By Jamie Alter
In a match with many types of ebb and flow, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina provided the pivotal coil as India knocked the world champions out of the World Cup and set up the mother of all semi-finals in Mohali.
Published: Mar 24, 2011, 10:53 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 24, 2011, 10:53 PM (IST)
Australia failed to qualify for the final four of a World Cup for the first time in 19 years.
By Jamie Alter
Ahmedabad: Mar 24, 2011
And so Australia failed to qualify for the final four of a World Cup for the first time in 19 years.
In a match with many types of ebb and flow, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina provided the pivotal coil as India knocked the world champions out of the World Cup and set up the mother of all semi-finals in Mohali. Chasing 261 after Ricky Ponting’s 30th ODI century earlier in the day, a jittery India struggled to build big partnerships against a pumped-up Australia, but as the pressure mounted, the home side had their answer in Yuvraj and Raina.
Having taken two wickets in the afternoon to take his tournament tally to 11, Yuvraj was in the thick of things with the bat, controlling the chase with a cool unbeaten 57. Indeed, the defining partnership of the match was between him and Raina – they kept their wits about them and the 74 they added bailed India out of a jam and put them in charge.
When Sachin Tendulkar got the chase off to a flier, none of this seemed on the cards. Tendulkar kept the asking rate in control first with a 44-run stand Virender Sehwag and then adding 50 with Gautam Gambhir. Even when Tendulkar fell against the run of play, caught behind off Shaun Tait for 53, Virat Kohli appeared to be the ideal foil for Gambhir with a punchy innings.
At 142 for two, India required 119 runs from 22 overs – an asking rate of 5.40. Then David Hussey got into the act, getting Kohli to pull a full toss to Michael Clarke at midwicket. Gambhir had some issue with his running during a scratchy 50, and was inexplicably run out. Clarke then held a stinger at point to cut off MS Dhoni, and the score was a far less imposing 187 for five with India needing 74 from 12 overs.
If they were bogged down by the pressure, it certainly didn’t show, as Yuvraj and Raina whittled down the deficit with common-sense cricket. With Ponting rotating the bowlers and not going for an all-out attack until the 40th over, the pair pinched singles by running and eschewing the risky shots.
But matters reached a crescendo when India took 14 off the 40th over, bowled by Brett Lee, and 12 off the 41st, bowled by Tait. Cutting and pulling with ferocity, Yuvraj forced the pace wonderfully and suddenly the momentum had shifted back India’s way.
Raina played his part, but Yuvraj was exceptional. He timed the ball well from the start, with the highlight being his pulling and driving down the ground. When the Australian bowlers banged it in Yuvraj responded emphatically with his pull shots, and when they offered width he scythed through the off-side powerfully. The pick of his shots was a stunning slice over point off Tait. Yuvraj’s fourth fifty of the World Cup took India over the finish line with 14 deliveries to spare.
In the end Yuvraj took the applause, but Ponting’s innings in the afternoon was a treat to watch, as he batted his inner demons and came out unscathed with a gem of a century. In the cauldron of a World Cup quarter-final against India, in India, Ponting applied himself immensely in conditions not entirely ideal for batting, handling the fast men and spinners with aplomb.
Walking to the middle after Ravichandran Ashwin bowled Watson for 25 Ponting began nervously and appeared very keen to get onto the front foot. Once he had a measure of the surface and the hands weren’t going hard at the ball, Ponting was shuffling about his crease looking to offset the bowlers.
Brad Haddin was content to be the aggressor in a 70-run partnership with Ponting. He frustrated India with brave steers off the fast bowlers and controlled chips over the infield, but fell looking to go inside-out off Yuvraj. Quite typically, Ponting controlled the middle stages of the game, nudging singles, running hard, keeping the scorecard and the strike rotating, and nursing himself back into form and confidence. Ponting has been in wretched form of late but to his credit, the eschewed the risks till the last stages of the game.
As Ponting ticked along it became evident how desperate Dhoni was to get wickets, and his frustration gave way to Tendulkar being given the ball. However, it was conventional thinking which delivered India the wickets. Yuvraj, India’s best spinner in the tournament, was recalled and drew Clarke into a silly shot, while Zaheer bowled Michael Hussey with a superb slower ball immediately on return.
The batting Powerplay yielded 44 as Ponting crossed three figures and David Hussey collected an unbeaten 38, and though they fought tooth and nail in the field Australia just didn’t have enough to stop India.
Brief Scores: Australia 260 for 6 in 50 overs (Ricky Ponting 104, Brad Haddin 53, David Hussey 38*; Zaheer Khan 2 for 53, Yuvraj Singh 2 for 44, Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 52) lost to India 261 for 5 in 47.4 overs (Yuvraj Singh 57*, Sachin Tendulkar 53, Gautam Gambhir 50, Suresh Raina 34*; David Hussey 1 for 19, Shane Watson 1 for 37) by 5 wickets.
Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh
(Jamie Alter is a freelance cricket writer, having worked at ESPNcricinfo and All Sports Magazine. His first book, The History of World Cup Cricket, is out now. His twitter feed is @jamie_alter)
Pictures © Getty Images
