Umesh Yadav (five for 18) bowled with pace and purpose to demolish the Australian top-order as India registered a thumping 243-run win over Australia in its second Champions Trophy warm-up match here on Tuesday.
Chasing a massive 308 for six, the reigning Champions Trophy champion was skittled out for a paltry 65.
Earlier, Dinesh Karthik smashed an unbeaten 146 and added 211 runs for the sixth wicket with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91) as India recovered from a precarious position. India scored exactly 100 runs in its last 10 overs as Australia failed to turn on the screws after polishing off five top Indian wickets for only 55 runs at the Swalec Stadium.
Like India's first warm-up game, the lower middle-order batsmen saved the blushes with both Karthik and Dhoni magnificently pacing their innings on a track that had plenty for the batsmen. Their stand came off 191 balls.
Karthik faced 140 balls and hit 17 fours and a six while Dhoni took 77 balls for his knock, laced with 10 boundaries, including four sixes.
The quality of the Australian attack was always going to be a challenge and India’s top batsmen failed to take the fight into the enemy camp after Dhoni opted to bat.
India’s path to recovery was left to Karthik and Dhoni.
The skipper took the initiative to look the Aussies in the eye, slamming Shane Watson for a six and hurting Mitchell Marsh’s right shoulder with a full-blooded drive.
The duo prospered even as stand-in skipper George Bailey kept rotating his six fast bowlers. The 50 of the Dhoni-Karthik partnership came off 62 balls, the skipper clearly the aggressor with a breezy 30.
India used its batting power-play well, scoring 38 runs in five overs (34th to 39th). During this phase, Karthik completed his 50, the knock coming off 81 balls and laced with five boundaries.
The skipper was not to be left behind as Dhoni raced to his 50 off 58 balls. It was studded with three fours and two sixes.
The Dhoni-Karthik stand swelled to 150 off just 154 balls.
The 200 partnership came off just 182 balls as Karthik and Dhoni demonstrated an array of strokes, including the captain’s trademark helicopter shot, around the park much to the delight of about 1000-odd fans.
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