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India sneak home in thriller

Thursday, January 29 2004

A classy century from Hemang Badani & some tight bowling at the death has seen India to a thrilling 1 run victory over the Prime Ministers XI in Canberra.

India went into this encounter without batsman Sachin Tendulkar & Virender Sehwag (injured) , and VVS Laxman & Sourav Ganguly (rested).
Stand in skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss & had no second thoughts , batting first on an even strip , expected to get slower & lower as the day went on.
India were initially off to a slow start , openers Parthiv Patel & Sanjay Bangar were kept in check by some tight spells from Damien Wright & Shaun Tait.
However Patel soon broke the shackles , dispatching Wright to the point boundary in successive deliveries.
Alas Patel’s confidence soon got the better of him , as he holed out off the bowling of Mark Cleary for 19.
Badani looked anything but comfortable early on as Cleary extracted suprising bounce from the dusty surface.
The initially slow Bangar soon found his feet , but he fell victim to left arm spinner Xavier Doherty on a helpful surface for 33.
Rohan Gavaskar then went about his work in a very watchable fashion , using his wrists superbly & lofting Doherty to the ropes.
However just as he was looking in ominous touch he fell to a sharp piece of work from Chris Hartley for 26.
Yuvraj Singh was met with a well spread field & was thus unable to find the rope during his 17 ball stay , working the ball around before a superb throw from the deep found him short of his ground for 16.
Rahul Dravid also looked in priceless form during his brief stay , placing the ball immaculately & stroking Shaun Tait to the rope , Badani also got into the swing of things , lofting Wright over midwicket for six as the Indians pushed past 200.
Dravid holed out to Steve Waugh off Wright for 15 , which brought Ajit Agarkar to the crease in the unfamiliar position of number 7.
The Mumbai allrounder never looked comfortable during his brief stay , eventually loosing patience & attempting to swipe medium pacer Andrew McDonald out of the ground , only for man of the moment Cade Brown to come sprinting from the rope at long on & take a spectacular diving catch on the feilding restrictions circle at mid off.
Agarkar gone for 5.
At the behest of the rowdy crowd , Steve Waugh then brought himself on to bowl the penultimate over of the innings.
He promptly had Irfan Pathan caught by Mark Cleary on the fence at point , provoking easily the biggest cheer of the day.
Badani brought up his century in the final over of the innings , ensuring the Indian selectors will have no easy sleep as they choose between him & Rohan Gavaskar.
Badani was bowled by the last ball of the innings for an even 100 (119 balls , 8 fours , 2 sixes), leaving India on a respectable 8-254 after their 50 overs.
Mark Cleary was the best of the PM’s XI bowlers , keeping a choking length during his 10 overs to return 1-32 , while spinner Doherty also bowled well in taking 1-42 from his 10.
Medium pacer Andrew McDonald was expensive with 3-70 from 9.

The PM’s Team , made a solid start , Marcus North dominating the early overs against the erratic Amit Bhandari , while fellow opener Mark Bradley got in on the act , stroking Nehra to the cover ropes , alas Bradley’s knock soon came to an end , pulling a ball from Bhandari straight into the hands of Murali Kartik for 12.
David Hussey began his knock with a classical cover drive off the back foot & soon followed it up with a lofted cut for 4.
However a sharply rising ball from Nehra ended his brief cameo , caught behind for 9.
ACT Comets captain Cade Brown swaggered on to his home ground full of confidence , as was indicated by his swashbuckling upper cut to get off the mark.
Slow at first , Brown soon found his feet , pulling Sanjay Bangar to the ropes & lofting Murali Kartik to mid-wicket , while the ridiculously in form Marcus North went about his work , driving Bangar exquisitely through the covers to bring up his 50.
Alas the required run rate was nearing 6 & North decided he would have to address the matter , charging down the wicket at Bangar , he succeeded only in lifting a simple catch to Ashish Nehra at mid off for 74 (96 balls , 7 fours).
Steve Waugh walked to the wicket to rapturous applause & promptly biffed Kartik over mid-wicket to hint he may be in for a big day.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as the former test skipper holed out for 7.
Chris Hartley partnered Brown & together they kept the PM’s XI in touch , Brown getting a let off from Yuvraj Singh who dropped a sitter at point when he was 75.
Unfortunately the dashing lefty failed to capitalize on the let off , being caught at mid off for 80 (96 balls , 8 fours) , this match will undoubtedly rank as a carear highlight for the 27 year old , who received a generous ovation upon his dismissal.
Andrew McDonald & Hartley kept things ticking over.
At the beginning of the last over , to be bowled by Amit Bhandari , 8 were needed.
That was reduced to 3 with 2 balls remaining.
McDonald promptly launched the ball over the mid-wicket region & the crowd rose anticipating a six.
However it wasn’t to be as Irfan Pathan took a superb catch just metres from the rope.
Needing 3 from the final ball Hartley could only scamper a leg bye , handing India a deserved 1 run victory.
Bhandari finished with 2-58 , while Nehra with 2-41 was easily the pick of the Indians.

Hemang Badani was named man of the match for his century.

Summary
India 8/254
Badani 100
Bangar 33
McDonald 3-70

PM’s XI 6/253
Brown 80
North 74
Nehra 2/41

India win by 1 run
man of the match is Hemang Badani





Posted by DavidH