Ind Aus ODI 3 Half Time: Aussie Target - Par For The Course?

It is a little hard to predict from Ricky Ponting’s face whether he felt his team had done a good job getting to 229 or whether he felt that he could have used twenty runs more. But on a pitch that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, one would get the feeling, this would be testing enough and team India will have to really start well.
The third ODI of the seven India Australia ODI series saw the Australian captain win the toss and bat first. But in addition to those responsibilities, Ponting elevated himself to the opening slot given that Tim Paine, who was doing rather well in the opening position occupying the wicket keeper’s spot in the absence of Brad Haddin, injured himself and broke a finger in the second match.
But this is the kind of innings that teams dream about, not necessarily in terms of the scoreline but in how an innings should be shaped. With young men around, Moises Henriques and wicket keeper Graham Manou, the onus lay on the few seniors in the side and Ponting and Michael Hussey have stood up to be counted.
Apparently Ponting must have overheard the discussions of team India on how to tackle the pitch in Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla because he continued to bat straight and be amply rewarded for the same.
Shane Watson was encouraged to play his shots as well, making forty-one runs in a seventy-two run partnership. Ponting himself made fifty-nine runs before falling lbw to Ravindra Jadeja in the 31st over with the score on 128. But thereafter Australia were only able to add another 100 runs in the remaining overs. But that was because of the enterprising Michael Hussey who has gone from being a recent question mark to once again establishing himself as a predominant finisher in this series.
Hussey’s eighty-one from eighty-two runs held Australia together with the youngsters barely exposed to the terse situation. But have the seniors done enough or can India outdo them with the bat?

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