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India vs Australia, 4th ODI
India restrict Australia to 250
Mohali—Four batsmen went past 40 but none carried on
for a big innings as Australia reached 250 on a good batting wicket
in Mohali. The Indian bowling, led by the crafty Ashish Nehra, was
very disciplined without ever looking too threatening, and it was
enough to restrict Australia to total that India will fancy chasing
down.
Australia’s innings was almost a replay of the Delhi script. Again,
they seemed to settle for a competitive total rather than push for a
daunting one. The injuries to Michael Clarke and Tim Paine seemed to
force them into a cautious mode, with the inexperienced batting
line-up lacking in confidence and putting extra pressure on Ricky
Ponting, Shane Watson and Michael Hussey. They all made useful
contributions, but none of them could carry on for a big score. As a
result the innings meandered at times, especially in the last ten
overs where they scored only 49 runs. Ponting and Watson couldn’t
carry on with their promising partnership and the same fate befell
Hussey and White.
White played a responsible hand to keep Australia in the game. He
has a reputation for powerful shots, but here adapted his game and
moved his score with the help of singles and twos. The big hits have
eluded him so far in the series, reducing him to being merely a
useful contributor rather than one who can take the game away from
the opposition. His best shot was a well-adjusted short-arm slog
sweep against Yuvraj Singh: He leaned forward to seemingly push it
away for a single but at the last minute, just stretched out to swat
it high over midwicket. He went on to unfurl more skilful shots when
he backed away a couple of times against Harbhajan Singh to loft him
inside-out, against the turn, but for the main part, he drove and
flicked for singles to rotate the strike.
White took the batting Powerplay in the 45th over but couldn’t make
use of it as he was run out after backing up too far and failing to
beat the direct hit from the bowler Nehra. Mitchell Johnson too fell
soon, cleaned up by a slower one from Nehra, and Australia failed to
make the Powerplay count.
Earlier, White added 73 valuable runs for the fourth wicket with
Hussey to keep Australia afloat after they lost Ponting and Watson.
Hussey played another typical innings: he was calmness personified,
pushing the ball into the gaps for singles and collecting an odd
boundary with a cover drive or a sweep. Occasionally, he charged out
to the spinners to loft them over the in-field, with one such stroke
off Yuvraj Singh sailing for a six over wide long-on. However, he
too fell after getting a start, pulling Yuvraj straight to deep
midwicket.
Australia’s task was made even more difficult by the discipline of
all the bowlers except Ishant Sharma. The new-ball bowlers Praveen
Kumar and Nehra found enough movement to keep the top order quiet
and both returned to choke the batsmen in the end overs. The
spinners, too, found enough bite to cover up for Ishant’s wayward
spells. Harbhajan put in his best performance of the series, slowing
up the pace and flighting it on the off and middle stump line.
Nehra curved the ball away from Shaun Marsh, who was rusty and out
of touch, before trapping him in front with a full delivery.
Australia shrugged off that early loss to reach 43 for 1 in 11 overs
when their chance to break free arrived with Ishant being introduced
into the attack. Almost immediately Ponting pounced on him with
relish.—Agencies |
