Friday, Jan 23, 2004
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
Yuvraj Singh gets a hug from V.V.S. Laxman. - Photos: V.V. Krishnan
SYDNEY, JAN. 22. Brett Lee was Australia's hero on Thursday night at the SCG. He struck a big six off the fourth ball of the last over and with a single from the next clinched the match for the home team to break the hearts of eleven Indian competitors and hundreds of its supporters. Australia required eleven runs from six balls and Laxmipathi Balaji was the bowler the Indian captain Sourav Ganguly had reserved for the last over in a match where the Australian innings was reduced to 34 overs following a 96-minute break because of a thunderstorm, the target being revised to 225. The match became gripping only because Australia wilted under pressure from 150 for one to 210 for eight. Things began to unfold after left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan had the Australian captain Ricky Ponting nicking to Parthiv Patel after resumption of play. Adam Gilchrist was on the rampage and Australia galloped at eight runs an over. Even as Gilchrist was lashing the Indian seamers, a heavy downpour lashed Sydney and brought a halt to the run-chase with the score reading 73 for one wicket in the 10th over. Irfan Pathan was wayward at the start, but Simon Katich faced seven balls and lobbed a catch to mid-on. Gilchrist is a sort of phenomenon, but it was his dismissal at 95, thanks to a fine low catch by Murali Kartik off his own bowling that saw Australia's chase weaken. Pathan had done his bit by removing Damien Martyn first ball after which Ganguly found himself taking three wickets and all of a sudden India appeared to be on a roll. Good catches were taken, but Patel missed a stumping chance off Kartik when Michael Clarke had not opened his account.
Breathtaking stuff
Earlier, Yuvraj Singh's thrashing of the Australian bowlers was breathtaking. For novelty sake, Yuvraj parading his talent was the most welcome feature in the three-nation series. Australian spectators and many Indians seated in the designated fanatics' stand have so far been accustomed to oriental magic with all the wristy flicks and classic drives in the Test series. Yuvraj, who was all strong arms, treated them to a totally powerful display. Yuvraj's 139 was a clear manifestation of his keenness to succeed. Laxman held his own fort in a fashion Australia's gold and green men are familiar with. After hitting two boundary shots in the first few overs he faced from Jason Gillespie, he was happy nudging the ball round the corner off the gentle offerings from Australia's back-up seamers and spinners. There did not seem to be a tussle between the bat and ball as the pair wore down the attack to surpass all the fourth-wicket partnerships at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 108 previous one-day Internationals. At different stages of their stand, which was carefully and aggressively constructed, they first went past three Indian pairs before bringing down the record of 147 made by Bruce Laird and Kim Hughes against the West Indies 23 years ago. The Laxman show was on from the 10th ball of the match after Lee sent back Sourav Ganguly. But for a change Laxman-the-technician took charge of the proceedings. Along the way Parthiv Patel took his chances to make a modest score and Rahul Dravid struck three fours before nicking Andy Bichel to Gilchrist, whose first catch of the day took his tally of victims to 300 in his 182nd one-day International. Yuvraj won a close race to a century with a lucky touch that missed the stumps. Laxman duly completed his fourth hundred in his 63rd one-day match, and all against Australia. Yuvraj hit out at Ian Harvey smashing two sixes over mid-wicket and the straight field and India advanced by 22 runs in a single over. Hitting across the line, Yuvraj was bowled by Lee, but not before he had beaten Greg Chappell's SCG best of 138 not out against New Zealand in 1980-81. Laxman left the field undefeated playing nearly 49 overs. Scoreboard
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Ganguly), 2-63 (Patel), 3-80 (Dravid), 4-293 (Yuvraj). Australia bowling: Gillespie 10-0-50-1, Lee 9-0-46-2, Bichel 9-0-60-1, Harvey 10-0-68-0, Symonds 7-0-42-0, Clarke 5-0-29-0.
Fall of wickets: India bowling: Agarkar 7-1-47-0, Pathan 7-1-51-3, Balaji 5.5-0-40-0, Ganguly 7-0-41-3, Kartik 7-0-39-1.
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