Cricket World Cup quarters: Australia vs. India
AHMEDABAD, India - Ricky Ponting produced the perfect captain's knock with a belligerent 104 to answer his critics and help defending champion Australia to 260-6 in Thursday's World Cup quarterfinal against India.
It might be enough to give the under-fire Ponting the right to choose his destiny as captain, but may not be enough to save Australia.
The Indians have won chasing 325 at this ground, but need their brilliant batting lineup to hit form and usher them into a semifinal against Pakistan.
Ponting shepherded the innings with his 30th ODI hundred after Brad Haddin (53) put on 40 for the first wicket with Shane Watson (25) and 70 for the second with his skipper.
Ravichandran Ashwin took the first and last wickets, while Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh each took two as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, playing his 100th ODI as India captain, rotated seven bowlers in a bid to unsettle the Australian batsmen.
David Hussey, recalled at the expense of young allrounder Steve Smith in the only change to the Australian team which lost its last match to Pakistan, contributed a valuable 38 off 26 balls at the end.
He shared 55 for the sixth wicket with Ponting, who was finally out in the penultimate over attempting a reverse sweep against Ashwin and paddling a simple catch to Zaheer at backward square leg.
The Indians had two good appeals for lbw when Ponting was on 87 and 91 in the 44th and 45th overs, but had wasted their umpire decision referrals earlier in the innings and didn't get the benefit of a TV umpire's review.
It didn't seem to bother Ponting, who had to fend off speculation on the eve of the match that he'd be forced to retire or fired as captain if Australia lost to India.
The 36-year-old batsman had only tallied 102 at an average of 20.40 in five previous innings here, with a high score of only 36 against lowly Kenya. He hadn't scored in ODI hundred in 13 months and hadn't performed in the test arena, either, averaging just over in the losing Ashes series to England.
But teammates past and present predicted Ponting would rebound in the crunch match against India and he certainly did, going to the crease after Watson was bowled by Ashwin on the last ball of the 10th over.
It was a contrasting innings to his cavalier hundred which took India's seamers out of the game in the last World Cup head-to-head: Australia's 125-run victory in the 2003 final in South Africa.
This time, he faced 118 balls in almost three hours to raise the fifth World Cup century of his career.
He only hit three boundaries in his first 50, but picked up the tempo as he collected seven boundaries and a big six before turning Ashwin for a single on the leg side to reach his hundred.
He turned immediately to where his teammates had risen to give him a standing ovation, waved his bat at them and then punched the air.
It was a necessarily cautious innings from the Australians after the four-time champions were dismissed for 176 at the weekend against Pakistan, costing them top place in the group. It was Australia's lowest total at the World Cup since 1992 and contributed to the end of its 34-match unbeaten streak at the marquee limited-overs tournament.
After a controlled beginning against India, Ponting had to hold the innings together around a middle-order slump, losing vice-captain Michael Clarke (8) and Mike Hussey (3) as Australia slipped to 150-4.
The biggest roar from the capacity crowd came when Sachin Tendulkar came on to bowl in the 29th over. He didn't take a wicket, but brought some emotion back into the match. Yuvraj struck in the next over to remove Clarke.
Zaheer beat the edge of the bat several times and was finally rewarded when Hussey played around a slower ball and lost his offstump.
Ponting and Cameron White took the total to 190 before Zaheer broke through again, taking a reflex return catch to dismiss White for 12.
The Australians dominated while Ponting remained at the crease, but were contained to just 15 runs from 10 balls after his dismissal.