India's Yuvraj Singh leaves ground after his dismissal during the third ODI against Australia at PCA stadium in Mohali.
MOHALI: Before the start of the third one-dayer here Shikhar Dhawan had exuded confidence about Team India's preparedness over short-pitched stuff. He had said, "Their bowlers bowl with a lot of pace and bounce, but we have our plans in place. We have practiced and the boys do play a lot of pull shots. They (the Australians) are bound to change their plans now."
The Aussies didn't change their strategy and stuck to their guns in Mohali, exposing the frailties of the Indian top-order against accurate and sustained chin music. Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja all fell to deliveries which were above their shoulders and bowled at a speed in excess of 140 kmph.
Mitchell Johnson dished out thunderbolts at the three left-handers — Raina, Yuvraj and Jadeja — and the trio came out a cropper on a pitch that had pace and bounce in it. Even Rohit Sharma, who is a good player of the bouncing ball, couldn't control his attempted pull shot off Shane Watson, only managing to give a skier to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
Raina, after scratching around for a while, with some inside and outside edges going his way, tamely gave away his wicket to a short one from Johnson that was just outside his off-stump. Local boy Yuvraj lasted just one ball, poking his bat at a rising delivery.
Jadeja got a lifter around his rib cage from Johnson, which was too hot to handle for the all-rounder of this Indian team. At the top, only Virat Kohli looked to be at ease clearly showing the gaping difference of quality between him and the rest.
Mohali pitch curator Daljit Singh had predicted an even contest between bat and the ball before the start of the match indicating that the fast bowlers will have a say in the match.
"This game should give both batsmen and the bowlers an equal opportunity to prove themselves. If I prepare a flat deck like the first two matches (in Pune and Jaipur) then there will be no contest. The grass on the pitch will test the batsmen and only the quality ones will score big," he had said. Even the Indian pacers initially did well before James Faulkner's massive assault on Ishant Sharma that won Australia the game.
With the 2015 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia and New Zealand where pace and bounce is a common factor across venues the Indian top-order needs a stabilizing force who can understand the complicated notes of chin music
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