The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Gursharan's benefit match a success

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Gursharan's benefit match a success

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The stars kept their promise and turned up to make the day for Gursharan Singh. His benefit match was a success if measured by the presence of the cream of current Indian players who reported at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly flew in on Tuesday morning, much to the delight of the organisers. Others who participated were Virender Sehwag, Murali Kartik, M.S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Ashish Nehra, S. Sriram, Amit Bhandari, Ajay Jadeja, Mohammad Kaif, Amit Mishra, Nikhil Chopra and Vijay Dahiya.

Nature too was helpful as a brief spell of rain brought the temperature down even though it reduced the match to a 30-overs a side affair.

"I'm indebted to them. I'm moved by their presence because they were all hard pressed for time. It will remain a special day for me," said an emotional Gursharan.

Dravid responded with equal warmth. "It's a fantastic experience to come and contribute to a former cricketer's cause. Gush has been a lovely person and a superb sportsman. It was a pleasure to be here," said Dravid.

Tendulkar entertained the crowd with a 54-ball knock of 90 with 15 fours and a six as his team managed 211 with Laxman the next best scorer with 43. In response, Ganguly XI made 214 for six with Dravid stroking a 43-ball innings of 58 with seven fours and two sixes while Kartik chipped in with an unbeaten 35 with four fours.

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