WC warm-up: Bowlers put Australia on top

Agencies

Bangalore, 13 February 2011: India’s World Cup campaign got off to a ordinary start as the home side lost its top order cheaply after MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first in their warm-up game against Australia in Bangalore on Sunday.

 

Earlier, Indian team management decided to give experienced Sachin Tendulkar and pacer Zaheer Khan rest while testing their other thirteen players in the squad.

 

With eyes firmly set on the silverware, India looked to gain momentum and start their World Cup campaign on a positive note.

 

 

The day-night affair against Australia will also be of high significance for India in the context of fitness of a few players, including the batting trio of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar, who are returning to the side after a short injury lay-off.

 

Australia, on other hand, is high on confidence after avenging their Ashes series loss in the seven-match ODI series against England.

 

It is for the first time the Aussies have approached the World Cup on such a low-profile note despite being the champions in the last three editions of the mega-event.

 

All 15 players of the respective squads can be used, with 11 batting and 11 fielding.

 

Teams:

 

India (Playing XIII): Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth

 

Australia (Playing XV): Shane Watson, Brad Haddin(w), Ricky Ponting(c), Michael Clarke, Cameron White, David Hussey, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Jason Krejza, Doug Bollinger, John Hastings, Tim Paine, Shaun Tait, Callum Ferguson