Australia v India – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 by 9 wickets [Part 1]
The superbly in form http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Watson-c2558 continued to dominate Australia’s performances in the ongoing ICC World Twenty20, 2012, as a faltering Indian side were forced to succumb to a devastating 9-wicket defeat at the hands of the Aussies, during their first Super Eights Group 2 match, played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 28.
A rampaging Watson put in stellar performances with both bat and ball, winning his seventh Player of the Match award in 33 T20Is. After claiming 3 for 34, which currently makes him the top wicket-taker in the ongoing tournament, with 8 scalps from 3 matches, Watson followed up with a powerful batting performance, which saw him top-scoring for the side and completing nearly half the chase himself.
Although there were notable performances from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DA-Warner-c1301, Watson almost single-handedly steered Australia to their 3rd consecutive victory in the tournament, continuing the team’s unbeaten run in the 2012 World T20.
India, meanwhile, coming off a massive 90-run victory over defending champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Sehwag-c2739, in favour of playing 5 specialist bowlers – 2 pacers and 3 spinners.
However, owing to the slippery conditions at the R Premadasa, the plan back-fired spectacularly, as their batsmen struggled to post a competitive total, after which their bowlers were bossed by the opening pair of Watson and Warner, the only redeeming point being that they managed to avoid their first 10-wicket T20I defeat by a narrow margin.
The match kicked off with India winning the toss and electing to bat first. Sehwag was sorely missed at the top, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-Pathan-c1601 (31) opened the innings for their side. Their partnership had reached 21 runs, before Cummins (4-0-16-2) intervened in impressive fashion – with both openers attempting a single, the young pacer strode towards the ball which had been dropped just off the pitch, and kicked it towards the stumps at the striker’s end, running Gambhir out in the 3rd over.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737 was the next man up to bat, but remained similarly unimpressive, contributing just 15 runs before Cummins snapped him up in the 8th over, bringing the 35-run partnership between Kohli and Pathan to an abrupt end.
A destructive 11th over bowled by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RG-Sharma-c2309 on 1 in the 12th over, and India’s top five were taken care of.
Continued in Part 2 …
Tags: