India were brought down to earth after the euphoria of the T20 WC triumph by a determined Australia who thrashed the hosts by 84 runs in the second ODI.
KOCHI: Lady luck smiled on Kochi but not on the Indian team on Tuesday. After a day of heavy downpour, the sun finally showed up allowing a day of complete cricket.
But an 84-run defeat against Australia dampened the spirits of the 75,000 odd spectators, who had gathered to witness a recap of the winning moments after India beat the Aussies in their Twenty20 semifinal.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s can-do approach fell apart as the team woke up to a rude shock that Twenty20 and 50-50 are two different ball games and that the longer version needed much more discipline and professionalism than what they have shown.
Dhoni may have been in a dilemma — to field or to bat - and losing the toss would not have been bothering. A wicket with patches of dampness was not a perfect deck to bat on, but his policy has been to defend rather than chase. He chose to field. Though the intent was correct the implementation went awry. The bowlers, rather than the captain, could be faulted.
The strip was better suited for spin and in the afternoon, Australian spinners, Bradd Hogg (3 for 40) and Michael Clarke (2 for 35), extracted turn and shared five wickets between them.
Having included two spinners - Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar - the Indian attack would have been more effective in the afternoon, than in the morning. Neither of the spinners managed to get a wicket.
The pace attack also looked blunt after the initial foray into the Australian batting. The conditions did not warrant a 307. Poor bowling coupled with a valiant effort from the batsmen helped the Aussies build the formidable total.
And the architects of the comprehensive Australian victory were not the spinners but the batsmen - Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds and Brad Haddin. Among them, they scored 239 of 306 balls.
The Indian batting, on the other hand, lacked the thrust it needed to chase down a big total in testing conditions. After initial setbacks — Gautam Gambhir (7) and Sachin Tendulkar (16) - the team needed someone to anchor the innings.
But the middle order collapsed with Yuvraj Singh departing quickly and Robin Uthappa (41), failing to capitalize on a good start. There were no good partnerships in between.
From 4-87, it seemed a daunting task for Dhoni and his team to pull off a spectacular victory. Dhoni (58) himself batted with patience, but the situation entailed adventure rather than circumspection. Former captain Rahul Dravid tried his bit with a well-made 31, but it was too little if not too late.
The rest of the batsmen, Irfan Pathan (1), Harbhajan Singh (4) and Ramesh Powar (17) were not up to the task. In the end, India failed to last the 50 overs, having been bowled out for 222 in the 47.3 overs.
Unlike Indian batsmen, the Aussies were calculated in their aggression. Hayden (75) hit the bowlers with aplomb while Symonds (87) cut loose after initial restraint.
But the star of the Aussie batting was Haddin, who blasted away to an enterprising 87 not out, with eight fours and three sixes. The team’s second wicket-keeper, playing as a specialist batsman in place of Ricky Ponting, must have given the selectors some food for thought with his second half century in as many matches.
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