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Cardiff: Deadly bowling by Indian pacers Umesh Yadav (5/18) and Ishant Sharma (3/11) guided India to a crushing 243-run victory against Australia in warm-up tie.
That seemed to be the case with Australia and India in their final warm-up here in England ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy beginning June 6. Australia may have been slightly messed up for restricting India to 55-5 and then allowing them to post 308. India, in contrast, simply steamrolled the Aussie batsmen as the pacers announced their presence.
In a shocking collapse, Australia were all out for 65 in just 23.3 overs, with the star of the day being pacer Umesh Yadav, who picked up five wickets in his first five overs for just 18 runs. Ishant Sharma followed with 3/11 off five overs as only two Australian batsmen - Phil Hughes and Adam Voges - managed to reach double figures.
Dhoni will be pleased to have some quality options in the pace department. Apart from Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar too was impressive and economical in the opening spell and Ishant Sharma — coming first change — kept the pressure on.
The batting star of the day was once again Dinesh Karthik (146 not out; 140b, 17x4), who came up with his second century in as many warm-up matches after India opted to bat first. MS Dhoni (91 off 77) offered a good supporting role as the duo went about their repair job after India were reduced to 55/5.
Karthik — who has been in really good touch ever since India's Twenty20 league this season and is scoring at will — has earned his place in the eleven. The question now is who Dhoni can drop to fit him in. Dhoni will have to bring in Karthik as a batsman-fielder alone and that may happen at the cost of either Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina, both being the captain's regular favourites.
Karthik's ton earned praise from Australia's stand-in skipper George Bailey, who may also have to captain the team in the tournament if Michael Clarke - still struggling with lower back pain - is not fit in time. "It was a nice innings and he was timing it really well. He seemed in great touch," Bailey said about Karthik's innings that helped India out of trouble.
Brief scores:
India 308 for 6 (Karthik 146*, Dhoni 91)
Australia 65 (Yadav 5-18, Ishant 3-11)
Result India won by 243 runs
