Tags:
Journalism of Courage
There was no special innings in Chennai from Africa XI batsmen—last match centurion Shaun Pollock looked good but holed out as he chased the required run-rate. Mark Boucher tried his bit; the South African keeper disposed Virender Sehwag’s off-spin for two big sixes in one over and timed four boundaries to perfection for a diligent 73 off 71 balls, but was out four overs before Pollock in similar circumstances. And neither did the tail wag in the humid conditions.
In the end, the target of 337, set by the Asia XI earlier, proved a bit too much to chase against the searing pace and variety of Dilhara Fernanado and they fell 31 runs short, despite the swipes from the last pair of Thomas Odoyo and Morne Morkel, in their bid to take the series into the decider tomorrow. This time there will be no joint winners; Asia XI has won the second Afro-Asian Cup, and in a convincing manner.
On a day when bowling, particularly fast bowling, was made difficult, man of the match Fernando stood up to be counted. The Sri Lankan, who came in for Mashrafe Mortaza in this match, bent his back and slipped in the yorkers with devastating effect. He bounced out opener Vusi Sibanda, cleaned up dangerous Justin Kemp, came back to terminate Boucher’s big hits and added Johan Botha on the way.
A spell of 10-0-36-4 meant that Zaheer Khan, who went back injured after just 2.4 overs, wasn’t missed by Mahela Jayawardene.
The bat pretty much dominated the game through Saturday; Virender Sehwag started the carnage in the first over of the afternoon with boundaries in three different directions—cover region, followed by one through mid-wicket and then a slash towards point. He then chose the V to paint a more classicist approach but the brute force of eight boundaries and a six and the high tempo was signature style. Finally his half-century came, in just 37 balls.
For the crowd sprinkled sparsely across the stands, the entertainment didn’t cease as MS Dhoni walked in at number four and swiped with all his might twice — with expected results. With Sourav Ganguly remaining edgy but effective in his attempts to go inside out and pierce the packed off-side, Asia XI cruised right through.
Ganguly wasn’t looking to match either Sehwag or Dhoni’s scoring rate and eased along into a fifty — dancing down the wicket to hit straight and alternating it with crisp cover drives before offering the simplest of chances to short-fine leg.
SCOREBOARD
Asian XI: V Sehwag c M Morkel b Chigumbura 52, S Jayasuriya c Dippenaar b Odoyo 11, S Ganguly c Ongondo (sub) b Chigumbara 88, MS Dhoni b A Morkel 33, M Jayewardene run out 45, M Yusuf c Boucher b M Morkel 51, Y Singh not out 30, M Rafique c de Villiers b M Morkel 1, Z Khan not out 0
Extras (lb8, nb4, w14) 26; Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs) 337
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-77, 3-134, 4-214, 5-298, 6-331, 7-333
Bowling: A Morkel 6-0-49-1, M Morkel 10-1-48-2, Odoyo 8-0-60-1, Chigumbura 10-0-84-2, Botha 10-1-51-0, Sibanda 6-1-37-0
African XI: AB de Villiers c Dhoni b Asif 13, V Sibanda c Dhoni b Fernando 35, B Dippenaar c Harbhajan (sub) b Yuvraj Singh 67, J Kemp b Fernando 0, M Boucher c Asif b Fernando 73, S Pollock c Asif b Sehwag 35, A Morkel c Ganguly b Rafique 13, E Chigumbura c Harbhajan (sub) b Rafique 7, J Botha b Fernando 13, T Odoyo not out 12, M Morkel b Asif 25.
Extras (lb4, nb1, w8) 13; Total (All out in 49.5 overs): 306
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-80, 3-80, 4-159, 5-217, 6-234, 7-247, 8-263, 9-263.
Bowling: Asif 9.5-0-82-2, Khan 2.4-0-9-0, Jayawardene 2.2-0-19-0, Fernando 10-0-36-4, Rafique 10-0-62-2, Yuvraj Singh 7-0-43-1, Ganguly 3-0-14-0, Sehwag 5-0-37-1
