Watson and Warner overpowers India

It seems whenever Shane Watson and David Warner play India, they see an opportunity to indulge in a 'six-hitting competition' among themselves. Around two years back, the deadly duo had smashed 13 sixes between them as Australia blasted India out at Barbados during a World Twenty20 clash. Warner was the 'winner' back then, hitting seven to Watson's six.


On Friday, during the World T20 Super Eights contest at the Premadasa, the two 'Ws' again made a mockery of the Indian bowling attack, carting ten sixes between them. This time, Watson had his revenge' bludgeoning seven. The result: A nine-wicket humiliation for India that puts them in a must-win situation for Sunday's game against Pakistan and Tuesday's clash against South Africa.
Since their 2007 World T20 triumph, India are yet to win a Super 8 game in World T20!
Watson got 72 (42b, 2x4, 7x6), while 'pocket dynamo' Warner hammered an unbeaten 63 (41b, 7x4, 3x6), as the opening pair added 133 in 81 balls to make a mockery of the 141-run target set by India. It didn't matter that India were playing three spinners on a wicket that looked to be aiding tweakers earlier in the day. R Ashwin, who opened the bowling, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla were all taken to the cleaners.
Irfan Pathan was smashed for such huge sixes in the only over that he bowled, that one felt sorry for him. The till yet out-of-form Zaheer Khan, ironically, was the sole bowler who looked sharp, and looked unlucky on a couple of occasions when very close LBW appeals were rejected.
If only the rain that came at the beginning of Australia's innings, and returned after the match, had timed it better, the mass culling could have been avoided!
Nevertheless, the bowling disaster was ideal in keeping with a shoddy performance overall. India were pathetic in the field, and looked out of sorts with the bat once they were presented with a liberal dose of pace and bounce by the Australian bowlers. They somehow managed to put together 140 for seven.
Skipper MS Dhoni bit the bullet finally, doing the expected by dropping an out-of-touch Virender Sehwag for the big game, but it was a bullet that came back to hit him. It was a debatable move, because it was apparent that the Indian batting did miss a class batsman like him as they succumbed to the Australian pace bowlers.
As Pat Cummins had promised, the Australian bowlers did make good use of the short ball. The Indian batsmen, though, should blame themselves for getting over-excited upon being presented with an opportunity to pull, and perishing as a result. Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh fell to that stroke.
Watson, though, took three wickets before producing that cracker of a knock. Maybe no target would have been enough.