The Hindu : Sport : India survives a scare to enter final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 08, 2005

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India survives a scare to enter final

Sanjay Rajan

— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

TIMELY EFFORT: Yuvraj Singh not only came up with a well-crafted century but also starred with Mohammed Kaif to help India post a winning total against West Indies on Sunday.

COLOMBO: The remarkable recovery staged by the fourth-wicket pair of Yuvraj Singh and Md. Kaif here on Sunday was reminiscent of the 2002 NatWest Series final against England at Lord's, though one must agree that the challenges faced were completely different.

Back then, India was chasing 326 and five down for 146 at one stage, before this inimitable pair turned the contest on its head with a 121-run stand.

At the Premadasa Stadium, the Men in Blue opted to bat but soon found themselves struggling at 51 for three — four down for all practical purposes after paceman Darren Powell forced Sourav Ganguly to retire hurt by hitting the left-hander's left-arm — in what was virtually a semifinal of the IndianOil Cup tri-series.

India rode on the 165-run stand off 177 deliveries between Yuvraj (106) and Kaif (83 not out) to set the Caribbean line-up an imposing target of 263, the highest so far in the competition. A top-order collapse proved detrimental to the West Indies' chase, but the side recovered due to extraordinary efforts by opener Runako Morton (84) and Denesh Ramdin (74 not out). India, however, prevailed by seven runs on Greg Chappell's 58th birthday.

When Yuvraj, the burly left-hander from Punjab, waved his bat vigorously in the direction of the dressing room after reaching his century, which proved a match-winning effort, you realised that it wasn't just an exultation. Indian cricket's prodigal son was also making a point, asking for his abilities to be taken more seriously.

Yuvraj had scored just 138 runs in his last eight innings and there was tremendous pressure on him. He looked charged up right from the time he walked in at the fall off Dravid's wicket. The Indian captain was bowled trying to flick Omari Banks — the ball hit the bat, touched the batsman's shoes and rolled on to the stumps. It was the tall off-spinner's first ball of the innings.

India had a disastrous start though the leg-before decision handed out to Virender Sehwag by umpire Tyron Wijewardene off left-arm paceman Deighton Butler was doubtful, as it hit the opener high on the pad. It must, however, be said that the West Indian pacemen — Butler, Darren Powell and Tino Best — came up with incisive first spells.

Best hurried Yuvraj, who suffered from a bout of crams a few times, and even had the left-hander losing balance while trying to veer away from a bouncer. But Yuvraj rose up to the challenge and occasion, and along with Kaif shifted gears en route to his third ODI century.

The spinners proved to be cannon fodder for the two and they took the team past the 200-mark by the 45th over. Kaif, always quick to find the gaps, and Mahendra Dhoni put on 46 in the last 25 balls. Yuvraj won the man-of-the-match award for his sterling performance.

West Indies fielded Morton, an opening batsman, in place of the indisposed Shivnarine Chanderpaul, while India made three changes — Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj coming in for Harbhajan Singh, L. Balaji and Suresh Raina. Sylvester Joseph led the West Indies in Chanderpaul's absence.

Irfan Pathan and Nehra provided the early breakthroughs and Kumble reposed Dravid's faith with a superb spell and a splendid one-handed catch at mid-off to dismiss left-hander Narsingh Deonarine off Nehra. Kumble, who last played in the fifth ODI against Pakistan in Kanpur, finished with three for 38 in 10 overs to leave West Indies gasping at 112 for six.

But Morton and 'keeper-bat Ramdin put on 83 off 93 deliveries and the seventh-wicket partnership was looking really dangerous when Nehra tricked the former with a slower one, Dravid at short-midwicket accepting the catch gleefully.

Inspiring display

Inspired by Ramdin, the West Indies kept its hopes live though it needed 65 from the last 10 overs with just three wickets in hand and 48 off the last five overs after off-spinner Sehwag bowled Best.

It boiled down to 32 off three with two wickets in hand. The pugnacious Ramdin picked successive boundaries off Nehra (48th over) to turn on the heat. However, in the same over Kaif ran out Butler with a direct hit from long-on to ease the pressure on the Indians.

At the end of the 49th over, bowled by Zaheer, West Indies needed 12 for victory and Nehra once again came out unscathed after bowling the final over.

It was a phenomenal effort by Ramdin in what turned out to be a cliffhanger with just seven runs separating the teams. Though Ganguly did not take the field, reports from the dressing room said that the injury wasn't serious.

The final between India and Sri Lanka will come off on Tuesday.

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