Ahmedabad, March 24: Ricky Ponting scored a marvellous century (104) to help Australia post a challenging score of 260 in the 2011 ICC World Cup quarter-final against India at Motera, Ahmedabad. This was Ponting’s second successive century against India in a World Cup game, the last one coming in the 2003 ICC World Cup final in Johannesburg.
Earlier, Ponting won the toss and opted to bat first. Australia brought in David Hussey in place of Steve Smith to strengthen their batting order for this game. Virender Sehwag returned to the Indian squad having recovered from the allergic reaction in his knee. Yusuf Pathan went out of the playing eleven.
Shane Watson and Bradd Haddin got Australia off to a cautious start against the Indian opening bowling combination of R Ashwin and Zaheer Khan. The two put on 40 in 9.5 overs and were looking to accelerate when Ashwin knocked Watson’s off stump over as the batsman tried to slog him out of the park.
However, Haddin and Ricky Ponting upped the run-rate at the fall of Watson’s wicket. The two struck a brisk 70-run partnership off 12.5 overs (RR 5.45) to take the Australian score to 110. Haddin (53), who reached his fourth half-century of the tournament, was then dismissed by Yuvraj, caught by Suresh Raina at mid-off. The Australian score at that stage - 110 for two in 22.5 overs.
Michael Clarke (8), Mike Hussey (3) and Cameron White (12) didn’t contribute much to Australia’s cause but Ponting made up for them. The Australian captain, under pressure due to his woeful form before the start of this game, scored his fifth century in World Cup competitions and his 30th overall in ODI cricket. He hardly played a shot wrong during the course of his innings and for once, looked completely adept at handling the Indian spin threat.
Ponting’s 55-run partnership with David Hussey for the sixth wicket, which also saw Australia score 44 runs off the Batting Powerplay (overs 43.1 – 48.0), helped take the Australian innings to their final score of 260 for six in 50 overs. Ponting eventually fell to R Ashwin while trying a reverse sweep but only ended up giving an easy catch to Zaheer Khan at short third man. Ponting made 104 while Hussey remained unbeaten on 38 (26 balls).
For India, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and R Ashwin took two wickets each.
Brief score: Australia 260 for 6 in 50.0 overs (Ricky Ponting, Brad Haddin 53, David Hussey 38*, Yuvraj Singh 2/44, Zaheer Khan 2/53, R Ashwin 2/53)
