Warner runs riot as Oz rout Mahi’s men

Warner runs riot as Oz rout Mahi’s men

Bridgetown, Barbados, May 7: David Warner smashed a rapid 72 as Australia thrashed India by 49 runs in the teams’ opening Super Eights match in the World Twenty20 at the Kensington Oval here on Friday.

Left-handed opener Warner’s innings was the top score in an Australia total of 184/5 built around his first wicket stand of 104 in 11 overs with Shane Watson (54).

In reply, India collapsed to 23/4 inside five overs as several batsmen miscued big shots in a bid to keep up with the run-rate.

India were eventually bowled out for 135, with Rohit Sharma (79 not out) and tailender Harbhajan Singh (13) the only batsmen to reach double figures.

Australia’s victory maintained their perfect record at this World Twenty20 as India suffered their first defeat.

Australia left-arm quick Dirk Nannes then consolidated his position as the tournament’s leading bowler with three wickets for 25 runs to take his tally for the competition to 10 wickets. Fellow fast bowler Shaun Tait took 3/21.

Sharma went to his fifty in 33 balls with four sixes and two fours after Suresh Raina, who struck 101 against South Africa last time out, falling to fast bowler Shaun Tait for five.

Warner faced just 41 balls and struck seven of the innings’s 16 sixes. Given such a start, India did well to restrict Australia to under 200.

Australia’s openers were especially severe on left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, whose two overs went for 38. Jadeja conceded six consecutive sixes, split across those two overs, with both Watson and Warner striking three in a row.

Watson, as in his 81 against Pakistan this tournament, was given an early reprieve when dropped on seven, a difficult chance, by a diving Jadeja at square leg following a miscued sweep against off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Watson, normally content to play second fiddle to Warner early on, inflicted the early damage.

He clouted Jadeja’s fourth ball for six, pulled the fifth high over midwicket and sent the sixth soaring over deep backward square.

Jadeja returned for the tenth over and saw Warner flat-bat his first ball back for six over long-on.

The second ball, tossed up, was sent soaring into the gap between mid-wicket and long-on, with the third driven straighter.

Jadeja’s miserable day continued with the bat when he was run out for four.

But he was not alone in suffering with the ball, with recalled left-arm quick Zaheer Khan’s four overs costing 45 runs.

Watson went to his fifty with a six off a Yusuf Pathan long-hop before he was bowled next ball to end a 32-ball innings featuring six sixes and a solitary four.

Off-spinner Harbhajan bowled a maiden in the first over of the match, a remarkable achievement in view of what followed, and conceded just 15 runs.

Scoreboard

australia
Watson b Pathan 54 (32b, 1x4, 6x6), Warner c Dhoni b Yuvraj 72 (42b, 2x4, 7x6), David Hussey c Vijay b Nehra 35 (22b, 3x4, 2x6), Haddin st Dhoni b Yuvraj 8 (7b, 1x6), White not out 5 (6b), Michael Hussey b Nehra 8 (10b), Smith not out 1 (1b)
Extras (w 1) 1
Total (in 20 overs) 184/5
FoW: 1-104, 2-142, 3-166, 4-172, 5-183
Bowling: Harbhajan Singh 4-1-15-0, Nehra 4-0-31-2, Jadeja 2-0-38-0, Zaheer Khan 4-0-45-0 (1w),
Yusuf Pathan 4-0-35-1, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-20-2

india
Vijay c White b Nannes 2 (7b), Gambhir c Michael Hussey b Nannes 9 (10b, 2x4), Raina c Clarke b Tait 5 (5b, 1x4), Rohit Sharma not out 79 (46b, 4x4, 6x6), Yuvraj b Nannes 1 (2b), Dhoni c David Hussey b Smith 2 (8b), Yusuf Pathan c Warner b Johnson 1 (5b), Jadeja run out 4 (5b), Harbhajan c David Hussey b Watson 13 (11b, 1x4, 1x6), Zaheer Khan c Clarke b Tait 9 (6b, 1x6), Nehra b Tait 0 (1b)
Extras (lb 1, w 9) 10
Total (in 17.4 overs) 135
FoW: 1-10, 2-12, 3-17, 4-23, 5-37, 6-42, 7-50, 8-97, 9-133
Bowling: Nannes 4-0-25-3, Tait 3.4-0-21-3 (3w), Watson 3-0-31-1 (1w), Johnson 3-0-23-1 (3w), Smith 4-0-34-1 (1w)

Facts ‘n’ figures

* David Warner became the first batsman to hit seven sixes in an innings in Twenty20 twice.

* The Australian opener achieved this feat in his 72-run Super Eights knock against India at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados, on Friday.

* He also hit the same number of sixes during his 67-run innings against the West Indies in Sydney on February 23, 2010.

* Warner and Shane Watson equalled the Australian record of the highest-ever stand in T20 cricket as well as in T20 Worlds by adding 104 for the first wicket. Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden also put on 104 runs for the opening wicket against Bangladesh at Cape Town on September 16, 2007.

Warner runs riot as Oz rout Mahi’s men

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