Funny thing about warm ups is that it doesn't boil enough. The players don't seem to care enough when the going is tough, the spectators who pay for their tickets are made to look like douche bags all along. Coming to this particular match, it was pre-decided the full squad will be given a chance and the brittle ones in both camps will have a day off. For a warm up match the settings were all wrong. Or so it seemed at first. The pitch at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore looked like the ones we were witnessing not so long back in South Africa. Only this was not South Africa playing India at home.
It seemed like a waste of practice game, Australia went in with Krejza in their spin armory on a track that offered a lot of bounce and his bowling was aided plenty. But most damage was done by the seamers early on. Lee, Johnson, Bollinger never made it easy for the Indians except for a certain Mr. Virender Sehwag. He seemed to batting on a typical Bengaluru wicket at the other end. Pre-match he had announced his desire to bat out 50 overs in a match to get the maximum benefit of his stroke making abilities. Almost half way into the innings it seemed Sehwag was serious. But, in the 23rd over Viru got out to Krejza after hitting a 6! No surprises. His 54(56) was the contrast in the Indian batting card. John Hastings, David Hussey picked up 2 wickets each and that should summarize how hopeless the Indians had performed. There were no demons in the pitch, neither was the bowling attack fiery. The mental block of the batsmen kept them on the back foot even when they were at the non-strikers end. Patient innings by Yusuf and contributions from no.10, 11 Ashwin & Nehra helped post a score of 214.
The score of 215 was never going to challenge Australia in a 50 overs game. The only hope was to pick 10 wickets and do that convincingly. MSD dint have Zaheer's services to help him do that. Nehra, Munaf, Sreesanth led the pace attack on the same track where Lee and co. picked up 7. Watto and Paine went about their duty from the word go. The Indian attack had no sting, no discipline what so ever. Nehra bowled 2 overs and was then replaced by Munaf, who then bowled 2 and was later taken off. Sree at the other end picked up Watson who was going all bazookas after the Indians. Sree then, played his wild card i.e. he got into the 'Are you smarter than a 5th grader?' mode. Needless to say MSD had to rely on his spin attack for the rest of the game. The Aussies dint mind, they just steam-rolled their way to 100/1.
This is when the Bengaluru track kind of transformed from Perth to Patna as if the aliens wanted to see a fair game. Fuze Chawla was turning the ball in every way possible, like he was playing with his XBOX game pad. From 118/1 the mighty Aussies had a windfall. When Chawla had White and Hussey in consecutive deliveries it was game on!!! Ponting was set at one end and the finish line was visible. Then capt. Dhoni brought on Bhajji, shortly then the well set Ponting was well settled in the dressing room. Punter Vs Bhajji lasted 14 balls in which 4 runs were scored and a wicket. Bhajji had his man! So, Valentine's day came early for the two love birds err.. Ricky n Bhajji. Now, the tail were facing Bhajji who had his tail up. In the 38th over the final wicket fell and Aussies were short by 38 runs.
Australia have lots to ponder upon with their spin tackling abilities, as there will be lot more coming their way. India on the other hand escaped from the knife's edge, but their inconsistent batting form and glass like seam attack will be giving a few sleepless nights to the coach and captain to choose their world cup eleven.
It seemed like a waste of practice game, Australia went in with Krejza in their spin armory on a track that offered a lot of bounce and his bowling was aided plenty. But most damage was done by the seamers early on. Lee, Johnson, Bollinger never made it easy for the Indians except for a certain Mr. Virender Sehwag. He seemed to batting on a typical Bengaluru wicket at the other end. Pre-match he had announced his desire to bat out 50 overs in a match to get the maximum benefit of his stroke making abilities. Almost half way into the innings it seemed Sehwag was serious. But, in the 23rd over Viru got out to Krejza after hitting a 6! No surprises. His 54(56) was the contrast in the Indian batting card. John Hastings, David Hussey picked up 2 wickets each and that should summarize how hopeless the Indians had performed. There were no demons in the pitch, neither was the bowling attack fiery. The mental block of the batsmen kept them on the back foot even when they were at the non-strikers end. Patient innings by Yusuf and contributions from no.10, 11 Ashwin & Nehra helped post a score of 214.
The score of 215 was never going to challenge Australia in a 50 overs game. The only hope was to pick 10 wickets and do that convincingly. MSD dint have Zaheer's services to help him do that. Nehra, Munaf, Sreesanth led the pace attack on the same track where Lee and co. picked up 7. Watto and Paine went about their duty from the word go. The Indian attack had no sting, no discipline what so ever. Nehra bowled 2 overs and was then replaced by Munaf, who then bowled 2 and was later taken off. Sree at the other end picked up Watson who was going all bazookas after the Indians. Sree then, played his wild card i.e. he got into the 'Are you smarter than a 5th grader?' mode. Needless to say MSD had to rely on his spin attack for the rest of the game. The Aussies dint mind, they just steam-rolled their way to 100/1.
This is when the Bengaluru track kind of transformed from Perth to Patna as if the aliens wanted to see a fair game. Fuze Chawla was turning the ball in every way possible, like he was playing with his XBOX game pad. From 118/1 the mighty Aussies had a windfall. When Chawla had White and Hussey in consecutive deliveries it was game on!!! Ponting was set at one end and the finish line was visible. Then capt. Dhoni brought on Bhajji, shortly then the well set Ponting was well settled in the dressing room. Punter Vs Bhajji lasted 14 balls in which 4 runs were scored and a wicket. Bhajji had his man! So, Valentine's day came early for the two love birds err.. Ricky n Bhajji. Now, the tail were facing Bhajji who had his tail up. In the 38th over the final wicket fell and Aussies were short by 38 runs.
Australia have lots to ponder upon with their spin tackling abilities, as there will be lot more coming their way. India on the other hand escaped from the knife's edge, but their inconsistent batting form and glass like seam attack will be giving a few sleepless nights to the coach and captain to choose their world cup eleven.
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| Oz lose their Fuze! © Getty Images |
