On day 15 first match was between New Zealand and Australia. Australia was pretty confident of beating kiwis on their home turf. On the other hand New Zealand carried on with their attitude of doing rather than talking. Second match was between India and UAE. India's miraculous reincarnation surprised everyone (specially me) as they were coming into this game after beating the Proteas comprehensively. So India was out there to make three out of three. While UAE was ready to put tough fight in front of Indians.
Game 20: Australia vs New Zealand
Australia won the toss and Clarke chose to bat first considering the short boundaries and strong batting line-up. Australia was off to flyer as usual they already hit two sixes in first 13 balls of the match. On the 14th ball Finch's off stump was knocked over by Southee as he was trying to go for another six. Finch's wicket didn't affect Warner's approach, he carried on in the similar fashion. Watson joined Warner as well and started getting some quick runs. Seeing Southee and Boult going for plenty, McCullum brought Vettori into the attack in the 7th over. McCullum has always looked to attack opposition by bringing his frontline bowlers into the attack. Here he saw that his strike bowlers are going for runs. So he straight away brought most experienced bowler of his team into the attack. Vettori kept it really tight and the move of bringing Vettori in early was working for McCullum. Watson and Warner brought up 50 run partnership in 12th over of the innings. 13th over gave the second blow to Australia. Vettori tempted Watson to go big by bowling short. Watson went for it but only found Southee in the deep mid wicket region. On the first ball of the 14th over Southee hit one straight on the pads of Warner and umpire gave him out. Warner reviewed it but umpire's decision stayed. Australia all of the sudden was 80/3.
Clarke and Smith tried to bring steadiness in the innings but it didn't work as Smith was caught behind off Vettori. How good Vettori has been for New Zealand in this world cup. He has delivered whenever his captain has given him the ball. He is a real gem for New Zealand. Australia was 95/4 and seeing aussies under pressure, McCullum brought Boult back into the attack and it worked for him. Boult picked up Maxwell and Marsh in the same over. Both of them were not able to judge the length and chopped it onto the stumps. Both of them got out in the similar fashion. Australia was crumbling at that stage. Boult didn't stop there he kept giving thunderbolts to aussies. He then picked up Clarke, Johnson and Starc to complete his five wicket haul. It was best spell by him and it came against the best team. From 80/1 Australia went down to 106/9. Noone ever imagined that Australia will collapse in this fashion. When it looked that innings was about to end, Haddin stood up for Australia and started the counter attack. He straight away took the batting powerplay and was hitting the boundaries at his will. He took Australia to the total of 151 before he edged one to short third man off Anderson. Haddin got out after a well made 43. This total was a cake walk for New Zealand.
To start the New Zealand innings Mitchell Johnson bowled no ball first up which Guptill dispatched for four and then on a free hit he clobbered Johnson for a six. So New Zealand too was off to a flyer. It was enough to ignite the fire in McCullum. He put his dancing shoes on and started hitting the ball. World's best bowling attack bowed down to McCullum. Where should bowlers go when you have players like McCullum who only sees boundary lines and clear them with ease. McCullum gave New Zealand another great start. He hit 21 ball 50 and took kiwis to the total of 78 in just 8th over. He got out on 50 but he had done the damage by then. McCullum treated Australia as some ordinary team. He showed no respect whatsoever for them but if you know aussies well then you should know that they don't give up easily. After McCullum's wicket, Starc picked up Taylor and Elliot in the same over and Australia was back in the game. Anderson joined Williamson after that and started rescue job. Anderson riding on his luck took New Zealand to 131. Maxwell broke that partnership and then Starc came back all guns blazing he first dismissed Ronchi in 21st over. In 22nd over Vettori gave it away and then in 23rd Starc picked up Southee and Milne off consecutive deliveries. New Zealand chasing 152 runs reached to 146/9. Australia made a great comeback in the game. It looked like that the match will end in that over only but Boult defended last 2 balls of that over and Williamson hit the six on the first ball of next over. New Zealand won the match by one wicket. Phew! That was close. Hats off to Williamson who kept his cool and brought his team home.
Game 21: India vs UAE
UAE won the toss and elected to bat first. Indian bowlers came out with a plan to bang the ball short. Indian bowlers sticking to the plan started bowling bouncers from the word go. UAE batsmen seemed to be struggling against bouncers. On Aussie pitches where ball comes on to the bat nicely bowling short is a good option and it worked for India. UAE lost their first wicket at the total of 7 runs to a bouncer from Yadav. UAE lost another opener to a bouncer again from Yadav as Amjad edeged one to Dhoni. Khurram was the new man to the crease. He and Karate then were watchful and were contained by Indian bowlers. Even defence didn't worked for UAE as Karate gloved one while defending Ashwin and gave simple catch to Raina at leg slip. Ashwin has surprised me more than any other spinner in this workd cup. Ashwin's record away is not that good but he had ripped the ball well in this world cup. Though he has got some assistance from pitches but he has bowled pretty tight line.
Ashwin gave another break through to India in 15th over as he showed Patil way to the pavilion. In 17th over he picked up Khurram and UAE were 44/5. India was in a hurry to go in the hotel and relax. After that Mohit Sharma picked up Mustafa. Javed and Naveed were sent back by Jadeja and Ashwin respectively. Then Tuaqir and Anwar was knocked over by Jadeja and Yadav respectively. In this way UAE was bowled out for 102. Anwar was the highest scorer for UAE While Ashwin was pick of the the bowlers for India. Ashwin ended up with his career best figures of 4/25. Dhawan and Sharma came out with intention to win the game by 10 wickets. It was very important for Rohit Sharma to be there till the end as he was not getting runs for India. Dhawan's cut shots indicates his form and he was in good touch that day. Both the Indian batsmen were dispatching the loose balls to boundary.
Dhawan trying to hit another four hit one in the air and Mustafa plucked it out of the air and dismissed Dhawan with a stunning one handed catch. Dhawan's stay at the crease was too short. He got out on 14 and out of 14 he made 12 runs in boundaries. So one can imagine what kind of touch Dhawan was in. After Dhawan's wicket the onus was on Rohit Sharma who was joined by Kohli at the crease. Kohli was in excellent form and he carried on with that. Rohit Sharma too started finding the middle of the bat soon and that was enough for India to go past that score of 102. India didn't loose any other wicket and chased the target in 18.5 overs. Rohit Sharma made half century which was much needed for him. Such unbeaten innings boost the confidence of the batsman. India won the third match on trot and was only one win away from qualifying for quarter finals.
On day 15 we had two low scoring matches. One of them went down to the wire between the two outright favourites. While other one was a cake walk for India. Day 16 will feature two cruicial matches where all the four will fight for their spots in quarter finals. In the first match England will take on Sri Lanka and other one is between Zimbabwe and Pakistan.
#CWC15 day 16
#CWC15 day 16
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