India Drown Under
Wham, wham, wham, wham…….no am not describing any Phantom or a Batman movie, but Australia’s opening Bat Man David Warner. On a day when India’s old bats struggled, bided time, left deliveries outside the corridor of uncertainty, and shamelessly perished, Warner gave a lesson on authoritative batsmanship.
His innings of 104 came in just 80 balls, more importantly it contained 13 hits to the fence and 3 sweetly times ones sailing past the ropes. The southpaw sizzled in what was according to the statisticians, the joint fourth-fastest century in Tests, and put Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men completely out of the contest on the very first day of the third Test at the WACA Ground in Perth on Friday.
Such was Warner’s onslaught that out of Australia’s total of 149 without loss, the left-hander was sitting pretty on 104, while his partner-in-crime Ed Cowan was unconquered on 40. One thing which would be most demoralising for India was the pace with which the Australian openers hit them and within the space of the first 17 overs, Warner had crossed the 80-run mark in his individual capacity.
Another damning statistic was the scoreline at the end of the first 20 overs. While India had managed about 50-odd for the loss of 2 wickets, their counterparts were sitting pretty at 146 sans any loss. There was intent from the Australians when they came onto bat after guzzling the Indian innings for a paltry total of 161. Once again the shot selection was poor, the footwork missing and the same mistakes being made in the middle.
Not one batsman looked in command of the situation. The normally swift Sachin Tendulkar had to work hard for his 15, while VVS Laxman did hang in there and just when it looked like he was going to prolong his stay, he departed. The last six wickets fell for just 30 runs tells the story of India’s journey Down Under.
I wonder how many in this Indian team will maintain their own berths after the Test at Perth.
