India succumb to Australia pace, batting power

(Sports Page) Australia showed just why they have been so successful in ODIs in India, and just why India’s usual template of chasing anything their profligate bowlers concede often comes short against the visitors. Their batsmen powered their side over 300 on a slow and, at times, uneven pitch. Their fast bowlers then extracted appreciable bite from the same pitch and used the short ball intelligently to finish the contest by the end of the batting Powerplay. Tellingly, India has never successfully chased 300-plus against Australia, and this was their 11th failed attempt, this time against a side lacking several first-choice players.

The only time India looked relatively comfortable was during the 71-run third-wicket partnership between Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, who was promoted to No 4 ahead of Yuvraj Singh

Summarized Scores: Australia 304 for 8 (Bailey 85, Finch 72) beat India 232 (Kohli 61, Faulkner 3-47) by 72 runs