India outplayed greenhorn Australia 54-20 in a Group A match of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup here on Saturday. In just over four minutes after captain Anup Kumar won the toss, the home team ejected each of the seven Australian players out of the mat to earn the quickest 'all out' points.
The Navneet Gautam and L. Srinivas Reddy coached Australian team — formed only five weeks ago in Essendon,Victoria — gave a clear impression that the players were indeed beginners — and it came as no surprise, when for the second time, the team gave 'all out' points to India which raced to a 32-7 lead at half time.
Disappointed with its display against Korea in the inaugural match on Friday, India changed its startling line-up by keeping Jasvir Singh and Rahul Chaudhari out and instead, fielded Sandeep Narwal, Pardeep Narwal and Deepak Hooda. But after India took a commanding lead, coach Balwan Singh breathed easy and even made a few substitutions before the first session.
The Australian captain Campbell Brown was captured in his first two raids with ease with the firm bodyhold efforts of Surjeet, Dharmaraj Cheralathan and Manjeet Chillar giving no leeway for him to escape. The trend continued with every Australian raider falling an easy victim. Australia won some early points in the first half because of Campbell’s determination to go deep into the rival territory and win bonus points without touching a rival.
After the break Australia gave the third 'all out' points and India could make further changes. The coach gave an opportunity to Surender Nada, Nitin Tomar, Ajay Thakur and local boy Kiran Parmar to help them get some match experience before the crucial encounter against Bangladesh, to be played coming Tuesday.
In all, India won four 'all out'’ points from the match. It was a rare day in a sporting contest when India called the shots against Australia.
Earlier, Bangladesh thrashed England 52-18 in a Group A match. Even in the big defeat, England’s Tope Adewalure showed adequate wherewithal to challenge his rivals with supreme confidence. He won eight points, of which seven was collected as a raider. Adewalure and the England captain Someshwar Kalia gathered their wits to put up a semblance of a fight.
In a Group B match, Kenya and Poland played a fast and entertaining game and showed that they have sufficient talent to pose a stiff challenge to the established Asian teams. Kenya won the match to take home five points. The raiders dominated for both the teams with the Kenyan captain David Mosambayi making a terrific contribution of 21 points. For Poland, Piotr Pamulak scored 13 raid points and skipper Michal Spiczko got 11 points.
Results:Group A: India beat Australia 54-20; Bangladesh beat England 52-18; Group B: Kenya 54 bt Poland 47.
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