Wade, Hussey guide Australia past India

Victorian duo Matthew Wade and David Hussey both played handy innings as Australia continued their summer of dominance with a 31-run victory over India in their Twenty20 International played in Sydney on Wednesday night.

Wade (72) and Hussey (42) both played vital innings as Australia posted a solid score of 4 for 171 from their allocated 20 overs in front of 59, 659 fans (a record crowd for a cricket match in Sydney) at ANZ Stadium.

In reply all-rounders Dan Christian and David Hussey both took two wickets each as they restricted India to 6 for 140 from their allocated 20 overs as Australia took the first of two Twenty20 contests.

Wade who replaced veteran Brad Haddin in the shortest version of the game played an instrumental role in the hosts victory as he belted the game’s highest score of 73, which included eight boundaries (five four’s; three sixes) off just 43 balls.

The Victorian who was later named man of the man for his terrific performance lead from the front following being promoted up the order to open the batting by his Melbourne Stars team-mate and new Australian Twenty20 captain George Bailey.

Wade teamed up with fellow big hitter and vice-captain David Warner (25) at the top of the order and the two delivered some big blows early on as the hosts got off to a flying start.

Following Warner’s departure the home side’s run rate slowed down a bit with Travis Birt (17) and Wade taking the score to 79 off 10 overs but after being joined by Hussey and then Bailey (12 not out) the home side managed to score 92 runs off their final 60 balls.

Bailey said afterwards that he was pleased with winning on his debut as captain but would like more runs as Australia will look to make a clean sweep of the two-game series in Melbourne on Friday night.

“It would’ve been nice to get hold of a couple, but I thought it was really tough to get hold of a couple at the end,” said Bailey at his post match media conference. “Batting with Dave Hussey, who I’ve spent quite a lot of time batting with, he’s one of the cleanest strikers in the world and he was struggling as well. It’s nice to know we’ve got that depth behind us, [but] it wasn’t through lack of trying that we were getting singles.”

“I thought Matty’s [Wade] batting was outstanding, to have someone who the rest of the team can bat around and have that platform makes it very easy, to have someone keeping wickets in hand for Huss to hit out late in the innings was important. I thought our team effort with the bat and the ball, all our bowlers, was really good and it was a great energy. It’s hard to tell when you’re on the field but my general feeling was there was great energy from our fielding group as well.”

Whilst Bailey was pleased with the victory his opposite number in MS Dhoni was disappointed as India remains winless on their tour having lost all four of their test matches against Australia.

Played in soggy conditions the visitors never really threatened the hosts as at one stage they were 6 for 81 as they failed to deal with the pitch and conditions, much like their recent England tour.

Dhoni who won the toss and elected to field first got the wrong end of the stick as it only rained when the tourists were bowling but the weather cleared up when the visitors started their replay with the conditions favouring the Australian bowlers.

The Indian captain, who made a battling 48 not out has now gone 14 consecutive international matches away from home without a win and saw the similarities between the England and current tours.

“The weather played a big part in it [the loss in Sydney],” Dhoni told reporters afterwards. “In England we didn’t win any tosses, it rained in the second innings and our bowling suffered because of that. This time I won the toss, and with the rain forecast I thought we would chase. I though the pitch would remain the same, if not get better, and 170-odd runs was a good score to chase if the pitch remained the same.”

“We got off to a good start but after that it didn’t rain. It started to turn and grip, and the odd ball was bouncing more than the normal delivery. It was difficult.”

Australia 4 for 171

Matthew Wade 72 (43)

David Hussey 42 (30)

Suresh Raina 1 for 22 (three overs)

Rahul Sharma 1 for 27 (3.4 overs)

India 6 for 140

MS Dhoni 48 not out

Virat Kohli 22 (21)

David Hussey 2 for 4 (two overs)

Dan Christian 2 for 35 (four overs)