World T20 as it happened: Aussies beat India by nine wickets

Australia  141-1 after 14.5 overs Warner 63*, Maxwell 4* Australia have managed to win this by nine wickets with more than five overs remaining. The Indian dugout looks distraught and rightfully so– this performance was not expected after their 90-run win over England in the group stages. Aussies absolutely dominated from the off and fully deserve this cracking win. WICKET! Australia  133-1 after 13.3 overs Shane Watson c sub (MK Tiwary) b Yuvraj Singh 72 (42b, 2x4, 7x6) Pity that Watson couldn’t stay on till the end. He’s hit Yuvraj off the back foot and straight to short-cover. What an innings though… simply phenomenal. Australia  124-0 after 13 overs Warner 50, Watson 72 The boundaries have gone down but Australia hardly need them anymore. Watson continues with his plundering though, sending a six sailing over the bowler before finding the gap on the on-side with a pull-shot. Australia  100-0 after 10 overs Warner 45, Watson 53 My word, Watson has suddenly exploded. Irfan Pathan has nowhere to look as he thumps him for two sixes and a four, taking 19 runs from his over. Australia are scoring at a run-rate of 10.00 per over. Australia  81-0 after 9 overs Warner 45, Watson 34 It was really raining earlier, but it’s now time to pull the old cliche out of the bag and say it’s raining sixes. First Chawla gets sent to the laundry by Watson, after which Harbhajan is left speechless with the treatment Warner gave him. Four sixes in the last 12 balls— two for each. [caption id=“attachment_473028” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Watson was on fire for Australia. AP[/caption] Australia  53-0 after 7 overs Warner 31, Watson 20 Zaheer gets hammered by Warner. The left-hander is absolute mint on the off-side and finds the gaps with ease. He then shows his quality on the on-side, pulling away Harbhajan for four more. Aussies cruising. Australia  38-0 after 5 overs Warner 17, Watson 19 Now it’s time for Watson to start talking— with the bat. He pulls away Ashwin for two sixes as the bowler struggles with the damp ball. Time for Harbhajan to be introduced? Australia  22-0 after 4 overs Warner 16, Watson 5 Warner makes room and swats one past point for four. The Aussies are taking this one easy and Virat Kohli clearly unhappy with something Watson did. The Delhi-boy goes and has a word with him before the umpire cuts out the tirade. Australia  17-0 after 3 overs Warner 11, Watson 5 Another tight over– this time from Ashwin. Warner looks a bit impatient with no room to free his arms. Watson is in no hurry. Australia know that keeping their wickets is key to this chase. Australia  13-0 after 2 overs Warner 8, Watson 4 Zaheer getting some movement off the seam— away from Warner who almost nudges it into Dhoni’s gloves. Good start from the pacer who gives away just four runs in his 1st over. Australia  9-0 after 1 over Warner 8, Watson 1 Two fours from Watson gives Australia a fairly good start. But more exciting was seeing the covers come on in a jiffy and go off equally quickly as the rain threatened for three minutes before subsiding. AUSTRALIA COME OUT TO BAT India 140-7 after 20 overs Ashwin 16*, Harbhajan 1* 11 runs from the last over take India to 140-runs from the last over. Pat Cummins says ‘we all bowled well’ and certainly so. But the Pakistanis found it hard to chase down a low total and India will certainly not take this match as lost. WICKET! India 137-7 after 19.3 overs Suresh Raina c Maxwell b b Watson 26 (19b 4x4 0x6) Raina heaves four between deep mid-wicket and long-on before working the gap at fine-leg for four more. He then tries to send one ovre long-off but is taken. India 124-6 after 18 overs Ashwin 13, Raina 16 The last two overs have at least seen India power forward a bit. More like lurch forward, but Ashwin and Raina are trying. Ashwin has pulled a bouncer away for six after he collected four from a solid square-cut. WICKET! India 104-6 after 16 overs MS Dhoni c Bailey b Cummins 15 (21b, 2x4, 0x6) Loose ball outside off-stump and Dhoni wants to beat it away past the fielder, but hits it straight to Bailey at short-cover instead. India’s batting line-up is fading… and fast. India 101-5 after 15 overs Dhoni 13, Raina 8 Dhoni and Raina patiently prod and poke as they look to get this Indian innings back on track. Dhoni has pulled one for four before the Aussies miss-field and let a Raina shot through for another boundary. Only five overs to go now. India 85-5 after 13 overs Dhoni 8, Raina 2 Dhoni’s thick-edged boundary gives the Indian fans a chance to cheer. It’s been a quite time for them otherwise, and a lot of covering their mouths in shock of seeing so many wickets fall in a short time. [caption id=“attachment_472957” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Aussies celebrate as India’s middle-order goes crashing. AP[/caption] WICKETS! India 74-5 after 11 overs Irfan Pathan c White b Watson 31 (30b, 2x4, 1x6) Rohit Sharma b Starc 1 (2b, 0x4, 0x6) This is incredible! India have lost all their stalwarts. Irfan and Rohit lose their wickets on consecutive deliveries. First Watson sends Irfan packing and then Starc cleans up Rohit Sharma’s stumps with a beauty of a delivery. WICKET! India 70-3 after 10.1 overs Yuvraj Singh c Maxwell b Watson 8 (10b, 1x4, 0x6) Aw and now Yuvraj is walking back to the pavilion. The short ball is troubling India and his top edge has flown to Maxwell at deep mid-wicket. WICKET! India 56-2 after 7.2 overs Virat Kohli c Christian b Cummins 15 (13b, 2x4, 0x6) Kohli tries to go for a big shot but the ball is short of length and surprises him. He can’t quite middle it and Christian has done well to complete his running catch. Danger-man gone! India 56-1 after 7 overs Pathan 26, Kohli 15 Hogg has been brought in to slow down India’ run-flow, but India have still managed a boundary in every over. Irfan Pathan particularly aggressive at the moment. India 42-1 after 5 overs Pathan 15, Kohli 8 Pathan looks in fine nick. He’s slammed a six over the bowler’s head before splitting the offside field as Watson gives him some room. Virat Kohli’s started his innings with a boundary past third-man— though that is hardly surprising. WICKET! India 21-1 after 3 overs Gautam Gambhir run out Cummins 17 (12b, 3x4, 0x6) Oh and that’s why cricketers practice football so regularly! Cummins is onto a lose ball as the batsmen try for a quick run and he kicks the ball onto the stumps. Gambhir is just short. Unlucky, but that’s how it works at times. India 15-0 after 2 overs Gambhir 12, Irfan 1 Gambhir takes advantage of a loose delivery outside off-stump and has beautifully timed it past point. More of those please. India 8-0 after 1 over Gambhir 7, Irfan 0 As soon as Gambhir cuts away the first ball, he thinks he has got four runs from it. But the ball slows down in the outfield and Irfan, who was adjusting his abdominal guard while strolling down the pitch is suddenly pulled into the action for a quick double. Maxwell opened the bowling for Australia. India team: Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan Australia team: David Warner, Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, Cameron White, George Bailey, Glen Maxwell, Mathew Wade, Damien Christian, Bradd Hogg, Pat Cummins, Mitchel Starc Well, all three spinners were seen warming up— and they will all play against Australia. MS Dhoni certainly had a huge selection dilemma on his hands and has left out Virender Sehwag from the playing XI. Watch veteran sports write Ayaz Memon’s views here , where he said that he wouldn’t play Virender Sehwag too in today’s match. He also previews the game here , saying that India will go in the more confident side in this Super Eight clash. Our Sports Editor Ashish Magotra is in Colombo and writes that it may be better if Virender Sehwag concentrates on Tests now .