End Of The Road

India suffered the ignominy of an early exit from the Champions Trophy aftera six-wicket thrashing at the hands of Australia who romped into the semi-finalswithout much fuss at Mohali today.

The Indians managed to score 249 for eight on a good batting strip withVirender Sehwag (65) and Rahul Dravid (52) being the top scorers but the bowlinglacked the sting to stop the awesome Australians from cantering to a facilevictory with 4.2 overs to spare in the floodlit contest.

It was a painful knock-out punch for the home team who were expected to atleast make it to the semi-finals since they were playing at home but the partywill now carry on without the hosts.

The world champions had the game in control right through with usefulcontributions coming from captain Ricky Ponting (58), Shane Watson (50) andDamien Martyn (73 not out) which helped the team to overhaul the target withmore than four overs to spare.

The victory ensured that Australia moved into the semi-finals as the championteam from Group A and will now take on New Zealand in the first semi-final hereon Nov 1.

South Africa, who emerged as the champions in Group B, will clash with theWest Indies in the second semi-final in Jaipur on November 2.

The final is scheduled to be held in Mumbai on Nov 5.

The Australians, who have never won the Champions Trophy, not only putthemselves on course for breaking the jinx but also ensured that India'sagonising sequence of flops continued to haunt them.

Required to score at five runs an over, the Australian innings got off to aflying start as the dangerous Adam Gilchrist and Shane Watson launched ablistering assault on the Indian pacemen who again were guilty of erring in lineand length.

Irfan Pathan, who has been in woeful form in recent times, was again taken tothe cleaners while the other new ball operator Munaf Patel was no lessexpensive.

A hushed silence descended in the fully-packed Mohali stadium as the twoAustralian openers quickly took the game under control with a barrage of strokesand raced to 61 in no time before the hosts had something to cheer about.

Paceman S Sreesanth, coming into the team for an injured Ajit Agarkar,provided the breakthrough by scalping the rampaging Adam Gilchrist with SureshRaina bringing off a spectacular catch.

Gilchrist's knock of 23 came off just 24 balls and contained four boundaries.

Shane Watson, who was bothered by cramps, and captain Ricky Ponting kept thegood work going as the pair put on 52 runs for the second wicket which took theAustralian total beyond the 100 mark.

Dinesh Mongia accounted for the dismissal of Watson with umpire Steve Bucknorruling him leg before wicket much to the dismay of the batsman.

Ponting, who had not scored too many runs in the two earlier league matches,made amends by scoring a half century before falling prey to Sreesanth withTendulkar snapping up the catch at slip.

But Ponting had by that time put the world champions on the road to victoryalong with Martyn who produced some exhilarating strokes during his stay at thecrease.

Earlier, electing to bat, the Indian batsmen put up an improved performanceto score 249 for eight but it was not sufficient in the end.

Sehwag notched up his 24th ODI half century while Rahul Dravid (52) andMohammad Kaif (30) were the other notable contributors for the home team on atrack which appeared a little more conducive for strokeplay.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni provided the sparks in the slog overs with a cameo 28 toleave the Australians an asking rate of five.

India for a change got off to a decent start as the openers Sehwag andTendulkar did not play too many risky strokes in the initial stages of theinnings.

Sehwag was the more belligerent of the two batsmen and singled out the fieryBrett Lee for special treatment clobbering him for two consecutive boundaries inhis third over.

Lee was plundered for as many as 27 runs in his first three overs forcingPonting to introduce the left-handed Nathan Bracken into the attack.

Glenn McGrath, who opened the bowling after being brought on first change inthe earlier match, was highly economical at the end relying on his trademarkline and length stuff.

McGrath provided the breakthrough by claiming the prized scalp of Tendulkar(10) with a controlled outgoing delivery. The star batsman got a nick andGilchrist latched on to a smart catch to complete his 400th one-day dismissal.

After persisting with Irfan Pathan at the number three slot for a number ofmatches, the Indian team management did not take any chance in this crucial gameand sent in Dinesh Mongia in that position.

The left handed Mongia, playing his first match in the high-profiletournament, made his intentions clear pulling McGrath to the fence to open hisaccount in style.

The run rate dropped slightly as both Aussie pacemen Bracken and MitchellJohnson bowled tidy spells in the third power play but Sehwag went into theassault mode by spanking Johnson for two consecutive boundaries.

The second wicket pair added 43 runs before Watson got rid of Mongia whoedged an outside the off stump delivery to Martyn in the slips. His knock of 18came off 30 balls and contained three hits to the fence.

Dravid, appearing in his 300th one-day international, immediately got intothe act by hammering two boundaries off Lee who seemed to struggle for rhythm ona bouncy track.

The home team suffered a big jolt in the 29th over when Sehwag's innings cameto an end, trapped in front of the wicket with Johnson accounting for theimportant scalp.

PTI