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India clinched a shock win of 38 runs against Australia in the Warm-Up match at Bengaluru today. This was despite India putting up a below par total of 214. However, the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium turned out to be a spinning track and the Aussies panicked to get bowled out for 176.
The hosts had won the toss and elected to bat first and were put on the backfoot by the Australian pacers. Virender Sehwag provided hopes of a solid total but got out in the 23rd over after a 56-ball 54 which contained 8 fours and a six. India slipped to a poor 113 for 5 at the time of his dismissal. But somehow they managed to finish with 214 before getting bowled out in the 45th over. Useful contributions came in from Yusuf Pathan (32 from 38 balls with 2 sixes), R Ashwin (25 from 47 balls) and last man Ashish Nehra (19 from 24 balls).
For the Aussies, the big positive was Brett Lee who took 3 for 35 in his 10 overs while John Hastings and David Hussey took two wickets each. In the run chase, Australia were cruising along until Shane Watson (33 from 26 balls with 7 fours) smashed Sreesanth straight into the hands of Chawla at mid off in the 8th over. The other opener Tim Paine scored a slow 37 from 57 balls and got removed by Yuvraj in the 22nd over. After this, the Aussies had a middle order collapse to slip to 148 for 6 with leg spinner Piyush Chawla taking four wickets.
There was only one man standing between an Indian win and an Indian defeat and that was Ricky Ponting who got past a half century. But the Australian Skipper was stumped by his counterpart MS Dhoni in the 35th over off Harbhajan Singh to open the door for an Indian victory. Australia at this stage were 166 for 7 and got cleaned up for 176 in 37.5 overs with Harbhajan Singh capturing three wickets and Ashwin removing last man Brett Lee. The victory was set up by leggie Piyush Chawla who had dream figures of 4 for 31 in 9 overs. Skipper MS Dhoni played his part behind the woodwork with three stumpings.