Sydney, Mar 26:
India’s superb run in the World Cup came to an inglorious end when they surrendered meekly to Australia, losing by 95 runs in the semifinals here today with neither bowling nor batting clicking when it mattered the most.
The tame surrender of the defending champions before the crowd of 45,000, many of whom had travelled all the way from India, came as an anti-climax to the team’s outstanding performance which had seen them win seven consecutive matches in the tournament. Australia will now meet New Zealand in the final in Melbourne on Sunday.
The four-time champions rode on Steve Smith’s classy 105 to post an imposing 328/7 before bundling out India for 233 in 46.5 overs.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (65, 65 balls) stood tall amid a disappointing batting show as he waged a lone battle to take India past the 200-run mark and make a match of it despite the steep asking rate. At the top, Shikhar Dhawan was another notable performer with 45-run knock.
The Indians had themselves to blame for the loss as the bowling unit, which had performed admirably till now, failed to deliver when it mattered the most while the batting also crumbled under pressure.
The jubilant Aussies broke into wild celebrations after Mitchell Starc castled Umesh Yadav (0) to dismiss the last Indian batsman in the 47th over. Home captain Michael Clarke was composed though as he shook hands with the Indians and acknowledged the Aussie supporters, who had interestingly been outnumbered by Indian fans today.
Set a record run chase, the first 300-plus score in a World Cup semifinal, the Indians started off with a flourish with Dhawan and Rohit Sharma (34, 48 balls) adding 76 runs for the first wicket in 12.5 overs.
But Dhawan’s dismissal proved crucial as the runs dried up in the face of a determined effort by a fired up Australian pace battery.
Mitchell Johnson (2/50), Mitchell Starc (2/28) and Josh Hazlewood (1/41) put the fancied Indian line-up under immense pressure as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals.
Despite today’s heartbreak, India put up a commendable effort in defending the title after a horror tour of Australia prior to the mega-event after which not many experts of the game had given the team a chance.
In a tough chase, Dhoni scored 65, providing brief entertainment but the match as a contest was well and truly over by then. An inspirational run-out from Glenn Maxwell ended his innings as Indian fans slowly trooped out of the SCG.(PTI)
Once the opening stand of 76 was broken by Hazlewood, removing in-form Dhawan, the home team seized the control not letting their foot off the pedal as ‘Men In Blue’ never looked like being in the contest. Starc, Johnson and James Faulkner (3/59) all played their part to perfection.
It was one such day, when everything fell apart for India. They conceded the highest total by any team against them in this edition of the mega-event as well as the first ever 300 plus score in a knock-out match.
This was also the only time that Indian bowlers failed to take all 10 wickets of the opposition team and the defeat snapped Dhoni and Co’s impressive winning run of 11 matches across two editions. And worst, they were all out for the first time also.
The second semi-final turned out to be complete contrast to the thriller that happened in Auckland, couple of days back.
Virat Kohli scored a single in the first 12 balls and the 13th one turned out to be a disaster as he failed to gauge the extra bounce off a Johnson delivery going for a pull which only ballooned in the air for Brad Haddin to complete a simple catch.(PTI)
Rohit Sharma (34), who was getting into the groove, got one that was a few notches higher in speed than he thought it would be. Before he could bring his bat down properly, it cannoned into the stumps.
Suresh Raina (7) got one to rise off length as he fished it to Haddin behind stumps.
Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane (44) added 70 runs delaying the inevitable before Smith’s smart thinking saw the end of Rahane. It was a delivery from Starc that pitched on length and moved a shade as the batsman apparently played and missed.
The bowler was going back to his run-up when Smith ran towards skipper Michael Clarke and insisted that he ask for DRS as he felt Rahane had nicked the ball. The snickometer showed that Smith was vindicated as it became 178 for five.
There was no hope after that and as one wicket fell after another as Aussie fans had the ‘Goodbye’ song from ‘Remember the Titans’ on their lips. The SCG that looked like a Sea of Blue turned into sunflower like yellow at the end of it all.(PTI)
Earlier Smith sent the Indian pacers on a leather hunt with a classy century as Australia scored a commanding 328 for seven after opting to bat first.
Smith batted like a man possessed as the Indian attack looked pedestrian for the first time in front of the local boy whose 105 came off only 93 balls with 11 boundaries and two sixes.
Aaron Finch, who played the role of sheet anchor to perfection with a patient 81 off 111 balls that had seven fours and a six, added 182 off 31 overs for the second wicket with Smith.
Mitchell Johnson played a superb little cameo scoring 27 off 9 balls (4×4, 1×6) that helped the hosts cross the 320-run mark.
It was the first time that Indian pace attack was put to sword as the trio of Umesh Yadav (4/72 in 9 overs), Mohammed Shami (0/68 in 10 overs) and Mohit Sharma (2/75) were hammered into submission due to some poor planning as well execution.
However, it was R Ashwin, who walked away with the honours with fantastic figures of 1/42, which included the prized scalp of dangerous looking Glenn Maxwell (23, 14 balls) with a well thought out trap.
It was because of Ashwin that India could stop Australia from racing away to a total in the range of 350 which looked possible when Maxwell started tonking the seamers.
The Australian innings was all about Smith’s approach and the manner in which he tackled the Indian bowling which has been a dominant force throughout the tournament.
So simple yet effective was Smith’s approach at the crease that it never seemed he was scoring at a rate of more than run-a-ball yet he did it with elan. The 100 came off 89 balls.
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