India and Australia underline World Twenty20 favouritism
India and Australia used their first World Twenty20 group matches to underline their respective claims to this year’s title, while Pakistan’s claims to back-to-back victories look to have faded.
The group match between Australia and Pakistan offered a litmus test for each team’s respective World Twenty20 chances after vastly different campaigns in England last year.
Under Michael Clarke, who took over Australia’s Twenty20 captaincy from Ricky Ponting late last year, Australia made a confident start to their Caribbean tournament, dispatching the defending champions with a 34-run victory.
It was, for all intents and purposes, a continuation of the sorry southern-hemisphere summer Pakistan spent Down Under, where they were kept winless in all forms of the game by an Australian side keen to prove they’ve filled the not inconsiderable holes left by the exits of players of the calibre of Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist over the past couple of years.
Shane Watson was the standout batsman during Pakistan’s Australian tour, and the opener once again showed little respect for the Pakistan bowlers as he plundered 81 runs from 49 balls to set up the Australian innings. David Hussey may have lost his Cricket Australia contract in recent weeks, with the current system geared towards Test and ODI players, but his support act of 53 from 29 balls proved his ongoing worth in the Twenty20 setup.
Sure, Clarke – whose appointment as Twenty20 captain was questioned by some in the media – failed to fire with the bat in this one, but Pup has shown since becoming skipper that he’s capable of picking up the pace to craft a Twenty20 innings, and importantly he continues to put the wins on the board.
While five wickets in one over (three to Mohammad Aamer as well as two run-outs) ensured Pakistan dismissed Australia in the full 20 overs, the 191 runs Shahid Afridi’s team had conceded proved insurmountable as Shaun Tait (3-20), Dirk Nannes (3-41) and Mitchell Johnson (2-21) proved that the Australian pace attack is none the worse for wear due to the absence of Brett Lee.
Australia might have been slower to come to grips with the shortest format of the game than Pakistan, but, ominously, they now seem to have got the hang of it, while Pakistan don’t look to have clawed themselves out of the form rut they’ve been stuck in over the past few months.
India, meanwhile, began their Twenty20 campaign with a routine seven-wicket victory against Afghanistan in the group stage, victory secured with 31 balls to spare. That was followed by blockbuster group fixture against South Africa, and Suresh Raina for one showed the recently concluded IPL season had honed his batting prowess, smacking the first century of the tournament, 101 from 60 balls, to help set up a 187-run target for South Africa.
The Proteas had their own IPL star, Jacques Kallis, to lead the chase but the all-rounder’s 73 from 54 was not enough to get his team off to a winning start, as they completed their 20 overs 14 runs short of India’s total.
Graeme Smith’s men may have earned a reputation for choking at ICC tournaments, but that bad habit aside, they are a formidable outfit. That India disposed of them in a match that never really looked like the end result was in doubt can only be good news for the championship hopes of MS Dhoni’s side as they, along with Australia, proved in their opening matches just why they were deserving of pre-tournament favouritism in the Caribbean.
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