The Cricket blog

Rain saves India..

The same rain which saw india go down after scoring 309 against the west indies today saved india's face with 2 vital points in the leauge table even when india were placed at 35/5 chasing a runrate of around 5. The much awaited encounter with Australia after a considerable gap promised much for the fans of the game on both sides. Aus got off to a rollicking start after the newly promoted watson fired on all cylinders to take the aussies to a comfortable 60 odd runs within the first 10 overs. Michael clarke supported watson well with a confident 64 and it looked like aussies were set for a near 300 score again at the Kinrara Oval. But sehwag and bhaji had different plans. The duo pegged back the aussie run slaught and kept the runrate in check by taking regular wickets. In the end aus ended with 245 on the board in 50 overs, very much competitive and chase-able. what followed next was rain and a superb spell of bowling from mitchell johnson who took advantage of the perfect bowling conditions and found rythm and confidence taking 4 wickets in 4 overs to reduce the India team to 35-5. Earlier Glenn mcgrath troubled the indian openers with his familar accuracy and length until dravid holed out johnson to martyn when the score was 20. What followed them was mahyem by johnson who got pathan, tendulkar and yuvraj all in the space was 2 overs. Yes the wicket helped him, there was moisture but credit goes to johnson for bowling with pace in the right areas. India must have been relieved to get their first 2 points of the tournament, but it remains to be seen how they recuperate this wagging position in the leauge table. It will take a team effort to come on top of the tournament as the next week will testify. Until then fingers crossed.