Yuvraj Singh returned to form to help India heap more misery on Australia, steamrollering them by 73 runs in a lop-sided Group 2 match at the ICC World Twenty20 on Sunday.
The dashing left-hander struck 60 runs off 43 balls as the 2007 champions posted 159-7, before skittling Australia for 86 in 16.2 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed four for 11 as Australia’s powerful top order imploded and only three batsmen got to double figures, before succumbing to their third successive defeat in a tournament they began as one of the favorites.
Photo: AFP
“I certainly don’t think that our batters can hold their head particularly high in terms of their shot selection, match awareness, their game sense,” Australia captain George Bailey told reporters.
“I guess this is the most disappointing game of late from this team,” said Bailey, who was “embarrassed” by his own performance in the tournament.
For Australia, Glenn Maxwell top-scored with 23, hitting three towering sixes before departing when Australia needed him most.
Photo: Reuters
Aaron Finch and David Warner failed to give them a flying start, Cameron White disappointed in his first match of the tournament, Shane Watson failed to do justice to his reputation and Bailey also flopped.
India’s spinners claimed seven of the 10 wickets, once again exposing Australia’s frailties against slow bowling.
It was a highly satisfying outing for India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose team had already qualified for the semi-finals.
India did not drop a single catch, Ajinkya Rahane and Mohit Sharma got a game, the middle order was tested and, above all, persisting with the struggling Yuvraj paid off.
The architect of India’s 20-over (2007) and 50-over (2011) World Cup triumphs, Yuvraj showed glimpses of his vintage form, hitting five fours and four sixes.
“It was a brilliant innings, the way he paced it,” said Dhoni, who shared an 84-run stand with Yuvraj. “An innings like this was needed for him, when he can be expressive. He just needed to be himself. It was an ideal opportunity. He went in, played a few deliveries and then expressed himself.”
“We all know the kind of batsman he is. He can clear any ground in the world. [It] doesn’t matter whether [it’s] a fast bowler or a spinner bowling,” Dhoni said.
“Initially he may struggle in the first five or seven deliveries. Your good luck is if you get him out, if not he will take you out of the game,” the skipper said.
ENGLAND V NETHERLANDS
Reuters
England slumped to an embarrassing 45-run defeat by the Netherlands at the ICC World Twenty20 yesterday to end a dismal few months at a new low point.
England, already eliminated from the tournament after defeats by New Zealand and South Africa, were bowled out for 88 chasing a modest 134 for victory in their final Group 1 match in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
England’s 88 was the lowest total ever posted by a full-member Test side against an associate nation in the shortest format of the game.
“It sums up our winter really. It was pretty similar to our batting displays when we lost the Ashes in Australia,” dejected England captain Stuart Broad said at the presentation ceremony. “Lack of commitment in the shots and a very disorganized chase it was. The bowling and fielding was OK, we just lacked a bit of hunger with the bat by the looks of it. No one got going, no one took responsibility and [the] Netherlands took the chance. It was a relatively simple chase, but a shocking chase in the end.”
Logan van Geek and Mudassar Bukhari took three wickets each for the Netherlands. Bukhari (three for 12) did the damage with the new ball, taking the openers out, while van Geek (three for nine) accounted for the lower middle-order as England capitulated to be all out with 14 balls to spare.
“The whole tournament I hadn’t taken any wickets and this was the game for me actually,” Bukhari said. “At the halfway stage, I thought it’s going to be hard work out there, but when we took four wickets in [the] power play, we thought we had a good chance there.”
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