Zimbabwe taste Azhar-Jadeja thunder

CUTTACK, April 9: Brilliant centuries by skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and his deputy Ajay Jadeja and an unbroken world record partnership of ...

CUTTACK, April 9: Brilliant centuries by skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and his deputy Ajay Jadeja and an unbroken world record partnership of 275 runs between them helped India thrash Zimbabwe by 32 runs in their last league match of the Pepsi triangular cricket series at the Barabati Stadium here on Thursday.

Set a target of 302 runs, Zimbabwe were never in the race though they scored at six runs per over for about 30 overs. Grant Flower fought a losing battle becoming the third centurion of the match in the process and was associated in partnerships of 69 for the second wicket with Murray Goodwin 47 and 87 for the sixth wicket with Heath Streak 30. Apart from these efforts the Zimbabwe batsmen never rose to the occasion and were content in reducing the margin with an eye on the rate.

If they beat Australia in the last league encounter, the team with a better run rate will earn the right to play hosts India in the final. India, with today8217;s win, rounded off their league engagements with an all-winrecord.

Grant Flower played a patient innings staying at the wicket for 208 minutes and saw wickets tumble at the other end at regular intervals. He reached his second hundred in one-dayers with a smashing sweep of Rahul Sanghvi. But, the left-arm spinner had the last laugh forcing a return catch the very next ball.

Medium-pacer Venkatesh Prasad got the early breakthrough scalping rival skipper Alistair Campbell who edged an out-swinger to his counterpart, Azhar, at the second slip. Ajith Agarkar, Sourav Ganguly and off-spinner Hrishikesh Kanithkar bagged two wickets each while local star Debashish Mohanty went wicketless.

Earlier, put into bat, India started disastrously losing three quick wickets. Medium-pacer Mpumelelo Mbangwa struck in his second over claiming two wickets in four balls. Sachin Tendulkar, after a thundering century in the last match against Australia at Kanpur, went cheaply attempting to drive an away-going delivery and debutant VVS Lakshman played across to be declared lbw, to thelast ball of the over, without bothering the scorers. India were eight for two at that stage.

Soon after Saurav Ganguly too departed, beaten by the bounce, edging Heath Streak to Andy Flower behind the stumps and India were tottering at 26 for three.

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However Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja steadied the innings before opening out after 30 overs. In the process they shattered several records and remained together at the end of 50 overs. First they surpassed the record fourth-wicket partnership for India which stood at 164 between Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli and then battered the 231-run partnership between Tendulkar and Navjot Sidhu before smashing the world record for any wicket erasing the earlier one of 263 between Pakistanis Aamir Sohail and Inzamam-ul-Haq for third wicket against New Zealand at Sharjah in 1993-94.

Initially, Azhar mixed caution with aggression but as the innings progressed he grew in confidence and treated the bowlers with scant respect.

He crossed his career-best score of 111not out which came against Sri Lanka in Colombo, in 1997-98. He remained unconquered on 153 and hit 17 immaculate boundaries, most of them coming from elegant cover drives.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

S Ganguly c A Flower b Streak 13, S Tendulkar c A Flower b Mbangwa 1, VVS Laxman lbw Mbangwa 0, Md Azharuddin not out 153, A Jadeja not out 116. Extras lb 2, w 14, nb 3: 19. Total 3 wickets, 50 overs: 301.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-8, 3-26.

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Bowling: Streak 10-0-56-1, Mbangwa 9-0-47-2, Whittal 8-0-68-0, Brent 5-0-26-0, Huckle 8-1-42-0, Evans 6-0-39-0, Grant Flower 4-0-21-0

ZIMBABWE

G Flower c amp; b Sanghvi 102, A Campbell c Azharuddin b Prasad 11, M Goodwin c Kanitkar b Agarkar 47, A Flower b Agarkar 3, G Whittal run out 13, H Streak b Ganguly 30, P Strang run out 8, C Evans b Ganguly 4, G Brent b Kanitkar 24, M Mbangwa c Prasad b Kanitkar 8, A Huckle not out 0; Extras: lb 7, nb 3, w 9: 19 Total all out in 48.4 overs: 269

Fall of wickets: 1-23,2-92, 3-104, 4-121, 5-188, 6-204, 7-211, 8-255, 9-269.

Bowling: Prasad 7-0-40-1, Mohanty 10-0-54-0, Agarkar 8-0-45-2, Ganguly 8-0-34-2, Sanghvi 7-0-43-1, Kanitkar 6.4-0-26-2, Tendulkar 2-0-20-0.

INDIA VS ZIMBABWE ODI HIGHLIGHTS

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Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja set a world record for the highest partnership in one-day internationals during the Pepsi Triangular Series match against Zimbabwe at Cuttack today. They added 275 runs for the fourth wicket which erased the previous best of 263 runs between Aamir Sohail and Inzamam-ul-Haq for Pakistan against New Zealand at Sharjah in 1993-94. India8217;s previous best tie-up for any wicket was 231 runs for the second wicket between Sachin Tendulkar and Navjot Singh Sidhu against Pakistan at Sharjah in 1995-96.

Mohammed Azharuddin8217;s unbeaten 153 is the second highest individual score for India in one-dayers after Kapil Dev8217;s 175 not out against Zimbabwe at Turnbridge Wells during the 1983 World Cup. It was Azharuddin8217;ssixth century in one-dayers.

Ajay Jadeja8217;s unbeaten 116 was his fourth century in one-day internationals.

It was the 22nd instance in the world scene and fourth time for India when two batsmen scored centuries in an innings. The other instances for India involved Ravi Shastri 109 and Sanjay Manjrekar 105 against South Africa at New Delhi in 1991-92, Sachin Tendulkar 118 and Navjot Sidhu 101 against Pakistan at Sharjah in 1995-96 and Mohammed Azharuddin 111 no and Ajay Jadeja 119 against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1997-98.

India, today, recorded their highest total against Zimbabwe, scoring 301 for three in 50 overs, bettering their previous best of 274 for four in 50 overs at Vadodara during the current series.

India have now crossed the 300-run mark five times in 347 one-dayers.

Grant Flower became the first Zimbabwean to score a century against India in one-day internationals. He made 102 off 117 balls with eight fours. Alistair Campbell, who made 86 at Benoni,South Africa, in 1996-97 held the previous record of highest individual score against India for Zimbabwe.

8212; Compiled by S Pervez Qaiser.