The Hindu : Sport : Karthik stars in India's victory at Cuttack

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Thursday, Jan 25, 2007
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Karthik stars in India's victory at Cuttack

G. Viswanath

Another good knock by Chanderpaul

SHOWCASING HIS TALENT: Dinesh Karthik came up with a sensible knock and was rewarded with the Man-of-the-match award. — Photo: AP

Cuttack: The tussle between the bat and ball from the moment Ajit Agarkar trapped Chris Gayle was gripping, especially after the off-break bowlers Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar and leg-spinner Sachin Tendulkar were given charge of defending a small total.

Harbhajan and Powar were expected to bring cheer to the Indian camp a second time in three days in the later stages of the second half of the match at the Barabati Stadium.

The West Indies batsmen viewed every ball from the spinners with suspicion. They negotiated some of the balls by thrusting the pads out or hitting boundaries. In the end, in spite of Shivnarine Chanderpaul's calm and composed knock, the West Indies went down by 20 runs with the left-hander himself giving up the chase.

Setting the stage

India now leads the Pepsi Cup series 2-0. Gayle's dismissal set the stage for the home team to apply pressure after Agarkar and Zaheer Khan had completed their opening bursts.

A stroke of luck in the form of substitute Suresh Raina's accurate throw from the deep resulted in Devon Smith's departure. It was a setback from which the West Indies did not recover, though Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith clouted a few bold shots and forged half-century partnerships with Chanderpaul.

The opener batted for 217 minutes, played 121 balls and hit four 4s, and could perhaps share the blame for not taking risks and push the scoring rate, as he did at Nagpur.

Good show by Powar

Harbhajan and Powar extracted sufficient purchase on a poor pitch. Powar was clouted for sixes by Bravo and Smith, but he proved his worth on a track that assisted the bowlers. Powar's dismissal of Runako Morton — a decision umpire Billy Bowden reached after consulting the third umpire — was a superb delivery.

Tendulkar also played a crucial part, tempting the dangerous looking Dwayne Smith to his doom.

Earlier the West Indies led by a new captain and seeking revenge restricted India to under 200. Some old hands and some newcomers rallied around Gayle in splendid fashion. His fellow Jamaican Darren Powell was outstanding in his uninterrupted spell of 10 overs.

Powell on song

Without being hostile, the gangling seamer with a straight run-up was instrumental in removing key Indian batsmen who had shown him scant respect in the previous outing. Powell dispatched Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dravid in the space of 23 balls, conceding five runs. He added the fourth, castling Joginder Sharma. Powell was costly at Nagpur, hammered for 32 runs in 30 balls, but on Wednesday he improved upon his three for 33 against Pakistan at Multan in December.

The Indian innings terminated with Bravo darting across the pitch and using his foot to run out Agarkar, who played sensibly to become the second highest scorer after Man-of-the-match Karthik, who anchored the Indian innings superbly to make his personal best in One-Day Internationals.

He came up with a plucky half century demonstrating much common sense that was absent in the seasoned campaigners' efforts.

SCOREBOARD

India: S. Ganguly c Morton b Powell 13, G. Gambhir c Ramdin b Bradshaw 2, R. Dravid b Powell 22, S. Tendulkar c Devon Smith b Powell 0, D. Karthick b Bradshaw 63, M. Dhoni c & b Dwayne Smith 6, Joginder Sharma b Powell 1, Harbhajan Singh b Bravo 6, A. Agarkar (run out) 40, R. Powar b Bravo 5, Z. Khan (not out) 7; Extras: (lb-3, nb-1, w-20) 24; Total: (in 48.2 overs) 189.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-35, 3-35, 4-46, 5-66, 6-69, 7-90, 8-152,9-163

West Indies bowling: Bradshaw 10-1-38-2, Taylor 10-1-38-0, Powell 10-2-27-4, Dwayne Smith 9-1-34-1, Bravo 8.2-1-36-2, Gayle 1-0-13-0.

West Indies: C. Gayle lbw b Agarkar 5, S. Chanderpaul b Zaheer 66, Devon Smith (run out) 14, M. Samuels c Gambhir b Harbhajan 1, D. Bravo c Gambhir b Powar 31, R. Morton b Powar 0, Dwayne Smith c Powar b Tendulkar 27, D. Ramdin b Powar 6, I. Bradshaw c Gambhir b Tendulkar 2, D. Powell (run out) 1, J. Taylor (not out) 2; Extras (b-6, lb-3, w-5): 14. Total (in 48.2 overs): 169.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-41, 3-42, 4-85, 5-89, 6-139, 7-151, 8-163, 9-166.

India bowling: Zaheer 8.2-0-25-1, Agarkar 8-2-23-1, Sharma 4-0-16-0, Harbhajan 10-3-29-1, Powar 10-0-42-3, Tendulkar 8-0-25-2.

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