Men in blue outclassed by the kangaroos

Indian supporters were coerced to a nightmare on Friday when Australia thrashed India by 49 runs in an eye opener . Rohit Sharma’s blistering unbeaten half century went in vain as the 2007 champions were inflicted upon a humiliating defeat. Just as the hopes of Indian fans were escalating , the loss has provided a major setback while raising doubts over team India’s abilities to outstand the battle.

Barring the toss , that M.S. Dhoni won and opted to field, nothing went right for India and the Aussies , under the effective leadership of Michael Clarke , made a statement that they were determined to win the only major trophy missing from their cupboard.

Put into bat , the Aussies rode on the blasting 104 run stand provided by the openers David Warner (72) and Shane Watson (54) in about 10 odd overs , to set a commanding target of 185 for their Indian adversaries even though they looked good for the 200 run mark at one stage. Shane Watson hammered the Indian attack with six sixes in his 32 ball 54 while David Warner tantamount to Watson struck seven sixes in his 42 ball 72.

The misery of India’s chase started in the third over when Murali Vijay went back to pavilion due to a wrong shot selection.

He was soon followed by the top guns Gautam Gambhir , Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh. The match soon became one sided when India were struggling at 37-5. Rohit Sharma waged a grim battle with an unbeaten 78 of 45 balls scoring nearly 60 percent of team’s total with the help of four fours and six sixes but the single handed effort was not enough to avoid the inevitable defeat. Apart from Rohit Sharma(78*) and Harbhajan Singh (13) , none other Indian player was able to score in double digits. With all the top Indian batsmen falling like a pack of cards , India was staring at defeat and were eased out of their agony as the Aussies fired on all the cylinders to complete the kill in the 18^th over. Rohit Sharma waged a valiant battle but the war had already been long won by the green and gold clad Aussie legion.

With a dented net run rate India now face the host – West Indies in their second super eight match on Sunday morning. West Indies were slaughtered to defeat by Sri Lanka with a margin of 57 runs on the same day when India took the beating from Aussies. It will be a do or die situation for both the teams as both have to win their remaining matches to keep the semi final hopes alive . The match will be played on the same yardstick at the Kensington Oval and its really the time when Dhoni is expected to make out a more logical strategy and a scientifically framed team composition rather than going by his instincts to play more spinners who have let him down in last two matches. With the chances of net run rate factor coming into the play , it would be a mammoth task for India to recover the run rate damage while in parallel they have to also ensure that they register a win against the hosts to be in the competition. With west indies trying their maximum out , it will be a tough game for the Indians and would test their battle skills to the maximum. With the Indian bowling attack not looking in touch it would be a huge responsibility on the batsmen to drive India home.