http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 stun Australia in World Cup warm-up tie
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla grabbed four wickets to lead his team to a 38-runs win over defending champions, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in a warm-up match of the ICC World Cup, 2011.
The match played at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore had a sluggish wicket on offer, where the ball spun and jumped off the length causing real problems to batsmen from either side. While the Indians were undone by the pace and hostility of Brett Lee
and Doug Bollinger the Aussies were sent packing by the battery of spinners at Mahindra Singh Dhoni’s disposal.
The Australians were cruising at one stage of their 215 runs chase; they had coasted to 120 for 2 when Chawla started weaving his magic. Within no time he had taken four scalps and the Aussies were sent packing for 176, handing a morale boosting win to the
co-hosts and firm favourites for the tournament.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who is yet to lose a game as a leader at the premier tournament, praised Chawla. He stated that the leg spinner used the conditions brilliantly and was the difference between the two teams at the end of the day.
“That is probably the best I've seen him bowl,” Ponting said, “He spun the ball a bit more tonight. His control was pretty good. He along with the other spinners did a good job and some of our new batsmen found it difficult. You can see that from the low
scores in the middle order as it was hard to start against that spin bowling tonight.”
The Indian skipper Dhoni also praised Chawla who was playing his first match at home in the ODI format in over two years. The leg-spinner was a surprise selection in the team for the World Cup, yet Dhoni feels that his performance at Bangalore justified
the vision of the selectors.
The presence of Chawla gives another dimension to India’s spin attack. Dhoni feels that Chawla is going to be the trump card for his team, who will be supported by off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429
and Yusuf Pathan.
Dhoni admitted that it was a tough wicket to bat on, but believes the match turned on its head by the performance of Chawla.
“Initially, when the fast bowlers were on the ball was coming on nicely but once we got couple of wickets in the middle, the ball was spinning. And once you are under pressure and you want to win the game desperately the pressure keeps
mounting,” he said.
The Indians have played their cards smartly and played what was arguably the toughest warm up match before the start of the mega tournament.
They are now set to enter the tournament with even more confidence and determination, knowing well that they had the Aussie batsmen on their knees at Bangalore.
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