India thrashed Australia by 243 runs in their Champions Trophy warm-up match on Tuesday. Umesh Yadav claimed a five-for as the Aussies got bundled out for 65 runs, chasing 309 runs.
Earlier, Dinesh Karthik smashed an unbeaten 146 and added 211 runs for the sixth wicket with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91) as India recovered from a precarious position of 55 for 5.
Opting to bat first, India suffered a precarious top-order collapse. An in-swinging delivery by Mitchell Starc trapped Murali Vijay lbw. The opener seemed to have got an inside edge but the umpire raised the finger. In his next over Starc got the in-form Virat Kohli edge a delivery going down the leg side to Mathew Wade behind the stumps. And 24 runs later Clint McKay dealt a double blow. The 30-year old pacer clipped Rohit Sharma’s bails and disrupted Suresh Raina’s woodwork. With runs coming at a premium the Indians were on the back foot and were further rocked by Mitchell Johnson who claimed Shikhar Dhawan to leave India struggling on 55 for 5.
Dhoni joined Karthik in the middle and the duo went about the task of rebuilding the Indian innings. With his team facing an uphill task, Karthik played a watchful knock and partnered his captain in stabilizing the innings. The two ensured that they didn’t lose any further wickets while grafting runs off the Australian attack. They sneaked in with singles to keep the scoreboard ticking and dispatched the bad balls to the fence.
After laying a solid foundation they played through the powerplay sensibly and later attacked with a little over ten overs left in the innings. Karthik struck Mitchell Marsh for a boundary, Dhoni hit the youngster for two sixes to help claim 22 runs off the 40th over and helped add 106 runs in the last ten overs.
While Karthik brought up his second century in as many innings in yet another difficult situation, the Indian captain fell nine runs short of a well deserved hundred. Attempting to hit Faulkner over the ropes Dhoni was caught at long-off bringing to end the 211-run partnership. Ravindra Jadeja who replaced him in the middle continued where Dhoni had left off and hit a quick 14 off six balls.
Chasing 309, the Australian line-up folded for 65 runs. Castled by Umesh Yadav in the second over Wade was the first to walk back. The pacer then followed up with a couple more wickets in his next two overs. While David Warner nicked one to Ravichandran Ashwin in the slips without opening his account, the Australian captain played on to the stumps.
Yadav was well supported by Bhuvneshwar Kumar who kept the batsmen on a tight leash by bowling a miserly spell, conceding only nine runs in his first five overs. Yadav continued to pick wickets from the other end and was on a hat-trick in the tenth over. He knocked back Phillip Hughes’ stumps while Marsh was caught behind by Dhoni to leave the opposition reeling on 28 for five.
Adam Voges was then joined by Shane Watson in the middle but Ishant Sharma who had replaced Yadav, dislodged the latter’s bails to give India their sixth wicket. However, Kumar who meanwhile continued to bowl impressively from the other end finished his first spell with eight overs without a scalp in his kitty.
Voges and Faulkner’s attempt to stitch a partnership was foiled by Ishant who claimed the latter to end the stand on 16. Starc was the next to be sent back, run out for naught while Voges’ resistance was broken by Ashwin to take India to victory.
Brief scores: India 308/6 in 50 overs (D Karthik 146*, MS Dhoni 91, C McKay 2/39) beat Australia 65 all out in 23.3 overs (A Voges 23, 5/18 Umesh Yadav, 3/11 I Sharma) by 243 runs
