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India crush New Zealand

Sunday, November 16 2003

India v New Zealand, TVS Cup Game 9, Hyderabad

With both teams on 10 points and a military mile behind Australia in the points table, Game 9 in the TVS Cup between the hosts and New Zealand became essentially a semi-final. To the victor, a date with the Aussies at Kolkata next week.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat, sending in the familiar opening partnership of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar to face the opening salvoes of Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills.

An unusually circumspect start to the Indian innings witnessed the New Zealand openers, if not exactly on top of the batsmen, at least holding them in check awhile - that is, until the first bowling change. Jacob Oram was simply blitzed out of it, conceding 31 runs from his three overs

Of the two batsmen, Sehwag was by far the more aggressive at first, despatching the occasional ball with monotonous regularity to the fence, whereas Tendulkar remained firmly within his shell, content to step across and work the ball into the mid-on region and rotate the strike - at least until Oram was introduced.

Tendulkar survived an early scare against the huge Oram, slashing one just out of reach of the fielder at cover point, but when he found his range carnage resulted. Five boundaries in rapid succession came courtesy of a mixture of deft stroke play and downright truculence as the Little Master took complete control and India ended the first 15 overs on 94 without loss.

Chris Cairns brought himself and Scott Styris into the attack in a vain attempt to stem the flow of runs but the Indian openers were by now in total control. Both players cruised past their half-centuries in style as the roles reversed - now Tendulkar was the aggressor, Sehwag the watchful foil.

A six by Tendulkar off Styris prompted the momentary introduction of Daniel Vettori as new Zealand seemed helpless to plug the dyke. One by one, the New Zealand bowlers were being systematically taken apart as Tendulkar inevitably approached yet another classic hundred.

Harris and Cairns operating in tandem placed a momentary brake on proceedings before another flashing drive backward of square brought the crowd to near hysteria and a hundred in just 87 deliveries to Sachin Tendulkar. A tuck behind square by Sehwag off the same bowler took India past 180 without loss in the 30th over and seemingly with a huge total within their sights.

From the first ball of Harris's next over, the masterclass was over. Looking for another six, Tendulkar failed to get quite to the pitch and only succeeded in lofting the ball high to Jacob Oram at long off for a quite splendid 102.

The much-maligned Sourav Ganguly opened his account with a nudged single off his first ball, content to rotate the strike as Virender Sehwag continued to press, chopping a short one from Chris Cairns past the point boundary to raise the 200 in the 34th over.

An unlikely misfield by the athletic Oram presented Ganguly with a boundary as the runs continued to flow, then Sehwag blasted a six and a four off Tuffey to move within touching distance of a three-figure score of his own. Ganguly in turn savaged Tuffey for a brace of boundaries, then a couple by Sehwag off Cairns sent the crowd wild again as he too moved past 100.

Another four by Sehwag took the score past 250 at the end of the 40th over as India seemed set on recording a mammoth total. As the batsmen pressed the foot even harder on the accelerator, Ganguly (33) fell to Styris in similar fashion to the demise of Tendulkar, lofting the ball high to long-off where Daryl Tuffey took a far from straightforward catch to leave India on 256-2.

New batsman Yuvraj Singh drove Vettori for a single to open his account, then Sehwag, by now playing a shot a ball, took the fight to Vettori once more slashing through the covers then over mid-on for six to move past 120 and record his highest-ever one-day score against New Zealand.

As Mills came to the end of his ten over allocation, Sehwag took further liberties with the battered attack, twice cutting the ball over slip to the fence at third man. His magnificent knock finally ended on 130 in by now familiar fashion, lofting high into the outfield where Lou Vincent held the straightforward chance.

India, on 283-3 and with still more than six overs to go and plenty of batting to come, could afford to throw caution to the wind - and they did. Yuvraj Singh (7) smashed a long-hop from Mills straight to Harris at point as the fourth wicket went down on 284 bringing Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman together, seemingly to add the icing to the cake.

Dravid tore into a poor Scott Styris over, cracking a full toss to midwicket then driving a half volley high over extra cover for six to bring up the Indian 300 before the furniture was rearranged for the first time in the game, Laxman dragging a wide one from Tuffey on to his stumps with the cover boundary beckoning.

The erstwhile honourary Scotsman Rahul McDravid carved Tuffey over point then took Jacob Oram's distinctly under-par offerings apart in a quite extraordinary display of the sublime and the ridiculous - over midwicket for six, over cover for four then reverse-sweeping for another boundary as the scoreboard became a blur.

Mohammad Kaif, too, got in on the act as India closed in on 350, despatching Tuffey twice with lofted drives. Another six by Dravid took him tantalisingly close to a quite remarkable half-century and according to script, a scrambled brace from the final ball of the innings took the wicketkeeper-batsman firmly into the record books.

Dravid from just 22 balls is now the proud owner of the ninth-fastest ODI fifty of all time and the second-fastest by an Indian, equal with Virender Sehwag against Kenya and a solitary delivery behind Ajit Agarkar, who made his against Zimbabwe.

Facing a daunting target in excess of 350 to make the final, it was imperative that New Zealand make a sound start. Zaheer Khan drifted on to the pads of Lou Vincent who clipped the ball neatly through midwicket for the first boundary of the innings.

Ajit Agarkar took just six deliveries to make his first decisive impact on the game. Starting with a wide, he tightened his line before producing an exquisite delivery off the final ball of his opening over. Full of length, the delivery drew the drive from Chris Nevin who was undone by the swing and lost his off stump for just a single. 8-1 was not the kind of start New Zealand were looking for.

Vincent looked to be in decent form, cracking both Agarkar and Khan for boundaries in successive overs before India struck again at the start of Agarkar's third over. A ball of fuller length had Harris shuffling across in front of his stumps only to be trapped on the crease in front of middle stump for a single with the total on 25 at the start of the sixth over.

Scott Styris chose attack as the best form of defence after being beaten early outside off stump and was particularly savage on Agarkar who until this point had bowled splendidly. Three times in the space of an over the seamer erred in length, three times the ball scorched across the outfield to thud into the boundary boards square of the wicket.

Vincent (22) cracked a boundary over mid-off when Zaheer Khan overpitched but from the very next ball, a quite inexplicable umpiring decision saw him heading back to the pavilion, leg before wicket to a delivery which appeared to pitch well outside leg stump - 48-3 and in desperate trouble.

Khan gave way to Sachin Tendulkar at the start of the 11th over and was immediately flayed for boundaries by both Craig McMillan and Styris, chugging along at better than a run a ball as New Zealand did not seem unduly perturbed about the early loss of wickets.

Agarkar's successful six-over opening blast came to an end and he was replaced in the attack by Anil Kumble who could only watch helplessly as Styris creamed further boundaries over cover and back over the bowler's head. New Zealand were not going down without a fight. Styris charged Tendulkar and the resultant edge to third man was the final scoring stroke of the first 15 overs which saw New Zealand on 82 for the loss of 3 wickets.

Another flashing drive by McMillan further dented Kumble's already burgeoning analysis before a series of singles took the partnership beyond fifty and the total into three figures. The momentary lull was interrupted by Styris, driving a Kumble full-pitch over cover for four followed by a pushed single to mid-on to raise a very well constructed half-century.

Then - disaster! McMillan (20), looking to keep the scoreboard ticking over, played an indiscreet paddle-sweep to a good-length delivery from Kumble and succeeded only in top-edging the ball through to Rahul Dravid who made no mistake. New Zealand were reeling on 110-4 with a massive mountain to climb, whereas India had one foot already in the final.

Slow left-armer Murali Kartik was introduced into the attack, conceding eight in a frenetic first over, but with his second he inserted probably the final nail in the New Zealand coffin when Scott Styris charged down the wicket and lofted the ball straight to Agarkar at mid-off to end an enterprising knock of 54.

Brief defiance by Oram (11), a clubbing reverse-sweep for four off Kartik, was followed shortly afterwards by the big all-rounder's departure as he charged the spinner leaving Dravid with the simplest of stumpings and the Kiwis in tatters on 136-6.

Chris Cairns opened his shoulders and came down the wicket to Kartik, hoisting the ball high over long-on for six to take the reply beyond 150, but it was yet again a brief interlude amidst the steady fall of wickets. One liberty too many against Kumble and Cairns was gone, caught by Zaheer Khan in the deep on the off side for 23. The New Zealand score at this time, now largely an irrelevance, was 154-7.

As the required run-rate reached astronomical proportions and with Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum at the wicket, New Zealand could have been forgiven for throwing in the towel. McCullum, though, had other ideas, twice smashing errant deliveries from Yuvraj Singh to the boundary.

Vettori swept Yuvraj Singh for a boundary but later dwelt in his blocks as McCullum scampered for what should have been an easy single down to third man off Tendulkar and was undone by a fine throw from Yuvraj to be run out for 19.

As the overs petered out, McCullum and Mills took the score beyond 200 with the assistance of Kumble who spilled a regulation catch in the deep before K 'Hari' Hariharan made his own indelible mark on proceedings by adjudging first McCullum and then Tuffey out leg before wicket to inflate Zaheer Khan's bowling analysis as New Zealand were finally put out of their misery for just 208 in 47 overs.


India 353-5 (Sehwag 130, Tendulkar 102, Dravid 50*, Styris 2-46)
beat
New Zealand 208 (Styris 54, Zaheer Khan 3-30, Agarkar 2-28, Kumble 2-36, Kartik 2-38)
by 145 runs


Posted by Eddie