Ahmedabad, March 24: India put up an all-round performance to trounce defending champions Australiain the 2011 ICC World Cup quarter-final at Motera, Ahmedabad. After having restricted Australia to a score of 260, despite a century from Ricky Ponting (104), Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir hit half-centuries to take India past Australia’s target.
India got off to a good start with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag both looking in the hunt for runs. But with the score at 44, Sehwag (15) tried to pull Shane Watson over mid-wicket only to end up offering a catch to Mike Hussey. Gautam Gambhir and Tendulkar, nevertheless, put the loss of Sehwag behind them and took the attack to the Australians.
Tendulkar looked good to bring up his 100th international hundred, having gone past yet another half-century, but edged a delivery off Shaun Tait’s bowling to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to fall short of that landmark. He made 53 and India were 94 for two in 18.1 overs at the loss of his wicket.
Virat Kohli, batting at No. 4, contributed with a handy knock of 24 but got out hitting a full toss from David Hussey straight to Michael Clarke at mid-wicket.
Gambhir, who looked very comfortable handling the Aussie spinners - Jason Krezja, Michael Clarke and David Hussey - brought up his third half-century of the tournament. However, having survived a couple of close, self-inflicted run-out situations, Gambhir finally ran himself out following a mix up with Yuvraj Singh. He made 50.
With Gambhir falling with the score at 168 and MS Dhoni (7) once again disappointing with the bat, India needed another 74 off the last 12 overs and were in real danger of a collapse.
Yuvraj Singh, true to his form right through the tournament, proved to be India’s talisman. He played a superb knock, putting the bad ball away, running the ones and twos hard and guiding the Indian run chase to perfection. Suresh Raina, who remained unbeaten with 34 off 28 balls, complemented Yuvraj perfectly. Yuvraj, who brought up his fourth half-century of the 2011 ICC World Cup, hit the winning runs while remaining unbeaten on 57.
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 scores: India 261 for 5 in 47.4 overs (Yuvraj Singh 57*, Sachin Tendulkar 53, Gautam Gambhir 50, David Hussey 1/19) beat Australia 260 for 6 in 50.0 overs (Ricky Ponting 104, Brad Haddin 53, David Hussey 38*, Yuvraj Singh 2/44, Zaheer Khan 2/53, R Ashwin 2/53) by five wickets
Man-of-the-match: Yuvraj Singh for yet another all-round performance - 57* runs with the bat and bowling figures of 10-0-44-2
