CARDIFF : Dinesh Karthik and Umesh Yadav did the star turn in their respective capacities as India humiliated Australia by 243 runs in a practice game ahead of the Champions Trophy, on Tuesday.
This was their second successive win in practice games, following the victory over Sri Lanka in the first match.
Opting to bat, India fought back from 55/5, thanks to a massive 211-run association between Karthik (146*) and skipper MS Dhoni (91), to post a challenging total of 308/6.
Australia, however, failed to match India’s spine after the pacy Yadav (5/18) left them reeling on 28/5 in the tenth over, and collapsed to 65 all out in just 23.3 overs, despite the provision of packing their line-up with top-end batsmen for the chase.
Yadav was responsible for the first five dismissals. He bowled Mathew Wade (5), Phil Hughes (14) and captain George Bailey (1), his testing speed also inducing catches off the bat of David Warner (0) and Mitchell Marsh (0).
Once Shane Watson played on against Ishant Sharma, it was only a matter of time and the margin of victory, an outcome that had looked distinctly improbable when India struggled to move on after sending themselves in.
Sorry story :-
If bowling jitters had pushed them to an indifferent start against Sri Lanka in the first practice match, it was rank silly batting that did India in versus the Aussies.
Murali Vijay was sent on his way by a bad leg-before decision; Shikhar Dhawan (17) made a mess of the pull; and Virat Kohli was intent as he chased a wide down the legside and to the wicketkeeper.
Rohit Sharma looked nothing like the IPL star he is; late to evasive action, he played on to a delivery that would have otherwise missed the stumps. Suresh Raina’s reputation preceded him – at least in his own head. The southpaw’s anticipation for the short ball – from Clint McKay – fooled him into backfoot play, as a good-length delivery crashed into middle and leg.
Rescue act : -
Karthik was sluggish at the outset, but looked untroubled advancing or staying back in the crease. He reached 50 in 81 balls and needed just 31 more for his second consecutive hundred of the preparatory phase, one that included 17 hits to the fence.
Dhoni’s momentum was proportional to the time he spent at the crease. He drilled Shane Watson for six and picked Mitchell Marsh straight over his head for maximums.
Mitchell Johnson was unceremoniously and casually dumped for another six and Dhoni appeared to be on course for yet another back-to-the-wall century when he struck James Faulkner to long-off. But his wicket came far too late for Australia.
[ Courtsey : Yahoo Cricket ]
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