India
vs
Australia
Match Schedule:
Date: September 28th D/N
Time:12:30 (GMT)
After capitulating their first match to a charged up Pakistan, it's Ricky Ponting and the boys from down under who now stand in the path of the beleaguered Indians. Coming into this tournament, as they always do, surrounded by so much hype and expectation, India were unable to live up to it as they looked decidedly second best in their first match. They have very little time to regroup as they face the defending champions on Monday in an encounter that they must win if they are to have any chance of progressing in this competition.
From what we saw on Saturday, it's going to be an uphill task for MS Dhoni's side to get the better of Australia. India's bowlers were horribly below par and the unfortunate thing for the men in blue is that there wasn't even a glimpse of discipline from any of them. Once the Pakistani batsmen started attacking, they completely lost their composure and any semblance of control. Even the experienced Harbhajan Singh looked harmless and devoid of ideas as he was battered mercilessly around the park. On the same ground and against an impressive Aussie batting line-up, it's difficult to see the Indian pace bowlers doing much better.
The Indians seem to lack the ability to get themselves out of difficult situations and to keep fighting, and these seem to be qualities that the Australian team possess in abundance. The Aussies battled from 171-7 in the 40th over to 275-8 in fifty overs against the West Indies largely thanks to fast bowler Mitchell Johnson who played a superb innings scoring 73 off 47 balls. The sheer depth of the Aussie line-up was on display for all to see on Saturday and it will be of great concern to the Indians. Of course their top order is not short of talent either with captain Ricky Ponting playing a fascinating knock of 79 to set his team up for the big score. The middle order of Hussey, Ferguson and White who were all undone by some good pace bowling from the West Indies quicks will be hungry for runs and they'll surely be relishing the thought of the high scoring wicket at SuperSport Park against a bruised Indian bowling attack.
The Indian batting line-up, on the other hand, has plenty of soul searching to do before they face the Aussies on Monday. If it weren't were for two very unnecessary run outs things could have turned out rather differently for the Indians on Saturday. A scintillating Gautam Gambhir, who had set India's chase up nicely, fell victim to a bad call from his partner Rahul Dravid. And perhaps it was poetic justice when Dravid eventually got run out later in the match in a similar situation. Both men had the opportunity of taking India to a historic victory but somehow the composure that the high pressure situation required was sorely lacking amongst the Indian line-up. The rest of the batting order pretty much folded like a pack of cards apart from Suresh Raina who played a nice little cameo to keep their hopes alive.
It seems the only way the Indians have a chance of winning this one is if Mahendra Singh Dhoni gets lucky and wins the toss. He can then elect to bat and avoid another dreaded run chase. The Aussie bowlers didn't have a particularly good outing with the ball on Saturday, and if Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar can get going at the top then the Indians should be able to post a competitive score.
The fact that these two sides have not played an ODI against each other in 19 months throws their head-to-head form book out the window, but India will take some encouragement from their most recent performance against the Aussies when they defeated Ricky Ponting's boys in the two final matches of the Commonwealth Bank tri-series in early 2008. But that was when India was still playing the fearless brand of cricket that was giving them the edge over the top teams. Dhoni will have to instill some of that ruthless attitude back into his side if they are to push the Australians this time around.
It's now or never for the men in blue. Whatever the outcome of the toss, they know that nothing but a win in this one will keep them in the hunt for the semi-finals. Otherwise, they will once again leave an ICC tournament with their, much hyped, tails between their legs.
Squads:
India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli (Replacement for Yuvraj Singh), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Rudra Pratap Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar
Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger (Replacement for Bracken), Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White
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