Australia crash to Chawla spin in warm-up match
Piyush Chawla spun India to a remarkable 38-run win over defending
champions Australia in a high-profile World Cup warm-up match on Sunday.
The leg-spinner took 4-31 as Australia collapsed to 176 chasing a
modest 215-run target, after being strongly placed at 118-1 in the
day-night match before a sizeable crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in
Bangalore.
Chawla, 22, also upstaged Australian paceman Brett Lee, who earlier
gave a superb exhibition of fast bowling to rock India and finish with
3-35 off 10 impressive overs.
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who missed a recent home one-day
series against England due to a finger injury, top-scored with a solid
57 off 85 balls with four boundaries.
The tourists’ chances receded sharply after the dismissal of their
captain, stumped while attempting to slog-sweep off-spinner Harbhajan
Singh (3-15), who brilliantly supported Chawla.
Ponting and Indian fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth exchanged
words after an appeal for caught behind was turned down in early stages
of the Australian skipper’s knock.
There was no hint of collapse following fine knocks from openers
Shane Watson (33) and Tim Paine (37). Paine added 51 for the opening
wicket with Watson and 67 for the next with his captain. But Chawla
started the slide with Michael Clarke’s dismissal for a duck as the
tourists lost their last nine wickets for 58 runs, with spinners doing
the maximum damage.
Lee was in the limelight in the first session, dismissing Suresh
Raina (12), Harbhajan and Chawla in his second spell to prove he is bang
in form for the World Cup, which starts February 19.
Lee was backed by John Hastings (2-24). Australia’s only bowling
concern was 25 runs they conceded in wides, with off-song paceman
Mitchell Johnson giving away 10.
Hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag gave a good account of himself in
India’s below-par batting performance, top-scoring with a 56-ball 54
with one six and eight fours. BANGALORE, India, Feb 13, 2011 AFP
INDIA
G. Gambhir c White b Bollinger 6
V. Sehwag b Krejza 54
V. Kohli c Hussey b Hastings 21
Yuvraj Singh c Paine b Johnson 1
MS Dhoni b Hastings 11
S. Raina c Paine b Lee 12
Y. Pathan c Krejza b Hussey 32
Harbhajan Singh b Lee 4
P. Chawla b Lee 0
R. Ashwin not out 25
A. Nehra c Krejza b Hussey 19
Extras (lb3, nb1, w25) 29
TOTAL (for all out; 44.3 overs) 214
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Gambhir), 2-54 (Kohli), 3-63 (Yuvraj), 4-101 (Dhoni),
5-113 (Sehwag), 6-132 (Raina), 7-136 (Harbhajan), 8-138 (Chawla), 9-187 (Pathan), 10-214 (Nehra).
Bowling: Lee 10-1-35-3 (nb1, w4), Bollinger 6-0-29-1 (w2), Johnson 9-0-42-1 (w10),
Hastings 6-0-24-2 (w4), Krejza 10-0-56-1 (w2), Hussey 3.3-0-25-2 (w3).
AUSTRALIA
S. Watson b Chawla b Sreesanth 33
T. Paine c Patel b Yuvraj 37
R. Ponting st Dhoni b Harbhajan 57
M. Clarke b Chawla 0
C. White c Ashwin b Chawla 4
D. Hussey st Dhoni b Chawla 0
C. Ferguson c Kohli b Chawla 8
M. Johnson st Dhoni b Harbhajan 15
J. Hastings not out 1
J. Krejza lbw b Harbhajan 0
B. Lee c Ashwin 1
Extras (b3, lb6, w11) 20
TOTAL (for all out; 37.5 overs) 176
Fall of wickets: 1-51 (Watson), 2-118 (Paine), 3-120 (Clarke), 4-138 (White),
5-138 (Hussey), 6-148 (Ferguson), 7-166 (Ponting), 8-175 (Johnson), 9-175 (Krejza), 10-176 (Lee).
Bowling: Nehra 2-0-12-0, Sreesanth 5-0-21-1, Patel 2-0-22-0, Ashwin 9.5-0-47-1, Chawla 9-0-31-4 (w6),
Yuvraj 5-0-19-1, Harbhajan 5-0-15-3 (w5).Result: India win by 38 |
