But all that changed once Ishant Sharma was brought into the attack. The lanky pacer was smashed to all parts of the park, giving away 16 runs off his first over. Ponting was away with those ruthless boundaries and supreme running between the wickets.The Australians unleashed a series of fours to up the scoring rate. After 10 overs, Australia were 49 for 1 with Ponting looking in good touch. Even when he did not manage a four, the elegant right-hander rotated the strike-rate to good effort as the famous Indian ground fielding let them down.
One of the biggest elements of Ponting’s batting has been the way he shifts gears from being defensive to the offensive. Tim Paine played the ideally folly for Ponting. The duo added a meticulous—runs for the second wicket. Paine reached his half-century with a reverse-sweep of Harbhajan Singh in the 14th over of the innings. Bhajji once again bowled a length which was easy for the batsmen to pick. At 87 for 2, Amit Mishra dismissed Paine caught by Bhajji to a sweep shot which was put to an overuse by the Australian.
In the 16th over, Ponting was joined by Mike Hussey in the middle. The experienced duo took the total past hundred in the 20th over and went from strength to strength. The Australians deployed the reverse-sweep to good use and got those much needed boundaries at will. After 26 overs, the Aussies were at a comfortable 136 for 2. Ponting reached his 70th ODI fifty in the 27th over of the innings. Dhoni brought Praveen back for his second spell in the 28th over but was punished by Ponting.
A super run-out of Ponting appeared to have turned the tables a wee bit on the Indian side when Punter was found short in the 33rd over when he was on 65 and the innings score at 175 for 3.
Hussey was there leading the Aussie charge with a controlled knock. In the company of Cameron White, Hussey played a beautifully paced innings and for a brief period of play, singles ruled the roost. The Aussies once again surged from 183 for 3 in 35 overs to 227 for 3 in 40, courtesy a batting powerplay which did wonders to their total. Ishant got rid of Hussey in the first ball of the 41st over caught by Sachin Tendulkar in the deep for a well-made 67. Australia 227 for 4. Callum Ferguson joined White in the middle. The duo put together added seven more before rain stopped play.
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