India vs Australia, ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Semi-Final: India gets lost in home setting

Australia defied an alien pitch and an equally alien crowd — ironically, on home turf — to trounce India and storm into the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 final, which now has all the fixings of a Trans-Tasman affair. Ankur Dhawan delves into why India found the semi-final a tough nut to crack. An open letter to MS Dhoni

India were defending champions and their defence was unequivocally breached at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Four of their key players, who were part of the 2011 triumph in Mumbai, failed to gate crash into the Sydney opera, which in no time turned into a farewell dirge. India’s bowling unit had the disposition of an alcoholic who had relapsed after a month of abstinence. Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar: Similarities between the two India vs Australia ICC Cricket World Cup knockout matches

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The SCG playing surface was enveloped in mystery in the run up to the high-octane semi-final. Beneath the veneer an apparently hospitable friend was laid out for the visitors, a pitch that may well have been teleported from Nagpur. The sight of a pitch as brown as a berry, at first glance, must have miffed the Aussies. Like its Nagpur sibling, it was easy-paced, providing little help to fast bowlers, other than bounce; the Indians were momentarily as pleased as Punch, but they were about to be devoured by a bitter truth. India vs Australia Semi-Final ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at Sydney: Highlights

India were always bullish about their spin attack but their armour was blunted by the slow surface, coupled with the fact that they were bowling first. Further, the flatness of the wicket prevented the pacers from extracting any mileage. India’s bowling unit hadn’t been under the scanner during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. It had lulled the side into a sense of complacency, considering that the only World Class batting line-up they had come up against was South Africa. Admittedly, the Indian bowling had improved appreciably since the Tests and the tri-series, but despite snaffling 70 wickets in seven matches they hadn’t been tested, which became a handicap against the strongest batting force in the tournament. Anushka Sharma, you are to be blamed for India’s loss against Australia in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

Australia won an important toss in the circumstances, and out came one of India’s chief tormentor of the season: David Warner, along with his partner Aaron Finch who had been hibernating since the hundred against England. The writing was on the wall when Warner found the fence twice in a matter of six balls. The straight and the square boundaries were peppered, one went for four, the other yielded maximum, before it was all erased by a leading edge that went high in the air and landed in the hands of Virat Kohli at cover. It was ironic that two facets of the game, which are expected to be in the favour of the home team, were the ones Australia had to grapple with: a subcontinent wicket and a boisterous Indian crowd that outnumbered the home fans by the geographical distance between India and Australia. Times Now, do us a favour and shut up: You are embarrassing Indian media in front of the world

Steven Smith joined somebody who distinctly resembled Finch but was batting like an impostor. Smith did what Smith does, that is score another hundred with ridiculous ease against India, also allowing Finch breathing space to grind his way to a half-century at the other end. Decoding the MS Dhoni enigma: ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

The ploy to bowl short had worked like magic for Indian pacers hitherto in other matches, but on a slower SCG surface it was a double edged sword. It helped kick-start Australia’s sudden surge when Yadav was dispatched to the boundary disdainfully four times in the 10th over. The tactic had largely failed to ensnare the Australians though it yielded a rich harvest in the final remnants of the innings when Smith, Finch, and Michael Clarke’s miscued pull shots led to their demise. The three timely wickets helped India in pulling the soaring run-rate back a little. Unfair to target Virat Kohli after defeat; he remains a champion despite failure in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 semi-final

However, James Faulkner and Mitchell Johnson reaffirmed Australia’s lower order batting might, as the hosts cruised past 300, after suffering a momentary scare. MS Dhoni’s leadership was inspiring in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

In a nutshell the semi-final was nothing more than a teaser for India, who were titillated at various points during the game, never to be serious contenders for a sustained period. One such moment came when India were buoyed by the 76-run opening stand between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Ideally, Dhawan, who looked in better rhythm of the two, should have gone on, but the springboard was in place for India’s vice-captain to produce something outlandish. 5 reasons India lost the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final against Australia

Virat Kohli was pivotal to India’s chances of winning the battle, which man for man was heavily skewed in Australia’s favour. In their greatest hour of need, India’s talismanic batsman had an outing reminiscent of Sachin Tendulkar’s in the 2003 World Cup final. The modes of dismissals were uncannily similar under equally indistinguishable circumstances. Kohli had anchored the Indian innings throughout the tournament, desisting from playing the role of an enforcer in order to lend it weight and allowing the others to bat around him. The sense of occasion and the enormity of the task at hand, perhaps, contributed to his downfall as he felt it incumbent to play a defining innings. The pull shot came out of the closet too soon against the fastest bowler in the world only to be devoured in the gloves of Brad Haddin. Johnson stunned the raucous Indian crowd into a deafening silence and thus began India’s landslide, the beginning of an inevitable end. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Steven Smith en route carving name in book of legends

India merely won twenty percent of the 96.5 overs that were bowled in the match. The defending champions were unable to drive home the advantage when small openings were created, which proved costly, as you’d expect against the Australians. The phrase, “you snooze, you lose,” springs to mind. It didn’t help their cause that Australia took off from where the two teams had left their bilateral commitments. The pre-match chatter wasn’t just bravado, Australia still had the wood over India, and the Indians had remained in denial. Smug in the belief that it had put behind the story that had unfolded in the Tests and the tri-series two months ago, the team relived the misery for a final time. The psychological baggage had clearly not been shed. MS Dhoni’s men can be proud of their ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 campaign despite defeat in Semi-Final

(Ankur Dhawan is a reporter with CricketCountry. Heavily influenced by dystopian novels, he naturally has about 59 conspiracy theories for every moment in the game of cricket. On finding a direct link between his head and the tip of his fingers, he also writes about it)