When Ashish Bagai chose to bat against Australia in Canada's final World Cup appearance, the probability of an early finish in Bangalore increased significantly.
That result is still likely to come to pass, but Australia's control over the game was delayed by an extraordinary ambush from 19-year-old Hiral Patel, who batted fearlessly to score a rapid half-century off the world's fastest bowlers.The match had a slow start as the players took their positions before the umpires made their way on to the field and idled until the clock ticked over to 14.30. The Wednesday crowd was sparse and the atmosphere sedentary. And then Patel woke everybody up.
Using the width and pace of Australia's best, Brett Lee, Patel played two cuts. By the time you blinked, the ball had reached the boundary. He took a third four off Lee's first over with a drive through extra cover. Against Tait, who had focused on bowling full and fast without success, Patel moved back and slammed a length delivery over the cover boundary. Tait responded to that six with mis-directed short balls down the leg side. After three overs, Canada had raced to 33.
Patel's aggression rubbed off on his 40-year-old partner, John Davison, who was playing his final game for Canada. Michael Hussey dropped Davison before he had scored and he used the let off to take two boundaries off Lee - a powerful drive through cover and a chip over midwicket. It ended soon, though, when Davison gloved a slower bouncer to Haddin, ending the opening stand on 41, Canada's best of the World Cup.
Davison's dismissal didn't deter Patel, though, and he went after Mitchell Johnson as well, his flashing blade sending a full toss to the backward point boundary. He brought up Canada's 50 off 4.4 overs by edging an attempted loft down the ground so hard that it cleared the third-man boundary. Realising Patel was at ease with balls in his half, Lee unleashed a barrage of short balls, forcing the batsman to duck and sway. Lee even wanted a chat, but failed to drag Patel into a conversation because he walked away to square leg. And when Lee bowled one short ball too many, Patel hooked, so cleanly that the ball cleared deep-backward square leg.
The glut of boundaries reduced after Ricky Ponting gave the ball to Watson, his slower pace and tight lengths denying batsmen freedom to swing. Patel reached his half-century off 37 deliveries, and after the mandatory Powerplay, Canada were 77 for 1. Patel's entertaining innings ended when, in the 12th over, he went hard at Watson and Johnson held the catch on the edge of the third-man boundary.
Normalcy returned to the Chinnaswamy Stadium and Australia slowly brought the run-rate under control. It finally dipped below six in the 19th over. Zubin Surkari, however, was batting steadily and Bagai had got going with a deft glance to the fine-leg boundary and a graceful drive through cover. After 25 overs, Canada had built a commendable platform of 131 for 2, and Australia's bowlers had failed to shake off the rust that was on display in their previous game against Kenya.
