Australian started the Super Eights campaign of the T20 World Cup with a bang as they thrashed India by nine wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Clombo.
A report in The Hindustan Times writes that After restricting India to 140 runs, Australian openers stopped at no point, firing away to defeat India with 31 balls to spare.
Opting to bat on a slowish wicket, India were found wanting against the pace of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc while they had little answers for Shane Watson's guile.
Watson (3/34), and Cummins (2/16) shared five wickets between them while Starc removed one batsman. The experiment to promote Irfan Pathan as makeshift opener partially paid off as he made a scratchy 31 and was the top scorer while most of the other batsmen failed to cross 20.
Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli were done in by short deliveries, Rohit Sharma found pace too hot to handle. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni paid for his indiscretion.
Suresh Raina (26) and Ravichandran Ashwin (16 not out) who hit a few meaty blows added 29 runs for the seventh wicket to rescue India after being precariously placed at 104 for six.
It was interesting that on a pitch which was considered to aid spinners, Australian pacers bowled with lot of fire sticking to their strengths. Gautam Gambhir struck three boundaries before he was run-out in the third over. Cummins successfully booted the ball onto the stumps while the opener was still short of his ground. The left-hander managed only 17.
Meanwhile, The Times of India writes that during the World T20 Super Eights contest yesterday, the two 'Ws' Shane Watson and David Warner made a mockery of the Indian bowling attack, carting ten sixes between them. The result: A nine-wicket humiliation for India that puts them in a must-win situation for Sunday's game against Pakistan and Tuesday's clash against South Africa.
Since their 2007 World T20 triumph, India are yet to win a Super 8 game in World T20!
Watson got 72 (42b, 2x4, 7x6), while 'pocket dynamo' Warner hammered an unbeaten 63 (41b, 7x4, 3x6), as the opening pair added 133 in 81 balls to make a mockery of the 141-run target set by India. It didn't matter that India were playing three spinners on a wicket that looked to be aiding tweakers earlier in the day. R Ashwin, who opened the bowling, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla were all taken to the cleaners.