Australia v India - as it happened

. Preamble: "People do not like uncertainty, or want it to be prolonged," said Gordon Brown a few moments ago as he pulled himself momentarily clear of his sinking ship to address the nation. Not entirely my experience, Gordon. Are not all sporting competitions just a construct for prolonging uncertainty? And do people not like those? Quite a lot, in fact? Some might quibble with the way the Super Eights prolong uncertainty, perhaps needlessly, but perhaps in this case it's just as well. After all, in any rational competition, when the two pre-tournament favourites face each other in the second round there might be a sense of anticlimax, of a potential final stolen. Here it's just a lip-smacking teaser for a still-feasible showpiece to come. Perhaps the problem with politics is that people obsess about the result, where in sport the neutral gets the greatest delight from the manner in which it is achieved. 2.03pm: India win the toss and will bowl first. 2.04pm: Michael Clarke "happy to lose the toss" because he "was a little bit undecided". 2.06pm: Some teams for you! Australia DA Warner, SR Watson, MJ Clarke*, DJ Hussey, CL White, MEK Hussey, BJ Haddin†, SPD Smith, MG Johnson, SW Tait, DP Nannes India M Vijay, G Gambhir, SK Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni*†, YK Pathan, RG Sharma, RA Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Nehra. 2.09pm: India bring Gautam Gambhir to replace Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma for Piyush Chawla and Zaheer Khan for Praveen Kumar. As expected, Australia replace Ryan Harris with the fit-again Mitchell Johnson. 2.29pm: It's all rather quiet out there. Are you still glued to your rolling news? Waiting for Cameron's speech before turning to the cricket? Whatever, we're moments away from action from Barbados. 2.29pm: Harbajhan Singh will get us started. 1st over: Australia 0-0 (Watson 0, Warner 0) Some surprise at the decision the start with Harbhajan, but that's a maiden over to get things under way. I'll try not to mention the election, meanwhile, but I stand in awe at David Dimbleby's stamina after his massive innings on BBC1 – he's on the big screen in Guardian Sport HQ. 2nd over: Australia 12-0 (Watson 7, Warner 5) Ashish Nehra provides the pace from the other end, and his first ball is clobbered through point for four by Warner. Both batsman seem to be measuring the bounce, though Watson's massive six over long on off the fifth ball suggests he's pretty much there. 3rd over: Australia 16-0 (Watson 10, Warner 6) Watson is dropped off the second ball, though it would have been a hell of a catch, high to Jadeja at backward square leg. 4th over: Australia 35-0 (Watson 28, Warner 7) More spin (and I'm not talking David Cameron) as Ravindra Jadeja replaces Nehra after a single over, and his last three balls go for six. The first, a brutal bosh over midwicket and out of the ground, was awesome. Commentators furious at "horrible deliveries" that "got what they deserved". 5th over: Australia 43-0 (Watson 34, Warner 9) Harbhajan continues, as does Watson, albeit with just a four, cut past point. He's now the competition's top six-hitter. 6th over: Australia 53-0 (Watson 35, Warner 18) No second over for Jadeja, weirdly. Zaheer Khan comes in, and this time it's Warner hitting the sixes. Well, the six. He also shows his agricultural side with a wild swing that gets nowhere near the fifth ball. 10 off the over. 7th over: Australia 58-0 (Watson 37, Warner 21) Yusuf Pathan comes in, and Australia take five singles. The last goes straight and only just misses the off stump – as close as India have come to a breakthrough. 8th over: Australia 71-0 (Watson 44, Warner 27) Zaheer continues, as does Watson - another six, his fifth of the innings, flying high over long on. He does have his scariest moment of the innings, though, when Warner smashes the last ball of the over right at him. It hits a pad and rolls away, Watson trotting away for a single. Already a very good foundation being built here, obviously. 9th over: Australia 77-0 (Watson 47, Warner 30) That wasn't Watson's finest over. Emboldened by the opening, he's slashing at every ball. Getting away with it, thus far. 10th over: Australia 95-0 (Watson 47, Warner 48) At which point, Warner takes over. Sixes off the first three balls of Jadeja's over, then, just as we were all getting excited, only a single off the last three. Still, a hell of a start. WICKET! Australia 104-1 (Watson b Pathan 54) Watson misjudges another haymaker, and the ball takes out his off stump. A hell of an innings, though - six sixes, 32 balls. Pow! 11th over: Australia 105-1 (Warner 50, Hussey 0) There was talk of swing when the toss was won, but little sign of it since. Not that Pathan was likely to supply any. Anyway, a big over: both openers passed their half-centuries, and one of them got out. 12th over: Australia 113-1 (Warner 51, Hussey 8) Hussey takes four balls to hit a six, scooping a loose one from Nehra over square leg. "I always thought that Shane Watson was a bit of a joke cricketer (and I still think he is a pie-chucker with the ball) but he's a helluva batsman," says Gary Naylor. "Why do some players quite suddenly become very good batsmen? Everyone thought the Australian selectors were nuts promoting him to open, but he has looked the part hasn't he?" It looked slightly desperate at the start, but I've always liked him. 13th over: Australia 128-1 (Warner 59, Hussey 15) Warner hits the roof of the stand from Pathan's first ball, again short. Sky show he's not faced a single full-pitched delivery. Then Hussey gets in on the act two balls later. This is too easy, almost embarrassing. And quite scary. There's not been a lot of finesse, but this is fearsome batting. WICKET! Australia 142-2 (Warner c Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 72) A brutal innings from Warner ends when he nicks one to the wicketkeeper. Australia will win this game in the next couple of overs if they can keep up their momentum – this is a crucial moment. 14th over: Australia 142-2 (Hussey 16, Haddin 0) Openers both gone, but didn't they do well, eh? Australia have so far hit three fours, and 15 sixes. A day for hard hats in the stands, this one. "Watto was rejuvenated by his time with Warne and the Rajhastan Royals. quite a nice finishing school for Watto. Warne always believed in him and his entire physical shaped has changed under Warne's careful coaching. Nice innings though, ey? Why in God's name would India chose to field upon winning the toss? Anyone got a clue?" 15th over: Australia 145-2 (Hussey 18, Haddin 1) Harbhajan, the only bowler to avoid the worst of Australia's vicious mugging, returns. Three off the over. 16th over: Australia 161-2 (Hussey 26, Haddin 8) It's a rare, rare four! Hussey's responsible, from Khan's first delivery. Then Haddin gets a six from his last. "With all of the computer analysis available to modern cricket coaches, I can't believe that nobody has noticed Australia's glaring weakness," says Anthony Pease. "We're into the 15th over of a 20Twenty game, and they've only managed to hit three fours. Pathetic." Four now. Still. WICKET! Australia 166-3 (Haddin st Dhoni b Yuvraj 8) Haddin, emboldened by his six, charges out, attempts to hoist the ball over long off and misses it completely. A bit of turn there. 17th over: Australia 167-3 (Hussey 31, White 1) A decent over, six runs and one wicket coming off it. WICKET! Australia 172-4 (Hussey c Vijay b Nehra 8) Hussey misjudges a ball pitched on leg stump and hoists it high towards long on, where it's comfortably caught. 18th over: Australia 173-4 (White 3, M Hussey 0) India have stopped the rot, though it may well be too late. "India can still win this," says Pepp. "It will require all of AU fielding to go to the wall, and all AU bowlers to fall over, and all of the Indian batsmen to hit sixes from the get go." 19th over: Australia 179-4 (White 5, M Hussey 4) The sixes aren't coming any more, but some smart running is keeping the clock ticking – just a bit slowly. Six off the over, from Zaheer Khan. India won't be chasing a target of 200, which looked all but inevitable at one stage. WICKET! Australia 183-5 (M Hussey b Nehra 8) Hussey clips the ball into his pad, and onto the stumps, as things continue to get better for India. 20th over: Australia 184-5 (White 8, Smith 1) Nehra bowls the last over, and there's good variety of pace and new batsmen scrabbling about for runs. Five runs and one wicket is the result. Is it rational for Australia to be disappointed by this total? At one point every other ball was flying into the stands, but it all got a bit quiet. 3.55pm: "Quite a getable total," says Habhajan, and India are very much the merrier of the two sides. I'm making a run to the drinks machine. Back imminently. 4.10pm: We're back in action here... 1st over: India 2-0 (Vijay 2, Gambhir 0) Nannes, the competition's leading wicket-taker, starts things off with four dot balls. The fifth Vijay spoons high over square leg to safety. A good start for the Aussies, but then India started with a maiden. 2nd over: India 10-0 (Vijay 2, Gambhir 8) India get their first boundary from Tait, steered to third man by Gambhir. If that was a good-looking shot, his third was hideous, a kind of astonish defensive jerk that nevertheless sent the ball to fine leg for another four. An aggressive over from Tait. Growling. WICKET! India 10-1 (M Vijay c White b Nannes 2) An early breakthrough for the Australians, Vijay trying to turn the ball through midwicket but catching the leading edge. WICKET! India 12-2 (Gambhir c Hussey b Nannes 9) A second wicket in the over for Nannes, from another hideous shot, this time top edged to cover. Compare and contrast the two opening partnerships. Painful. 3rd over: India 12-2 (Raina 1, Sharma 0) Raina, fresh from his century against South Africa, comes in with the burden of being the man in form. Aggressive fast bowling to face, and a bad start to recover from. WICKET! India 17-3 (Raina c Clarke b Tait 5) Raine tries a hook, without moving anything but his bat. He gets it rather wrong. This is car crash cricket. Two Australians run into each other trying to complete a formality of a catch. 4th over: India 17-3 (Sharma 0, Yuvraj Singh 0) It's such a simple game, really. India have no answer to Australia's fast, angry start. Even their scoring shots are ugly. WICKET! India 23-4 (Yuvraj Singh b Nannes 1) A lovely yorker, Yuvraj nowhere near it, off stump clipped. 5th over: India 23-4 (Sharma 5, Dhoni 0) Surely there's no way back from this. Nannes and Tait are a frightening pair when they're in the mood, and they've destroyed India's top order. India stink of failure. 6th over: India 24-4 (Sharma 6, Dhoni 0) Shane Watson comes on and India manage one run from his first over. 7th over: India 35-4 (Sharma 15, Dhoni 1) Mitchell Johnson's turn, his first ball a whisker away from taking out Sharma's off stump with the batsman swinging wildly. India continue to appear intent on making gifts of their wickets. Sharma does, though, dispatch the last ball over mid-wicket for India's first six. WICKET! India 37-5 (Dhoni c D Hussey b Smith 2) A loose shot sends the down the throat of the fielder at long on. Inexcusable, really. 8th over: India 37-5 (Sharma 16, Pathan 0) Steven Smith's first over goes for two runs and includes a wicket. Dismal, dismal stuff from India. WICKET! India 42-6 (Pathan c Warner b Johnson 1) Another leading edge and David Warner, who Sky just described as "the fastest man on two feet", which is quite a claim, hares in from deep extra cover to take a fine catch, diving forward. 9th over: India 42-6 (Sharma 18, Jadeja 0) The asking rate now up well above two a ball, for what it's worth. Not a great over, two wides in it. 10th over: India 47-6 (Sharma 20, Jadeja 3) Smith has another over, five singles coming off it. Australia just need to give India enough rope to hang themselves, it seems. WICKET! India 50-7 (Jadeja run out 4) India take a bit of a risk but don't seem to realise it, and a direct hit from David Hussey clatters the stumps with Jadeja jogging between the wickets. Madness. That's Ravindra "two overs for 38 runs" Jadeja. Not a good day for the lad. 11th over: India 60-7 (Sharma 31, Harbhajan Singh 0) Sharma slams a couple of boundaries from the last three balls, including a nifty paddle-scoop for six. He's the only batsman who hasn't been totally humiliated. 12th over: India 65-7 (Sharma 34, Harbhajan Singh 1) The implications of this performance for India could be chronic. In all probability, they'll need to win their two remaining games and keep their fingers crossed. Harbhajan survives a strong shout off the penultimate ball of Tait's over, Billy Bowden correctly deciding that the ball clipped his thigh pad rather than his gloves. 13th over: India 73-7 (Sharma 35, Harbhajan Singh 8) Still some loose shots, but India getting away with it – Harbhajan scoops Johnson's third ball just over the head of gully. A slightly strange atmosphere has descended, now that it the game is essentially over. 14th over: India 90-7 (Sharma 50, Harbhajan Singh 8) Smith getting a bit of punishment, Sharma getting two sixes off the over, shuffling down the pitch before hoiking the ball over the boundary. So it's not all bad news for India, then, Sharma's 50 coming off 33 balls. Silver lining. WICKET! India 97-8 (Harbhajan Singh c David Hussey b Watson 14) Harbhajan hits a nice six and, emboldened, hoiks the very next ball very high in the direction of long on, where it's caught with ease. 15th over: India 107-8 (Sharma 61, Zaheer Khan 0) India have got 100 runs, which is a victory of sorts, and Sharma is looking classy, relaxed, at home. Which is just as well, really. 16th over: India 117-8 (Sharma 62, Zaheer Khan 9) Smith looks like the easy target for the Indians, and Zaheer slams a six straight down the ground off the second ball. That's 44 runs from the last three overs, a glimpse of what might have been. 17th over: India 132-8 (Sharma 77, Zaheer Khan 9) Sharma is doing wonders for India's net run rate, which looked likely at one stage to be the worst victim of this one-sided game. Nannes comes back into the attack after a brilliant opening burst, but this time he gets a battering. Fifteen runs off the over – his first three went for a total of 10. WICKET! India 133-9 (Zaheer Khan c Clarke b Tait 9) Same old story. Batsman gets ambitious, swings his bat, gets an edge and the ball flies high to a fielder. WICKET! It's all over! India 135 all out! Australia win by 49 runs! Nehra b Tait 0 An excellent yorker, the traditional manner of disposing of a tail-ender. Final thoughts: India's card makes for grim reading, with only two players getting double figures. Rohit Sharma is obviously the star of this sad show. It was all about the openers for Australia, Watson and Warner starring the bat and then when they got in the field Nannes and Tait annihilating the top order with a burst of pace and aggression. Australia provided the perfect storm: batting, bowling and fielding were all incredibly good, with the possible exception of the unthreatening Steven Smith. Brutal. Brilliant. The best performance of the tournament so far from the undoubted favourites. Middlesex have got to be looking at David Warner and drooling. Two good points for India: 1) Sharma's 46-ball, unbeaten 79; 2) At 7-50 it could have been a lot, lot worse.