Chawla spins India to win over Australia

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BANGALORE: A four-wicket haul from leg-spinner Piyush Chawla sparked an Australian batting collapse as India won their World Cup warm-up match by 38 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a modest 215 for victory, World Cup holders Australia had a flying start and were cruising at 118 for one with captain Ricky Ponting (57) well set, before the Indian spinners ran through the middle order.

Leg-spinner Chawla, a surprise inclusion in India’s World Cup squad, and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took seven wickets between them to bowl out Australia for 176.

The 22-year-old Chawla made a strong case for a regular place in the starting line-up after taking four for 31, while Harbhjan took three for 15 and Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuvraj Singh took one wicket each.

Earlier Virender Sehwag showed no signs of the shoulder injury that kept him sidelined for the past few months and scored 54 at almost a run a ball.

Sehwag was his usual nonchalant self in spite of being starved of much of the strike and his shots to the fence were greeted with cheers by the packed Stadium.

India take on co-hosts Bangladesh in the opening match of the tournament in Dhaka on February 19, while Australia face Zimbabwe two days later.