da bet sport： This last match of the first round of the triangular tournament wasmeaningless as far as the competition was concerned, as both teams hadalready qualified at the expense of Zimbabwe
John Ward04-Jul-2001This last match of the first round of the triangular tournament wasmeaningless as far as the competition was concerned, as both teams hadalready qualified at the expense of Zimbabwe. India gave themselves aboost in confidence, though, with a convincing six-wicket victory overWest Indies, with a century from Sachin Tendulkar as the highlight.Play began on a clear winter’s day, with the flattest of pitches, butIndia still decided to bowl on winning the toss. Both teams played oneor two reserve players, but West Indies are concerned about CameronCuffy, the best bowler of the tournament to date, who had a footinjury and was likely to miss the rest of the tour.So hard was the ground that Ashish Nehra fell heavily in his deliverystride in the first over, but fortunately was able to continue. Indiabowled well but did not receive the same help from the conditions asusual, and Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga were able to make a sound startwithout undue worry. Both played some fine drives off the odd poordelivery, with Gayle looking particularly impressive. He flatteredonly to deceive, though, falling for 23 as soon as Harbhajan Singhcame on, chipping a low catch to extra cover. However, the openingstand of 47 at three an over was more than useful.Ganga reached a creditable fifty with a perfectly played sweep to theboundary as West Indies began to accelerate. He was fortunateimmediately afterwards, though, when umpire Graeme Evans did notconsult the third umpire about a very close run-out attempt that thetelevision camera revealed to be out. In the next over, though, heagain tried a risky single, only to be sent back rather late, and thistime was several metres out of his crease when Sameer Dighe’s throwhit the stumps.Wavell Hinds was next to his fifty, which came off 57 balls, tributeto his ability to keep the score moving almost constantly, mainly withback-foot drives and the occasional pull. He alone of the top batsmenseemed able consistently to evade the fielders, and a score of 157 fortwo after 40 overs was perhaps not enough on such a flat pitch.Shivnarine Chanderpaul, perhaps frustrated in his efforts to keep thescore moving, chipped a catch to midwicket off Debashish Mohanty todepart for 16. Then Hinds skied an attempted pull to be caught andbowled for 66 by Harvinder Singh, making West Indies 170 for four.Carl Hooper and Ridley Jacobs had to reorganize the innings, whichthey did quite successfully until Hooper (24) holed out at long-on offHarvinder. Jacobs, with 27 not out, as usual did all that was asked ofhim, while Ramnaresh Sarwan was unbeaten with 13, but 229 for five wasprobably rather less than West Indies would have liked in good battingconditions.Sachin Tendulkar was soon under way, with a couple of boundary pullsoff short balls from Reon King, followed by a leg glance for four, allin the opening over, and West Indies were missing Cuffy already.Sourav Ganguly joined the party with three boundaries in an over whenhe first faced King, who retired to lick his wounds after his firstspell of three overs conceded 29 runs. His replacement Colin Stuartdid no better, pitching short and wide to allow Ganguly two more foursfrom cuts; he bowled just two overs for 19.The fifty came up in the eighth over as Tendulkar hooked a short ballfrom Mervyn Dillon for six, and he went on to a personal fifty off 49balls, soon followed by Ganguly off 80. The West Indian bowlers failedto keep a consistent length and the batsmen were never under realpressure. Finally Dillon, the best of the bowlers with only 22 runsconceded off his ten overs, deceived Ganguly (62) with a slower ballthat he drove straight to mid-off. The opening pair had put on 133.Virender Shewag was given an opportunity at number three, but wasstumped off Hooper for 4; however, the camera showed the ball was inthe left hand while the bails were removed with the right. HemangBadani played across the line to be bowled through the gate by Hooperfor four, and three wickets had fallen for 19 runs.Rahul Dravid brought stability to the other end while Tendulkarreached his 29th one-day century, and his second in Zimbabwe. Dravidthen fell for 15, yorked by Chris Gayle, but Reetinder Sodhi (16 notout) stayed to finish the match in the 49th over with Tendulkar, whofinished with 122.