da premier bet： India edged past West Indies by seven runs to make it to the finals of the IndianOil Cup
The Bulletin by Rahul Bhatia07-Aug-2005
Scorecard andball-by-ball details
How they were out
Yuvraj Singh: returned to form with a fine century © AFP
India entered the final of the IndianOil Cup after scoring a tense seven-run victoryover West Indies in Colombo. A century by Yuvraj Singh and a well-paced knockby Mohammad Kaif helped India reach 262 for 4, the tournament¹s highestscore, following which a fatal mixture of mounting run-rate and inexperiencesaw the West Indians stumble out of the competition.Denesh Ramdin, let off luckily when he was caughtplumb in front by Anil Kumble off his first ball, fought until the end, striking boundaries andinventing strokes to throw the bowlers off. Ashish Nehra went at seven anover, Zaheer Khan narrowly evaded being called off for bowling beamers.Ramdin ended unbeaten on 74, an admirable knock from a man who had keptflawlessly in the sweltering heat all afternoon. He followed Runako Morton,whose controlled 84 kept West Indies in the running until the final stretch,even while wickets fell all around him. In between there was Dwayne Smith, whocrashed 26 off 12 before Kumble did him in.Ramdin¹s wonderful innings was a fluent one, full of fight, and while hestruggled to comprehend Kumble’s variations, he persisted and dealtwith the more straightforward bowlers with ease. Most batsmen before himfailed to do even this, though their troubles against Kumble wereanticipated. Kumble has a way with newcomers unused to this brand oflegspin; they remain motionless in their crease, trapped by indecision, andare easily undone by a man who preys on uncertain minds. He dismissed threeof them in a flash, and would have had three more if Daryl Harper saw what he, the fielders, the television, and Hawk-Eye all saw; straightforward decisions were turned down, and this assisted West Indies’ survival. It is debatable whether the match would have run this close otherwise. Against a team more capable of grabbing chances, India could have suffered dearly. In any case, Rahul Dravid bowled Kumble through his quota in one go, and then watched Nehra and Yuvraj leak runs to the tune of 82 in 12 overs.But Yuvraj was India¹s man of the hour earlier, and Kaif his support, whenthe team had effectively lost four batsmen and were in trouble. At 51 for 3,with Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman out, and Sourav Ganguly inhospital after a short delivery thudded into an unprotected arm, Yuvraj andKaif had quite a task ahead. Neither the flow of the game nor their formfavoured them. But bit by bit, they pulled it India’s way with pinched runsand angled bats that frustrated and deflated West Indies. The slower bowlerswere nudged and pushed for singles and once the time for acceleration came,the two managed it seemingly without effort. The India of the 1990s had AjayJadeja and Robin Singh to fight fires and twist thrust swords. This team hasthese two. They were followed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose daring againstTino Best’s 140kph deliveries – a sweep, for example – added a touch ofbravado to the Indian innings. The last ten overs yielded 89 runs. But thefirst ten had seemed a repeat of India’s most recent experiences in SriLanka: India managed only 24 for 2.But it was the bowlers’ accuracy and persistence that forced Ganguly’s injury andthe general unease early in the innings. They weren’t exactly the fearsome four, theterrible three or even an ominous one, but Daren Powell, Deighton Butler andBest put on a fine show to have India hopping and falling about theircrease.Sylvester Joseph, the West Indies stand-in captain after ShivarineChanderpaul pulled out due to illness, began with an attack of Powell’s paceand Butler’s swing. Sehwag and Ganguly both lost control of their feet asballs swung late and rose awkwardly. Powell, in particular, alternatedbetween aiming for the stumps and Ganguly’s ribcage. Butler rapped Sehwag’spads twice and even bowled him off a no-ball, but was finally lucky with histhird appeal. After a brief stay Laxman nick one, and Dravid played aloose stroke on to his stumps.India became the second international team to walk off a cricketfield relieved today, but West Indies ran them far closer than they would have liked. The final, two days away, is an opportunity to start afresh.IndiaVVS Laxman c Ramdin b Powell 7 (21 for 1)
Virender Sehwag lbw Butler 6 (21 for 2)
Rahul Dravid b Banks 10 (51 for 3)
Yuvraj Singh c Best b Deonarine 110 (216 for 4)
West IndiesXavier Marshall lbw Pathan 19 (37 for 1)
Sylvester Joseph c Harbhajan b Pathan 4 (44 for 2)
Narsingh Deonarine c Kumble b Nehra 6 (59 for 3)
Omari Banks lbw Kumble 6 (70 for 4)
Dwayne Smith lbw Kumble 26 (98 for 5)
Ricardo Powell c (sub) Rao b Kumble 4 (112 for 6)
Runako Morton c Dravid b Nehra 84 (195 for 7)
Tino Best b Sehwag 3 (208 for 8)
Deighton Butler run out (Kaif) 9 (240 for 9)
Deighton Butler run out (Kaif) 9 (240 for 9)