India 308 for 6 (Karthik 146*, Dhoni 91) beat Australia 65 (Yadav 5-18, Ishant 3-11) by 243 runs
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An aggressive all-round display by India, including another
match-winning century from Dinesh Karthik and a five-wicket haul from
Umesh Yadav, inflicted a stinging 243-run defeat on Australia in the
teams' second warm-up match.
Karthik was the batting star of the match, scoring his second
consecutive ton in the warm-up fixtures, strengthening his case for a
place in India's starting XI in the tournament. "I think he has earned
his place in the side and we'll just have to see who misses out when we
play against South Africa," MS Dhoni said after the game. "I'd like him
to play at the top of the order but we'll [have to wait and] see."
The game was virtually over 54 minutes into the chase, when Australia
were reduced to 34 for 6 in the face of some fierce fast bowling from
Yadav, who picked up a five-wicket haul in his first, and only, spell of
five overs. Yadav, who got married last Wednesday, had joined the
Indian squad three days later and had been rested in the first warm-up
match against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Australia's troubles started in the second over when Matthew Wade,
opening ahead of Phillip Hughes, played on while attempting a pull.
David Warner's horrific run continued as he went for an expansive stroke
against a full delivery that was moving away, only to be caught
brilliantly at first slip by R Ashwin. This was Warner's third duck in
his last four innings.
In the fifth over, George Bailey misread the line of a Yadav delivery
that seamed away and was bowled for 1. Four overs later, Hughes went for
an exuberant pull and played on. Mitchell Marsh was unlucky, given
caught behind to a delivery that seamed in and flicked his trousers on
its way to MS Dhoni. Australia's hopes were extinguished when Shane
Watson, who had scored a match-winning century against West Indies, attempted to cut Ishant Sharma and joined the club of Australian batsmen who played on.
India had also found themselves in a similar trap at 55 for 5. That they
recovered from that precarious position was solely due to the mature
batting between Karthik and Dhoni, whose 211-run partnership powered
India's fightback.
Though only one wicket fell to a spinner, the pitch wasn't exactly a
grassy, seamer-friendly one. Although it had good bounce and carry,
there was not much lateral movement.
Karthik, who hit an unbeaten 106 in the victory against Sri Lanka
at Edgbaston, was once again at ease. As he had done with Virat Kohli,
during their 185-run stand against Sri Lanka, Karthik shared the
workload with Dhoni. One of the major reasons Australia failed to
dominate either of the batsmen was because both ran fast between the
wickets, and they rotated strike constantly without worrying about the
run-rate.
At the start of the batting Powerplay, which Karthik and Dhoni took from
the 34th over, India were 137 for 5. They scored another 34 runs during
those five overs of field restrictions. While that began the charge,
India completely turned the game in the final ten overs, as they smashed
100 runs to muscle the total past 300, a score which looked remote when
Karthik and Dhoni first came together.
Dhoni brought up his half-century with a six over long-off against Marsh
in the 40th over, and then slapped a flat one-bounce boundary, before a
six over the point boundary made it the most expensive over of the
match with 22 runs. Under pressure, the Australian bowlers failed to
bowl to their fields and erred in their lengths.
Dhoni even pulled out his patented helicopter stroke against James
Faulkner for a one-bounce four to midwicket. That took him into the
nineties but he was not nervous as he went for a straight hit a couple
of deliveries later, but failed to clear Mitchell Johnson at long-off.
His departure did not slow Karthik, who got to his second century in as
many matches with a mistimed pull against Mitchell Starc, as the top
edge flew over the wicketkeeper for a boundary. But later he hit two
spectacular fours: a flick past fine leg followed by a chopped drive
against yorker-length deliveries from Starc. Karthik piled on 35 runs
from 19 deliveries in the final five overs as India's total swelled to
winning proportions.
Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Nagraj Gollapudi
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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