Australian media were critical of lack of fight from Indian batsmen while praising their national team for a strong performance in their emphatic 95-run run victory to storm into the final of the cricket World Cup on Thursday.
Chasing a stiff target of 329, India were all out for 233 in 46.5 overs and the media here said that the likes of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 65, and Virat Kohli, 1, failed to inspire their team when it mattered the most.
"If India were going to have any chance of chasing down Australia's
target, it was going to come down to one of Dhoni or Kohli to go the
distance but neither managed to," a report in
The Daily Telegraph
said.
The Sydney Morning Herald also described Dhoni's innings as "bizarre".
"Any
questions over whether Australia's total of 7-328 would be enough were
answered, although the nerves did not subside until Dhoni's bizarre 65
was brought to an end. Dhoni mysteriously held back a final assault on
the distant victory target and it was only then that he began to put the
foot down, belting Shane Watson for two sixes in a row," a report in
the newspaper said.