India need a miracle to win in Mohali

By John Cheeran
World champions Australia need only 250 runs to win in Mohali.
From this point, it would be a miracle if India beat Australia and qualified for the Champions Trophy semifinals.
India may have lost this game in their inability to force the pace of run gathering in the last 10 overs. Till then, India had many pluses.
For a change Virender Sehwag scored some runs (65) and skipper Rahul Dravid ensured that India did not collapse with a brilliant half-century (52) when Australian skipper Ricky Ponting applied pressure through some crafty juggling of bowlers.
Young southpaw Suresh Raina effectively signed his death warrant by struggling to hit out against Brett Lee and Shane Watson, when cutting loose was the task assigned to him.
We did not want batsmen to come at this stage shackled by self-doubts and hit the ball straight to fielders. I wonder what our young cricketers have learnt from sports psychologist Rudy Webster.
With only five overs remaining, India could manage only 207, a score they should have managed in the 40th over.
Australian bowling, led by Glenn McGrath, did not let Indian batsmen cut loose at any given point. Whenever it appeared that India were to shift gears, Australia struck back by grabbing a wicket.
This happened throughout the innings. By the 10th over Tendulkar was out; just when Dinesh Mongia began to look confident, the Punjab batsman played a silly shot to put pressure back on India.
Then it was left to skipper Rahul Dravid to find his moorings and avoid a collapse. India were nursing ambitions of a 270-plus total then. But then again, Sehwag’s dismissal neutralized the upper hand India had.
Later, Dravid, in a desperate bid to quicken the pulse, perished. The last 10 overs were remaining then and this was an opportunity to be grabbed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina.
Dhoni tried his best; running hard and innovating in stroke play; he even reverse swept Watson for a boundary. Dhoni is for real, only he holds hope for the future among the young brigade.
Well, one should admit that there were no Agarkars and Pathans in the Australian bowling line up to offer juicy half volleys in the slog overs. McGrath was effective in his first spell but the 36-year-old fast bowler was superb in his final spell giving no room for extravagant stroke play.