T20 champions wallow in miserable defeat
Posted on Feb 01, 2008 at 13:47 | Updated Feb 02, 2008 at 15:46
117 Comments
Melbourne: India could do little to justify their status of world champions, crashing to a nine-wicket defeat in a one-off Twenty20 match against Australia here on Friday.
After being bowled out for a meagre 74, India could only watch helplessly as Australia cruised to a comfortable win, whipping the bowling to ensure a quick win for the One-Day world champions.
Australia got off to a blazing start as Adam Gilchrist (25) and Michael Clarke (31 not out) made the Indian bowling look pedestrian. With a measly required run-rate, the Australian openers put quick runs on the board. Clarke, leading the Australian side, scored at more than run a ball and was rightly awarded the man of the match.
Gilchrist got a reprieve with 50 runs on the board when bad calling between Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan led to a sitter being dropped. Gilchrist finally perished after smashing two boundaries and two sixes. Clarke then took Australia home in the company of Brad Hodge (10), with 8.4 overs to spare.
Having won both their previous T20 matches against Australia, including the semifinal of the T20 World Championship at Durban in South Africa last year, India started as the favourites in the encounter. Also having given a good account of themselves in a well-fought four-Test series that they lost 1-2 and emerging from the Harbhajan racial slur saga with confidence, everyone was expecting an encore from the gritty Indians.
There were neither any devils in the pitch nor any incisive bowling and the Indian batsmen virtually threw away their wickets, not realising that a good partnership is imperative, irrespective of the span of the match.
The Indian batting, coming into the match with a huge reputation to defend, produced an embarrassing performance as the Aussies ripped through to stiffle the innings in 17.3 overs. Irfan Pathan was the lone batsman to get into double-figures (26 not out) as the batsmen failed to get going.
India got off to a disastrous start and could not manage a recovery after that as their One-Day specialists failed to make a mark.
Before Virender Sehwag could get off the mark, he fell victim to an astounding piece of fielding from Michael Clarke, who flew to stop the ball at point and then threw down the stumps at the non-striker's end with Sehwag short by a long margin.
Half-centurion of the World Championship final and a vital cog of the young Indian team, Gautam Gambhir (nine) was the next to go as an ambitious shot brought his downfall.
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Total Comments: 117
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Posted By Raghu
you are spot on bro, this team has young legs which they sure did use to the fullest by chasing
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Posted By Raghu
I hope Dhoni is not thinking that he\''s already a legend like Sachin, Dravid or Ganguly, his contribution to Indian
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Posted By siva
by the time they get experienced and start performing, we have to start look of young, fine and long legs
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Posted By rahul
Typical reaction of the Indian cricket fan...when dhoni and co won the T20 WC, everyone was questioning the selection of
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Posted By Monika Monalisa
We Indians have always been the perfect example of \''slow and steady wins the race\''. One match cannot decide the
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