit Zaheer for two boundaries – the first one through cover while the second one was lofted over point region. Nine runs from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 5 | Score: 38/0 Quite an expensive over from R Ashwin! Shane Watson has hit him for two biggies! The first one was pulled over square leg while the next came off the last delivery via another pull over midwicket. Ashwin has leaked 16 runs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 4 | Score: 22/0 David Warner began the over with a boundary via a cut wide of Harbhajan Singh at third man boundary. Khan comes back and finishes conceding just one more that too came off a wide delivery. Warner though survived a loud lbw shout of the last delivery after umpire Simon adjudged it as not out. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 3 | Score: 17/0 R Ashwin concedes just four off his second over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 2 | Score: 13/0 A good start from Zaheer Khan. Just five from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India 140/7 | Australia Over: 1 | Score: 9/0 It happened all within a few minutes. The drizzle came after three deliveries had been bowled and David Warner had just hit Ashwin for a boundary through cover. But it proved to be a short interruption as the play started after the drizzle stopped. Warner collected another boundary past the bowlers' head towards mid on. Nine runs from the over. A good start for the Aussies. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Indian innings India Over: 20 | Score: 140/7 India finish their innings at 140/7. Suresh Raina departs after being caught at long-off while looking for a biggie. He has played a decent knock scoring 26 (19b, 4X4). Shane Watson has picked his third wicket of the match. Before departing, Raina managed to hit two consecutive boundaries towards wide of long on and fine leg. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 19 | Score: 129/6 Cummins finishes of his quota of four overs conceding just five off his last. He has been varying his pace quite well and has given just 16 runs in four overs besides picking two wickets as well. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 18 | Score: 124/6 Starc drops it short and Ashwin responds boldly with a biggie over midwicket boundary! Nine runs from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 17 | Score: 115/6 Raina and Ashwin collect a boundary apiece from Cristian’s second over. The first one came off the bat if Raina who played a full length delivery straight past bowler's head and the second one came off the bat of Ashwin who opened the face of his bat to guide the past between cover and point region. 11 runs from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 16 | Score: 104/6 Out! The Indians are losing wickets at regular intervals and it’s their captain MS Dhoni who takes a long walk back to the dugout. Pat Cummins picked a wicket off his last ball of third over after bowling one wide and slow that Dhoni played straight into the hands of George bailey at extra cover. He departs after scoring 15 (21b, 2X4). Just three runs and a wicket from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 15 | Score: 101/5 A good over for India! Brad Hogg comes in to bowl his last over and Raina gets a boundary straight past the bowler off the first delivery. Hogg then bowls a wide that is beyond the reach of the keeper and it races down past the fence for another four. 10 runs from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 14 | Score: 91/5 Shane Watson bowls a short one and Dhoni pulls it between midwicket and square fielder for four. Six runs from it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 13 | Score: 85/5 The Indian batsmen are having a tough time reading Hogg here. Dhoni fails to read his googly and goes for a drive. It takes a thick edge and gets past the slip for a boundary. Seven runs from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 12 | Score: 78/5 Out! Another wicket falls! And it’s Rohit Sharma who has been bowled by Mitchell Starc. Sharma was beaten by the pace of the delivery and the ball clipped his pads to crash on the off stump. He departs after scoring 1 (2b). In comes the Indian skipper MS Dhoni. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 11 | Score: 74/4 Out! Irfan Pathan takes a long walk back to the pavilion after being caught at short midwicket off the bowling of Watson. He departs after scoring 31 (30b, 2X4, 1X6). Is it a blessing in disguise for India? In comes Suresh Raina. Out! Yuvraj Singh has been caught at midwicket by Maxwell after trying to pull a short one from Shane Watson. The trick has worked for the Aussies! In comes Rohit Sharma. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 10 | Score: 70/2 The Australians are keeping things tight here. Another good over from the Kangaroos. Maxwell’s second produces just four. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 9 | Score: 66/2 Another good over from Brad Hogg. Just six runs from it. Yuvraj though scored a boundary off it after sending a full toss past long on fielder. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 8 | Score: 60/2 Out! A rare failure for Virat Kohli who was caught brilliantly by Dan Cristian. Virat was looking to pull it over midwicket but was caught by Dan Cristian who had to ran towards his right at mid-off. Kohli departs for 15(13b, 2X4). In comes Yuvraj Singh. Good over from Pat Cummins who takes a wicket and leaks just 4 runs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 7 | Score: 56/1 Veteran bowler Brad Hogg into the attack and Pathan greets him with a boundary. Hogg dropped it wide of leg and Pathan played it fine for a four. The bowler comes back and ends his over on a strong note. Six runs from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 6 | Score: 50/1 Daniel Cristian comes in to bowl his first over. Kohli goves him the charge and manages to slip it past the fielder wide of extra cover for a four. Eight runs from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 5 | Score: 42/1 Battle of allrounders between Irfan Pathan and Shane Watson! And It’s Irfan Pathan who has the lead with a massive six over long on and ending the over with a four lofting it over point region. 13 runs from the over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 4 | Score: 29/1 Virat Kohli gives an example of his superb form after guiding the ball past third man boundary for a four! Starc’s second over produces eight runs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 3 | Score: 21/1 Out! Gautam Gambhir has been run out! That’s not good for India. Gambhir was timing the ball well but was run out at the strikers’ end after Cummins kicked the ball onto the stumps before the batsman could make his ground while trying to steal a single. He departs after scoring 17 (12b, 4X3). In comes Virat Kohli. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 2 | Score: 15/0 Gambhir hits another beautiful boundary past point region. Seven runs from Mitchell Starc’s first over. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ India Over: 1 | Score: 8/0 Gautam Gambhir bisects the gap between cover and point to score his first boundary of the innings. Glenn Maxwell has opened the bowling for Australia. Oh well! It’s Irfan Pathan who is charging down the field swinging his bat to open the batting along with Gautam Gambhir. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ TOSS: Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia on Friday. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ OUT: Virender Sehwag has been left out of the Indian team. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to our live coverage of the ICC World T20 Super Eight encounter between former champion India and Australia, who are in hunt for their first ever WT20 title. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ READ THE COMPLETE PREVIEW » ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Veteran Australian batsman Michael Hussey has branded the clash as a MINI-GRAND FINAL before the final. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR ________________________________________________________________________________________________ WT20 in PICS» ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is expected to take field with five specialist bowlers. It is yet to be seen what bowling combination Dhoni would prefer against ‘Kangaroos’ and whether he would opt for three spinners or three pacers. For Aussies, David Warner and Mike Hussey will be the key at the top. Their main concern will be the middle-order which hasn`t been tested in the two matches which were single-handedly won by Watson. So, what are you waiting for? Just put on your thinking hats and tell us your predictions for this high-voltage encounter. The match starts at 7:30 pm (IST). ________________________________________________________________________________________________ TEAMS India (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, George Bailey(c), Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Matthew Wade(w), Brad Hogg, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc