India beat Australia by 5 wickets
Ahmedabad, March 24: Team India turned in an all-round performance to blunt the impact of a brilliant century by Australia's captain Ricky Ponting and demolish the four-time world champions in a hard-fought quarter-final at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, today.
Quick-fire half-centuries by Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh powered India to the victory target of 261 runs with five wickets and 15 balls to spare.
Earlier, captain Ricky Ponting marked his return to form with a scintillating century as Australia posted a competitive 260 for six in their cricket World Cup quarter final clash against India today.
Opting to bat first, Ponting notched up his 30th ODI century and his 5th in the World Cup to not only silence his detractors but also guide Australia to a decent total on a rather slow and turning track at the Sardar Patel stadium.
Thirty-six-year-old Ponting, who has been under intense pressure because of poor form in recent times, responded brilliantly as he anchored the innings to score his first ton in 18 innings.
Apart from Ponting 118-ball 104, Brad Haddin (53) and David Hussey (38 not out) were the other notable performers for the defending champions, leaving the hosts to score at an asking rate of 5.22 to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with arch rivals Pakistan.
For the Indians, Yuvraj Singh (2/44), Ramachandran Ashwin (2/52) and Zaheer Khan (2/53) were the wicket-takers.
It was Ponting who stole the thunder as he showed tremendous character and resilience to make a mark in such a crucial game. He held the innings together and was dismissed in the 49th over as the Aussies lost wickets at periodic intervals.
The Aussies, realising that the wicket was not conducive for strokeplay, curbed their stroke-making insticts to a large extent and were quite content in working for their runs on the slow and dry track.
Spinner Ramachandran Ashwin opened the bowling for India and produced a tidy first over by giving away just three runs while paceman Zaheer Khan gave one run in his first over.
Watson played the first aggressive shot of the innings by slog-sweeping Ashwin to the mid-wicket boundary and then cracked another boundary off Zaheer's next over.
Both the Aussie openers Watson and Haddin played cautiously in the intial stages before opening to play some big shots. Haddin lifted Ashwin for a six over wide long on to to try and break the shackles.
Harbhajan introduced into the attack in the 9th over in place of Ashwin, who was brought in from the other end for Zaheer Khan.
The move paid dividends immediately as Ashwin drew first blood by evicting the dangerous Watson (25) with a superb delivery.
Watson went for the slog sweep to a tossed up ball but missed the line completely to see his stumps being dislodged much to the delight of the Indians.
With runs coming slowly, the Aussies chose to attack Munaf Patel as his first over yielded 13 runs, Haddin picking him up for special treatment clobbering him for three boundaries.
Haddin and Ponting, who has not been among the runs in the ongoing World Cup, consolidated the position for the team as they took the score beyond the 100-mark without losing any more wickets.
Haddin, who looked quite comfortable in the middle, notched up his 15th ODI half century by slamming Patel to the boundary.
But Haddin returned to the pavilion soon after with Yuvraj Singh providing the break through with Suresh Raina pulling off a brilliant diving catch. Haddin tried to go for the cover drive to a turning ball but failed to time it properly.
Desperate to get a wicket, Dhoni also turned to Sachin Tendulkar who bowled his leg spinners. The last time Tendulkar bowled in an ODI was in Guwahati in November 2009.
Yuvraj came to the rescue of his team again by getting rid of Michael Clarke (8), who paid the price for a poor shot as he top-edged his slog-sweep and Khan latched on to a well judged catch in the mid-wicket region.
Khan, who returned for his second spell in the 31st over, dismissed Michael Hussey with a gem of slow ball which knocked down the stumps to leave Australia in a spot of bother at 150 for four.
Cameron White, who was not too comfortable in the initial stage of his innings, survived a confident appeal for caught behind off Ashwin.
Umpire Marais Erasmus was unmoved even as the entire stadium went up in appeal for the catch. White went for the sweep and appeared to get it off the glove for Dhoni to take a catch behind the wicket. India went for the review, and it showed that the ball came off the forearm.
But White did not survive for long as he fell soon with Zaheer accounting for his dismissal, taking a smart return catch off a slower delivery.
Ahmedabad, March 24: Team India turned in an all-round performance to blunt the impact of a brilliant century by Australia's captain Ricky Ponting and demolish the four-time world champions in a hard-fought quarter-final at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, today.
Quick-fire half-centuries by Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh powered India to the victory target of 261 runs with five wickets and 15 balls to spare.
Earlier, captain Ricky Ponting marked his return to form with a scintillating century as Australia posted a competitive 260 for six in their cricket World Cup quarter final clash against India today.
Opting to bat first, Ponting notched up his 30th ODI century and his 5th in the World Cup to not only silence his detractors but also guide Australia to a decent total on a rather slow and turning track at the Sardar Patel stadium.
Thirty-six-year-old Ponting, who has been under intense pressure because of poor form in recent times, responded brilliantly as he anchored the innings to score his first ton in 18 innings.
Apart from Ponting 118-ball 104, Brad Haddin (53) and David Hussey (38 not out) were the other notable performers for the defending champions, leaving the hosts to score at an asking rate of 5.22 to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with arch rivals Pakistan.
For the Indians, Yuvraj Singh (2/44), Ramachandran Ashwin (2/52) and Zaheer Khan (2/53) were the wicket-takers.
It was Ponting who stole the thunder as he showed tremendous character and resilience to make a mark in such a crucial game. He held the innings together and was dismissed in the 49th over as the Aussies lost wickets at periodic intervals.
The Aussies, realising that the wicket was not conducive for strokeplay, curbed their stroke-making insticts to a large extent and were quite content in working for their runs on the slow and dry track.
Spinner Ramachandran Ashwin opened the bowling for India and produced a tidy first over by giving away just three runs while paceman Zaheer Khan gave one run in his first over.
Watson played the first aggressive shot of the innings by slog-sweeping Ashwin to the mid-wicket boundary and then cracked another boundary off Zaheer's next over.
Both the Aussie openers Watson and Haddin played cautiously in the intial stages before opening to play some big shots. Haddin lifted Ashwin for a six over wide long on to to try and break the shackles.
Harbhajan introduced into the attack in the 9th over in place of Ashwin, who was brought in from the other end for Zaheer Khan.
The move paid dividends immediately as Ashwin drew first blood by evicting the dangerous Watson (25) with a superb delivery.
Watson went for the slog sweep to a tossed up ball but missed the line completely to see his stumps being dislodged much to the delight of the Indians.
With runs coming slowly, the Aussies chose to attack Munaf Patel as his first over yielded 13 runs, Haddin picking him up for special treatment clobbering him for three boundaries.
Haddin and Ponting, who has not been among the runs in the ongoing World Cup, consolidated the position for the team as they took the score beyond the 100-mark without losing any more wickets.
Haddin, who looked quite comfortable in the middle, notched up his 15th ODI half century by slamming Patel to the boundary.
But Haddin returned to the pavilion soon after with Yuvraj Singh providing the break through with Suresh Raina pulling off a brilliant diving catch. Haddin tried to go for the cover drive to a turning ball but failed to time it properly.
Desperate to get a wicket, Dhoni also turned to Sachin Tendulkar who bowled his leg spinners. The last time Tendulkar bowled in an ODI was in Guwahati in November 2009.
Yuvraj came to the rescue of his team again by getting rid of Michael Clarke (8), who paid the price for a poor shot as he top-edged his slog-sweep and Khan latched on to a well judged catch in the mid-wicket region.
Khan, who returned for his second spell in the 31st over, dismissed Michael Hussey with a gem of slow ball which knocked down the stumps to leave Australia in a spot of bother at 150 for four.
Cameron White, who was not too comfortable in the initial stage of his innings, survived a confident appeal for caught behind off Ashwin.
Umpire Marais Erasmus was unmoved even as the entire stadium went up in appeal for the catch. White went for the sweep and appeared to get it off the glove for Dhoni to take a catch behind the wicket. India went for the review, and it showed that the ball came off the forearm.
But White did not survive for long as he fell soon with Zaheer accounting for his dismissal, taking a smart return catch off a slower delivery.
News Posted: 24 March, 2011
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