The biggest match so far in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is right upon us. Old foes India and Australia renew their famous rivalry in the second quarter-final at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The Kangaroos and the Men in Blue are currently ranked number one and two respectively in the ODI rankings. But their performances so far in ICC CWC 2011 have not justified their status. While the Aussies have been a bit jittery against quality spin bowling in this tournament, Team India has been badly exposed with their sub-standard fielding and late-order batting collapses.
Repeatedly in this tournament, Indian fielders have been quite shoddy in crunch situations. While the fielding automatically goes up a notch or two when things are going well for the team, it suffers big time when put under pressure.
Skipper MS Dhoni has been honest enough to admit that fielding is not the strongest area for an ‘old Indian team’. Expect the physically-fit Australians to make optimum use of this weak point.
Any match featuring Team India from here on in this tournament assumes extra significance because of one individual. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, with his two tons against England and South Africa in ICC CWC 2011, is now sitting on 99 international hundreds. A century on Thursday will be a fitting way to bring up the incredible landmark of 100 international hundreds against a team that he has tormented the most in his two-decade-old career.
In 67 ODIs against the Oz, Sachin has scored 3005 runs at an average of 46.23. This tally includes nine hundreds and 14 fifties. Thus from these statistics, one can make out that one in every three innings against Australia, the legend has scored 50 or more runs. Enough reasons to give sufficient headaches to Ricky Ponting and company.
On the other hand, the Aussies despite their obvious weakness against the slower bowlers, have some things going their way at the moment. The form of pace-troika Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson has been good. Lee, in particular, has been exceptional, taking 12 wickets in six games with eight of them coming in the last couple of encounters against Canada and Pakistan. His spell of 4/28 againt the men in green on a sluggish pitch in Colombo last Saturday was a display of high quality pace bowling. The raw pace and reverse swing of Tait remains a perennial threat for opponents on sub-continental tracks.
Ponting will be keen to prove a point or two to his detractors who have been calling for his head. Punter has had a lot of negative publicity in this tournament. He damaged a TV set in the dressing room here to vent out his anger after being dismissed run-out against Zimbabwe. Later, he publicly showed his anger on Steven Smith after colliding with him while taking a catch in Bengaluru against Canada. Last Saturday, he refused to walk despite getting a thick edge to the wicketkeeper against Pakistan. An innings like the one he played against Team India in the final of ICC World Cup 2003 at Johannesburg will be a perfect answer to his critics.
Australia have a 7-2 record in their favour in ICC Cricket World Cup ties against India. The last time the Aussies lost a tie against the Indians in the mega-event was way back in 1987. Dhoni and company will be keen to correct this record and send their opponents hurtling back home on Thursday.
If history is anything to go by, then India should be happy to face Australia at this stage of the tournament. The ICC Knockout Trophy (as it was known then) in 1998 and 2000 saw Team India overcoming the Aussies in Dhaka and Nairobi respectively in the quarter-finals. Will we see an encore in Ahmedabad? Watch this space for more details.
ndia vs Australia in ODIs/World Cup
World Cup
India had defeated Australia by 118 runs at Chelmsford on June 20, 1983 and by 56 runs at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on October 22,1987. By 1987, both the countries have won two games each.
Australia have won their last five World Cup games against India - one each in 1992, 1996, 1999 and two in 2003.
Australia enjoy a success % of 77.77 as they have won seven out of nine contested - success % 77.77. India's winning % is just 22.22.
ODIs
India's winning % against Australia is just 36.45 in ODIs - 35 wins against 61 losses (eight no-result games). Australia's success % is quite healty - 63.54.
ODIs in 2011
Australia's winning % is 83.33, having won 10 and lost 2 out of 13 played (NR 1).
India have won 6 and lost 4 out of eleven contested - winning % 59.09. (Tied 1)
Overall World Cup
Australia have won 55 and lost 18 out of 75 played (NR 1 & Tied 1) - winning % 75.00.
India have won 36 and lost 26 out of 64 contested (Tied 1 & NR 1) - success % 57.93.
Approaching milestones
- Sachin Tendulkar (99) is all set to become the first batsman to register one hundred international centuries.
- Brad Haddin (279 runs + 12 dismissals) needs 21 runs to complete the double of 300 runs and ten dismissals.
- Zaheer (15) may become the first Indian bowler to capture 20 wickets in a world cup competition. In the 2003-03 competiton, he had captured 18 wickets at 20.77 runs apiece, equalling Roger Binny's feat of 18 at18.66 runs apiece in eight games in 1983
- Sachin Tendulkar (6 centuries + 13 fifties) requires just one fifty to post 20 innings of 50-plus at the World Cup.
- Ricky Ponting, in case of a hundred, would be the first to register four centuries as captain at the World Cup. At present, he shares the record with Sourav Ganguly. Both have three centuries each to their credit as captain at the World Cup.
- In case of a hundred, Sachin would be the first batsman in the history of ODIs to register ten centuries against Australia. With nine hundreds, he already holds a record for most centuries against an opponent.
- Sachin (17955) requires just 45 runs to become the first batsman to complete 18,000 runs in ODIs.
- Yuvraj Singh(284 runs + 9 wickets) is all set to become the second Indian all-rounder to complete 300 runs and capture ten wickets in a world cup competition. Kapil Dev is the only Indian all-rounder to accomplish the double, having performed the feat in the 1983 World Cup - 303 runs + 12 wickets in eight matches.
- Yuvraj (7973) requires 27 runs to complete his 8000 runs in ODIs.
- Mahendra Singh Dhoni (5926) requires 74 runs to complete 6000 runs in ODIs.
- Gautam Gambhir (3899) requires 101 runs to complete 4,000 runs in ODIs.
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