Hyderabad blues for kiwis

Finally, the Indians put on a performance when it mattered. Faced with elimination from the tri-series, they responded in the best possible ...

Finally, the Indians put on a performance when it mattered. Faced with elimination from the tri-series, they responded in the best possible manner: destroying the New Zealand bowling and then containing their batting to eventually win by a whopping 145 runs.

Their job is, however, only half done; the real test comes on Tuesday, in the final of this series, when the home team take on a rampant Australia. ‘‘We applied ourselves very well’’, said Saurav Ganguly after the match. ‘‘It just looks like we apply well when under pressure. It is essential that we continue to apply ourselves every day.’’

	Kartik, Yuvraj fail to make the cut

			After a long discussion the national selectors announced the team for the Australia tour. Murali Kartik, Hemang Badani, L Balaji and Yuvraj Singh, who were there among the 20 probables announced on Tuesday, failed to make it to the final sixteen. The hero of the under-19 Asia Cup in Pakistan Irfan Pathan graduated to the senior team. THE TEAM: Saurav Ganguly (c), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Deep Dasgupta, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Akash Chopra, VVS Laxman, S Ramesh, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi. Story continues below this ad

The consistency that Ganguly was referring to is the hallmark of champions, and why Australia remain, every time, the team to beat. On Tuesday, India will have the chance to prove that they, too, can win two consecutive crunch matches; failure at the Eden Gardens will render today’s exercise academic, one for the record books.

As it is, the statisticians were kept as busy as the Kiwi fielders. Sehwag struck rich form, Tendulkar continued with his high scoring and even Dravid joined the party, striking an atypically savage 50 off only 22 deliveries.

The Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for the Indians but there were pre-match fears about the pitch. Unfounded, as it turned out, as the ball came on nicely. The New Zealanders’ game plan went kaput.

Sehwag set the tone with some fine stroke-play, plundering three successive fours off Jacob Oram. Tendulkar, slow off the mark, went into a sudden overdrive, innovating and extemporising to leave Sehwag behind. He reached his 50 in 47 balls and the century after another 40.

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Despite the two centuries, there was still time, after the quick dismissals of Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman, for Dravid to essay a delightful cameo, mixing his elegance with a new-look brutality to propel India to 353.

Faced with an improbable chase, New Zealand began in the worst possible manner. Agarkar, replacing Ashish Nehra in the attack, knocked out the top order — though Lou Vincent was unlucky to be given out leg before.

And, just as the Kiwis got their wings back, Murali Kartik stepped up to remove Styris while Kumble, getting some bite from the wicket, dismissed McMillan.

Good bowling, but Ganguly pointed out that there were enough runs on the board to defend; the test would be when there weren’t.

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Now comes the question: Do the Indians have it them to pull off another performance like this in three days’ time? That would be worth celebrating.

	SCOREBOARD

			INDIA Virender Sehwag c Vincent b Styris 130 (134b, 15×4, 2×6) Sachin Tendulkar c Oram b Harris 102 (91b, 12×4, 1×6) Saurav Ganguly c Tuffey b Styris 33 (31b, 4×4) Yuvraj Singh c Harris b Mills 7 (10b) Rahul Dravid not out 50 (22b, 5×4, 3×6) VVS Laxman b Tuffey 3 (4b) Mohd Kaif not out 15 (9b, 2×4) Extras: (lb-6, w-6, nb-1) 13 Total: (For 5 wickets, in 50 overs) 353 Fall of wickets: 1-182 (Tendulkar, 30.1 ov); 2-256 (Ganguly, 40.5 ov); 3-283 (Sehwag, 43.4 ov); 4-284 (Yuvraj Singh, 44.1 ov); 5-303 (Laxman, 46.1 ov) Bowling: Daryl Tuffey 9-1-69-1 (4w); Kyle Mills 10-0-54-1 (1nb, 1w); Jacob Oram 7-0-67-0; Chris Cairns 7-0-47-0 (1w); Scott Styris 6-0-46-2; Daniel Vettori 6-0-35-0; Chris Harris 5-0-29-1 NEW ZEALAND Chris Nevin b Agarkar 1 (4b) Lou Vincent lbw Khan 22 (32b, 5×4) Chris Harris lbw Agarkar 1 (4b) Scott Styris Agarkar Kartik 54 (49b, 9×4) Craig McMillan c Dravid b Kumble 20 (35b, 2×4) Chris Cairns c Khan b Kumble 23 (36b, 1×4, 1×6) Jacob Oram st Dravid b Kartik 11 (16b, 1×4) Brian McCullum lbw Khan 31 (69b, 3×4) Daniel Vettori run out (Yuvraj Singh/Tendulkar) 19 (25b, 1×4) Kyle Mills not out 7 (10b, 1×4) Daryl Tuffey lbw Khan 0 (2b) Extras: (b-2, lb-9, w-7, nb-1) 19 Total: (All out, in 47 overs) 208 Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Nevin, 1.6 ov); 2-25 (Harris, 5.1 ov); 3-48 (Vincent, 8.4 ov); 4-110 (McMillan, 19.4 ov); 5-118 (Styris, 22.2 ov); 6-136 (Oram, 26.2 ov); 7-154 (Cairns, 31.1 ov); 8-187 (Vettori, 41.1 ov); 9-208 (McCullum, 46.4 ov); 10-208 (Tuffey, 46.6 ov) Bowling: Zaher Khan 8-1-30-3 (3w), Ajit Agarkar 6-0-28-2 (4w), Sachin Tendulkar 8-0-40-0 (1nb), Anil Kumble 10-1-36-2, Murali Kartik 10-0-38-2, Yuvraj Singh 5-0-25-0