By Fathima Zanaida
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (TheSportsNEXT) September 29, 2012: Shane Watson came up with another all-round performance as Australia easily defeated India by nine wickets in their first Super Eights Group 2 match of the ICC World Twenty20 2012 at R Premadasa Stadium on Friday.
Shane Watson captured three wickets for 34 runs and then doubled up his performance with an aggressive half century of 72 from 42 balls to help Australia to an astounding victory over India, who resorted to play five bowlers.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to play five bowlers hit back after his batsmen failed to put up a good total on the board after he decided to make veteran hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag warm benches in the dug-out.
Batting first, India managed to score only 140 for seven from their 20 overs on a pitch which had plenty of more runs on offer as none of the batsmen were able to prolong their stay and prolong it with fluency.
Gautam Gambhir (17 from 12 – 3 fours) and Irfan Pathan (31 from 30 – 2 fours, 1 six) looked struggling as an opening pair yet again and just managed 21 runs for the opening wicket partnership.
The in-form Virat Kohli (15 from 13 – 2 fours) looked good before Pat Cummins got his scalp, but Yuvraj Singh (8 from 10 – 1 four) and Rohit Sharma (1 from 2) were undone by Shane Watson and Mitchell Starc, respectively as Australian skipper George Bailey’s decision to persist with fast bowlers paid huge dividends for his team.
Left-hand middle order batsman Suresh Raina (26 from 19 – 4 fours) and Indian skipper MS Dhoni (15 from 21 – 2 fours) did spend some time in the middle but while Raina looked fluent Indian captain looked completely out of sorts. A late burst by Ravichandran Ashwin (16 not out from 12 – 1 four, 1 six) took India to a moderate total of 140 for seven from their 20 overs.
Shane Watson was Australia’s most successful bowler as he captured three wickets for 34 runs while Pat Cummins also bowled for two wickets for 16 runs.
Indians were hoping their five specialist bowlers to make an impact but Australian openers Shane Watson (72 from 42 – 2 fours, 7 sixes) and David Warner (63 not out from 41 – 7 fours, 3 sixes) showed no mercy and blasted their way on road to victory.
The opening pair almost overhauled the run-chase and scored 133 runs from just 13.3 overs before Glenn Maxwell (4 not out from 6) completed the job with the left-hand opening batsman as Australia achieved the target from 14.5 overs which gave them a huge lift in a possible net run-rate scenario.
MS Dhoni tried eight bowlers out of which five had their economy rates in double figures.
With an incredible all-round performance, Shane Watson fetched him third Man of the Match award of the ICC World Twenty20 2012 and is well and truly on course to steal the Man of the Tournament award.
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