George Bailey continued his impressive one day record
scoring a brisk 85 of 82 and then captaining astutely to lead Australia to a 70
runs victory over India in the first ODI in Pune.
Bailey, the fastest Australian to 1000 runs in ODI cricket,
paced his innings perfectly to ensure Australia scored the 290 on the 8th
occasion in India. An important figure
considering India highest run chase against Australia is 288, couple of
years ago.
If his batting was impressive he’s captaincy was top notch.
He used his strike bowler; Johnson in short bursts and introduced him into the
attack at a time India looked to be cruising during the middle over’s.
First instance of Bailey brilliant captaincy came in the 14th
over when India promoted, Suresh Raina to number four. Raina in the past has
had a notorious issue with the short ball and within couple of over’s Bailey
bought his quickest man. Johnson to his
credit didn’t over do the short stuff and kept Raina guessing with a series of
straight full Yorkers followed up by a short ball directed at his body.
Although Raina did not perish to Johnson, the two over’s he faced against him
clearly unsettled him and eventually he perished few over’s later, attempting a
wild slog.
Raina was replaced by Yuvraj Singh, the man who destroyed
the Australian bowling only couple of days ago in the T20. Once again Bailey
immediately turned to Johnson, brought in a slip and moved his square leg and
fine leg a lot finer. Once again Johnson
held the short ball back; he attacked Yuvraj’s stumps and his hips before
eventually bowling a short fast lifting delivery that Yuvraj fended with no
feet movement into the waiting arms of the wicket keeper, Phil Hughes.
MS Dhoni was also greeted by a slip and only three men were left
outside the 30 yard circle. The Australian captain was aware his counterpart
ability of manipulating the strike early and it was imperative Dhoni was forced
to take a risk earlier in the innings than later. It was brilliant to watch Bailey dragging the
Indians out of their comfort zone.
The three instances ensured Bailey aggressive mindset as a
captain, he never allowed the Indians to settle and rotate the strike. Bailey was aware if Australia failed to
dislodge India’s middle order, the opposition was more than capable of scoring
8 to 9 runs an over in the final 15 odd over’s.
Given the mandatory batting power would be taken around the
35th over, Bailey was aware by the time Johnson had dismissed
Yuvraj, India would look to rotate the strike and only take risks during the
batting play.
The Tasmanian then introduced Shane Watson, he’s most
accurate bowler. Bailey figured rotating strike against Watson bowling stump to
stump created a element of risks. Bailey
theory would pay off as Virat Kohli tried to play one across the line and was
trapped LBW for 58. The partnership between India’s last recognised pair has
been broken and Australia had slammed the door shut.
At the end of the match Bailey was asked about his captaincy
and stated he had made the decision on a gut feel. “Knowing how difficult it can be to take
wickets in the middle over’s can be over here, and knowing how deep India bat,
Johnson always provides something and there’s really energy in the game
whenever he comes on, he doesn’t really like to bowl short spells but he took
it really well tonight”
Bailey continues to grow as ODI batsmen and as a leader. He
might not possess the fineness of Clarke but he certainly as inherited the
attacking mindset. Overall it was simply a 10 out 10 for the skipper itself.
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