Chawla spins India to win over Australia – and a Cup dilemma

BANGALORE, (Reuters) – Indian leg spinner Piyush  Chawla grabbed a four-wicket haul to trigger an Australian  batting collapse today and hand his captain a World Cup  selection dilemma with under a week to go.
Chawla has proved himself a match winner with the ball but  his batting has done nothing so far to suggest it can strengthen  a potentially vulnerable middle and late order for the Cup  hosts.

Pyiush Chawla
Piyush Chawla

Chasing a modest 215 for victory, World Cup holders  Australia were cruising at 118 for one with captain Ricky  Ponting (57) well set, before the Indian spinners ran through  the middle order for a 38-run win.
Chawla, a surprise inclusion in India’s World Cup squad, and  established off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took seven wickets  between them to bowl out Australia for 176.
The 22-year-old Chawla collected deserved figures of four  for 31 in his first one-day international on Indian soil.
Harbhajan took three for 15, while Ravichandran Ashwin and  Yuvraj Singh picked up one wicket each.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni now faces a tricky  choice in selecting a second spinner alongside Harbhajan.
He said, however, that besides the nature of the wicket, the  ability of a bowler to contribute with the bat could also be a  deciding factor.
“If he (Chawla) could make 15-20 runs with the bat that  would be really great for the side but as a specialist spinner  he has done well,” a relaxed and jovial Dhoni said in a news  conference.

PERFORMED WELL
Dhoni warned, however, that the middle order needed to start  contributing more if the team was to score big totals when it  mattered for the 1983 World Cup winners.
India’s much vaunted batting line-up failed to click in the  absence of Sachin Tendulkar, who was rested for a minor  hamstring niggle.
Virat Kohli (21), Yuvraj (1) and Suresh Raina (12), all  competing for a place in the middle order, looked uncomfortable  against short-pitched deliveries.
Yusuf Pathan (32) and Ashwin (25 not out) stitched together  a 49-run stand — the highest of the innings — for the ninth  wicket before a late flourish by Ashish Nehra (19) helped India  cross the 200-run mark.
Earlier, Virender Sehwag showed no signs of the shoulder  injury that kept him sidelined for the past few months and  scored 54 at almost a run a ball.
Sehwag was his usual nonchalant self despite being starved  of much of the strike and his shots to the fence were greeted  with acclaim by the packed Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
“With two batsmen contributing we scored 200, so if the  middle order contributes, I think we can score much more,” he  said.
Ponting, 36, the tournament’s second most prolific batsman  behind Tendulkar, top scored for Australia with 57.
He showed no signs of the after effects of a broken finger  he suffered in the Ashes and played at a steady pace before a  rush of blood saw him getting stumped by Dhoni off the bowling  of Harbhajan.
Australia’s cause had not been helped with 29 extras  conceded.
India’s pace spearhead Zaheer Khan was also rested for a  minor niggle and his selection for their World Cup opener  against co-hosts Bangladesh on Saturday will be decided nearer  that match.
Australia face Zimbabwe two days later.