India fail to match Kiwis’ hunger

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming started the day with a perfect sighting. The coin lying in his favour on a batsmen-friendly track. Indian opening bowler had a reasonably good start to the match. The first run off the bat came of Srinath’s 14th ball of the match. But after that runs poured. Opener Nathan Astle played lead while there were two contrasting cameos from Craig Spearman and Roger Twose. While the energy-efficient Spearman with his clinically precise stroke play littered the field with boundaries, Twose’s overtly aggressive posture, evident by his wild swing, gave the New Zealand run graph impressive spikes.

Astle, meanwhile, was no hurry to leave the party. He stayed on till the 46th to complete his seventh ODI win and his string of fruitful associations gave a big look to the score.

For the Indian bowlers, it was astay at the horror house of hell. Some disheartening statistics: Every bowler besides Srinath was at least once smacked for a six, the best bowling performance 1-51 and the worst 72 for no loss in 10 overs.

The hosts started the Himalayan rally in top gear. With an asking rate of seven runs per over, the Indians were 76-0 in 10 overs and both the openers Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Gangly in mood to give in. The openers treated the bowlers with the same respected the rivals are meted to their teammates. But disaster struck in the 12th over. Call it beginner’s luck or a veteran’s mild misjudgment. Tendulkar became debutant Scott Styris’ first victim as he mistimed a shot which was caught by Chirs Cairns at mid-on.

With Ganguly too departing soon, the chances to make this chase memorable were becoming bleak. But Jadeja, in the company of Rahul Dravid, and then with Robin Singh, reignited the dying hope. But the partnerships did not mature enough to make an impact.

Jadeja’s constant foot of gas pedal keptthe crowd interested. But when he fell at 95 India breathed it’s last.

SCOREBOARD
New Zealand:
C Spearman c Bharadwaj b V Prasad 68 (44b, 69m, 15×4), N Astle c Dravid b V Prasad 120 (136b, 202m, 12×4, 2×6), R Twose b Srinath 56 (53b, 166m, 4×4, 3×6), S Fleming c Dravid b V Prasad 10 (16b, 19m, 1×4), C Cairns run out (R Singh) 26 (20b, 21m, 2×4, 1×6), C Harris c Tendulkar b Bharadwaj 23 (18b, 29m, 1×4, 1×6), A Parore c Chopra b Bhardwaj 18 (10b, 14m, 2×6), D Nash not out 6 (4b, 11m, 1×4), S Styris st MSK Prasad b Kumble 1 (2b, 2m), D Vettori c Jadeja b Kumble 0 (2b, 2m); S O’Connor not out 0 (1m); Extras: (5lb, 13w, 5nb) 23. Total (in 50 overs, 225m) 349-9.
Fall of wickets: 1-115, 2-224, 3-244, 4-277, 5-310, 6-336, 7-343, 8-345, 9-345.

Bowling: J Srinath 10-2-51-1 (3nb, 3w), Prasad 10-0-75-3 (1w), A Kumble 10-0-64-2 (1nb), N Chopra 10-0-72-0 (7w), S Tendulkar 3-0-18-0 (1w), V Bharadwaj 5-0-44-2, R Singh 2-0-20-0 (1nb, 1w).

India
S Ganguly c Harris bO’Connor 41 (44b, 64m, 7×4), S Tendulkar c Cairns b Styris 32 (31b, 61m, 2×4, 1×6), R Dravid lbw Astle 39 (43b, 56m, 3×4), A Jadeja c Horne (sub) b Astle 95 (97b, 124m, 3×4, 3×6), R Singh c Spearman b Harris 23 (26b, 46m, 1×4), V Bhardawaj c Twose b Vettori 1 (2b, 8m), N Chopra st Parore b Vettori 0 (1b, 3m), MSK Prasad b Astle 2 (3b, 3m), J Srinath c M Horne (sub) b Styris 19 (15b, 18m, 1×4, 1×6), A Kumble c Astle b Styris 15 (16b, 19m, 1×4), V Prasad not out 9 (7b, 8m, 1×4).

Extras:(1b, 7lb, 19w, 3nb) 30.
Total: (in 47 overs, 210m) 306.
Fall of wickets: 1-87, 2-90, 3-171, 4-240, 5-247, 6-248, 7-251, 8-268, 9-288.

Bowling: D Nash 1-0-2-0 (1w), S O’Connor 3-0-42-1 (1w,2nb), C Cairns 8-0-47-0 (7w, 1nb), S Styris 10-0-63-3 (2w), C Harris 10-0-56-1 (1w), D Vettori 8-0-48-2 N Astle 7-0-40-3 (1w).

Result: New Zealand won by 43 runs.
Man of the match: Nathan Astle.