Cairns charisma leaves India dazed

Nairobi, october 15 The Indian dressing room is not a happy place to be in. The last of the Sun's rays have gone down, and as darkness des...

Nairobi, october 15 The Indian dressing room is not a happy place to be in. The last of the Sun8217;s rays have gone down, and as darkness descends onto the Nairobi Gymkhana, there are some among the Indians who will break down, any moment.

Anil Kumble, hands on head, is incosolable. He knows how close it was and how he just gave it away. One over, merely two balls, was all it took for the Knock-Out Mini-World Cup to fall into New Zealand8217;s laps.

Chris Cairns, who could barely walk when the match began in the morning, and whose battered knee didn8217;t allow him to do that once the last ball had been bowled, hit Kumble out of the ground for a six, and at 24 runs off 21 balls, you thought can India still defend? Cairns swept Kumble for a boundary the next ball and it was all over. That over cost 14 runs and the Kiwis could afford to walk to the target then.

The Indian dream has been shattered as New Zealand won by four wickets. They promised so much but when it came to the crunch, Cairns was unstoppable. Here was a player, the doctors said shouldn8217;t have played in the final today if he wanted to go with the New Zealand team on their South African tour this month, who played the innings of his life time, an unbeaten knock of 102.

8220;It8217;s unbelievable. I mean, I still can8217;t believe we8217;ve won it. It8217;s a long party tonight,8221; Cairns said later. The New Zealanders won the biggest cricketing show of their life and the partying began in the ground itself.The defeat would rankle the Indians for long, especially after they had beaten Australia and South Africa earlier but they have themselves to blame for today8217;s disaster. They failed to consolidate on such a splendid start skipper Saurav Ganguly, who scored a back-to-back century, and Sachin Tendulkar who looked so convincing before a tragic run out ended his hour of glory.

A total of 265 was at least 30 runs short of what the Indians threatened at a stage. And, as their bowlers found out, that turned out to be the difference. Between the Cup and disappointment.

Scoreboard
INDIA
Saurav Ganguly c Harris b Astle 130b, 9215;4, 4215;6 117
Sachin Tendulkar run out 82b, 10215;4, 1215;6 69
Rahul Dravid run out 34b, 1215;4 22
Yuvraj Singh c Twose b Styris 19b, 2215;4 19
Vinod Kambli c O8217;Connor b Styris 5b 1
Robin Singh c Spearman b Allott 11b, 1215;4 13
Ajit Agarkar Not Out 17b 15
Vijay Dahiya Not Out 2b 1
Extras: lb 1, w 4, nb 2 7
TOTAL: for six wkts in 50 overs 264
Fall of wickets: 1-41 Tendulkar, 2-202 Dravid, 3-220 Ganguly, 4-229 Yuvraj, 5-237 Kambli, 6-256 Robin. Bowling: Geoff Allott 10-0-54-1, Shayne O8217;Connor 5-0-38-0, Chris Cairns 10-2-40-0, Scott Styris 10-0-53-2, Nathan Astle 10-0-46-1, Chris Harris 5-0-32-0.

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NEW ZEALAND
Craig Spearman c Yuvraj b Prasad 8b 3
Nathan Astle c Robin b Kumble 48b, 5215;4 37
Stephen Fleming lbw Prasad 11b 5
Roger Twose st Dahiya b Kumble 35b, 4215;4 31
Chris Cairns Not Out 113b, 9215;4, 2215;6 102
Craig McMillan c Ganguly b Tendulkar 14b, 2215;4 15
Chris Harris c Robin b Prasad 72b, 4215;4 46
Adam Parore Not Out 4b 3 Extras: nb 7, w 1, lb 15 23
TOTAL: for six wkts in 49.4 overs 265
Fall of wickets: 1-6 Spearman, 2-37 Fleming, 3-82 Astle, 4-109 Twose, 5-132 McMillan, 6-254 Harris. Bowling: Zaheer Khan 7-0-54-0, Venkatesh Prasad 7-0-27-3, Ajit Agarkar 6.4-0-44-0, Anil Kumble 9-0-55-2, Sachin Tendulkar 10-1-38-1, Yuvraj Singh 10-0-32-0.
Result: New Zealand won by four wickets.
Man-of-the-Match: Chris Cairns .