Sunday, March 24, 2013

India completes Australia whitewash

Shane Watson said Australia would take some hard lessons from its tour of the subcontinent after India completed a clinical 4-0 sweep with a six-wicket win on Sunday.
Cheteshwar Pujara wasted no time as he ruthlessly batted India to victory inside three days in Delhi after Australia was bowled out for 164 in its second innings during the middle session.
The hosts were left needing a supremely achievable 155 to win and they reached that after barely raising a sweat as the tourists' bowling attack again offered little resistance.
Watson was given the reins in the absence of Michael Clarke, who returned to Australia to treat a back injury and missed the fourth Test.
The Queensland-born all-rounder, who scored 17 and 5 for the match after being dropped for the third Test and returning home for the birth of his first child, said the series was educational if nothing else.
"This is really as foreign as you get to playing cricket for an Australian cricket team," he said at the post-match presentation.
"It's been a great learning curve for all of us. Everyone has got a hell of a lot out of this tour."
Indian skipper MS Dhoni belted the winning runs to the mid-wicket boundary off Nathan Lyon, Australia's best bowler by far with match figures of 9 for 165, but it was Pujara who set it up.
Dhoni finished on 12 from 14 deliveries but Pujara piled on an unbeaten 82 from 92, smashing 12 off one Mitchell Johnson over as he chased down Australia's total in imperious fashion.
Australia will have plenty of questions to answer after a dismal series in which it won the toss in every outing but failed to salvage even a draw on the subcontinent.
It has been 43 years since the Australians have lost a series 4-0, the last time in 1970 when Bill Lawry's side lost in South Africa.
"It was a hard-fought Test ... we gave it everything we had," Watson said.
"We were up for it, but unfortunately things did not go according to plan with the ball in the second innings.
"We always thought 150-200 on that wicket ... was going to be enough. We just did not bowl as we wanted.
"Pujara batted very nicely to take it away from us."
Spinner Ravindra Jadeja was named man of the match for his haul of 7 for 98, while partner-in-crime Ravichandran Ashwin won man-of-the-series honours.
Lyon had 2 for 71 in the second innings while Glenn Maxwell, who became the first Australian cricketer in 84 years to open the batting and bowling in a Test, took 2 for 54.

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