World T20: Dominant India crush sorry Australia by 73 runs

NEW DELHI: Yuvraj Singh's stupendous 43-ball 60 followed by R Ashwin's impressive 4/11 helped India beat Australia by 73 runs in their ICC World T20 match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Chasing a 160-run target, Australia never seemed to be in the match as they lost wickets at regular intervals. The Aussies lost their first wicket when Ashwin had opener Aaron Finch (6) caught by Virat Kohli at mid-on. Soon after, Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck to dismiss Cameron White in the fifth over before Mohit Sharma dismissed the dangerous Shane Watson (1) in the very next over. Aswhin then rubbed more salt on the Australian wounds when the offie picked up the wickets of David Warner (19) and Glenn Maxwell (23) in quick succession to leave the Aussies reeling at 56/5 after 10 overs. It was time for Ravindra Jadeja to join the wicket-taking party after that when he dismissed the Australian skipper George Bailey (8), who hit just one smashing six in his short-lived innings. Earlier, Yuvraj Singh finally got back to form with an impressive 60-run knock as India posted a competitive 159 for seven against Australia. On a slow track, Yuvraj initially struggled before blasting four sixes and five boundaries in a 43-ball knock. It was also his eighth T20 International half-century in 38 matches. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni played the role of second fiddle to perfection, contributing 24 in an 84-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Dhoni lost the first toss in the tournament and as Ravichandran Ashwin had said yesterday, were forced "swim a tsunami" considering the adverse conditions for batting first on a slow Sher-e-Bangla track. It wasn't conducive for strokeplay as the Indian batsmen found out while trying to set a decent target. The Australian slow bowlers did a decent job in these conditions as India managed only 59 in the first 10 overs. Australia opened their bowling with Brad Hodge and he got success removing the in-form Rohit Sharma (6) with a slider which the player tried to drive but got a thickish outside edge which went to James Muirhead standing at backward point. Virat Kohli started with a slog sweep off Glenn Maxwell that went for a six and followed it by guiding Mitchell Starc to the third man boundary. But it didn't last long enough as he tried to hoist leggie Muirhead over long-off but failed to clear Cameron White stationed for that catch. Kohli's 23 came off 22 deliveries with two fours and a six. Ajinkya Rahane was gone when Bollinger got a delivery to pitch on the off-middle line, which moved a shade with Rahane trying to steer it down. Brad Haddin held a regulation catch. Rahane scored 19 off 16 balls but couldn't utilize the opportunity he got due to Shikhar Dhawan's failure. India were reeling at 52 for three when Suresh Raina joined Yuvraj. Yuvraj was nervous from the onset as he was not middling the ball. A couple of times, he even misjudged the singles which could have cost India a wicket. Raina also looked in trouble as the slowness of the pitch affected his stroke-making. Trying to hit his way out of trouble, the left-hander tried to hoist Maxwell but was caught by Aaron Finch at long-on. Raina managed only six. Yuvraj finally broke the shackles when Muirhead bowled successive half-trackers which were posted in the deep mid-wicket stands as 17 runs came of that particular over which was the 14th of the innings. The first one bounced more than the second one but both met with the same fate. Dhoni also got into the act after settling down as he first lifted Bollinger for a boundary over extra-cover and then hooked Starc for a six. Then came the shot of the innings when Yuvraj just stood and hit Starc over deep extra cover for a stunning six. Yuvraj reached his half-century off 37 balls when he deposited a Watson full-toss over deep square leg for a six. TOI