Sigh !!!
Australia vs India, touted as one of the matches of the tournament, turned out to be a damp squib as the Indian batting failed to reach the potency levels prior to the NZ tour. The batsmen maintained their 'consistency' in not being able to bat the full fifty overs as most of the dismissals were self-inflicted.
I really wanted Ganguly to elect to field first once he had won the toss as it would have given the Indian batsmen some sort of a target to chase as they seemed to have lost the plot after the dismissal of Sehwag.
For once, the Aussie bowling did not look sharp in the first 10 overs but even then Ganguly and Sehwag gave their wickets away chasing deliveries wide outside the off-stump. Dravid came in and the momentum was lost completely as even Sachin went into his shell. Dravid's dismissal was shocking, it was a nothing-shot to a ball that literally begged to be sqare-cut to the fence, instead Dravid chased it down with a 'straight' bat and managed to drag the ball onto the stumps. After that umpire D'Silva came into the act and the in-form Yuvraj Singh was given leg before wicket and was off without troubling the scorers. Kaif pulled a short one straight to the lone man in the deep (and with that shot he might have ruined his chances of playing any more part in the playing XI for the rest of the Cup). Just when Mongia and Sachin were rebuilding the innings, Sachin mis-judged the pace on a Gillespie ball and was caught plumb in front of the wickets. Brett Lee was brought back to wrap the tail but instead Mongia obliged and threw his own wicket away. The spin twins then forged a partnership which saw India cross the three figure mark. Zaheer and Srinath did not last long and 125 was all that the team could get.
Hayden, along with Gilchrist and then Ponting, completed the formalities but not before being troubled a little by the spinners and it is then one thought how different the game could have been had the batting put on atleast 260-270 on the board ??
Australia vs India, touted as one of the matches of the tournament, turned out to be a damp squib as the Indian batting failed to reach the potency levels prior to the NZ tour. The batsmen maintained their 'consistency' in not being able to bat the full fifty overs as most of the dismissals were self-inflicted.
I really wanted Ganguly to elect to field first once he had won the toss as it would have given the Indian batsmen some sort of a target to chase as they seemed to have lost the plot after the dismissal of Sehwag.
For once, the Aussie bowling did not look sharp in the first 10 overs but even then Ganguly and Sehwag gave their wickets away chasing deliveries wide outside the off-stump. Dravid came in and the momentum was lost completely as even Sachin went into his shell. Dravid's dismissal was shocking, it was a nothing-shot to a ball that literally begged to be sqare-cut to the fence, instead Dravid chased it down with a 'straight' bat and managed to drag the ball onto the stumps. After that umpire D'Silva came into the act and the in-form Yuvraj Singh was given leg before wicket and was off without troubling the scorers. Kaif pulled a short one straight to the lone man in the deep (and with that shot he might have ruined his chances of playing any more part in the playing XI for the rest of the Cup). Just when Mongia and Sachin were rebuilding the innings, Sachin mis-judged the pace on a Gillespie ball and was caught plumb in front of the wickets. Brett Lee was brought back to wrap the tail but instead Mongia obliged and threw his own wicket away. The spin twins then forged a partnership which saw India cross the three figure mark. Zaheer and Srinath did not last long and 125 was all that the team could get.
Hayden, along with Gilchrist and then Ponting, completed the formalities but not before being troubled a little by the spinners and it is then one thought how different the game could have been had the batting put on atleast 260-270 on the board ??
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