Lankans have no answer to 'Sodhi special'

By Sanjay Rajan

COLOMBO, JAN. 22. There was a spring in their step which had been missing thus far. But today was refreshingly different and that made all the difference in the end.

Playing against Sri Lanka in a contest billed as the match of the Youth World Cup by the vociferous home supporters, India bearded the lion in its den to win by 41 runs and top Group II of the Super-Eights. India, however, had to survive some nerve-wracking moments as Rashan Pieris, the diminutive wicketkeeper, threatened to pull it off for the host at the Premadasa Stadium.

The boy who made it all possible for India was Reetinder Singh Sodhi. The Punjab lad held the innings together with a gritty 74 (81b, 4x4, 1x6) and came back to take two wickets.

The contest between the joint favourites was of no consequence with both sides having already qualified for the semifinals. But the real tug was for the advantage that goes with topping the group-to avoid a meeting with Pakistan, the third favourite, in the last four stage.

India will meet Australia, which qualified as the second team from Group I, in the second semifinals at the Saravanamuthu Stadium on January 25 while Sri Lanka clashes with Pakistan, the Group I topper, in Galle a day before.

India, opting to bat, lost Manish Sharma early and skipper Md. Kaif a little later even as opener Ravneet Ricky guided the side to 74 by the 18th over. The Sri Lankan opening bowlers, Nissanka and Ganegama, were accurate but with the pitch unhelpful, skipper Gajanayake brought on his spinners early.

Left-hander Yuveraj Singh, probably the hardest striker of the ball in the championship, and Sodhi brought the side back on track with a 49-run fifth-wicket stand as the Lankan spinners made no impression. Sodhi and the dapper southpaw Niraj Patel then took the team past the 200-run mark with an 89-run fifth wicket stand, the feature being their running between the wickets.

Sri Lanka made an exciting start when opener Weeraratne pulled Salabh Srivastava for a six off the first ball of the innings. The top-order played some attractive shots, but none had the heart to stay leaving the team tottering at 76 for five.

India came up with a much improved fielding performance. The bowlers too did a good job except during the phase when it became defensive. Off-spinner Venugopala Rao was warned again not to bowl the faster delivery and according to informed sources, he would not bowl in the ensuing matches and play only as a batsman.

Pieris and Lokuarachchi put on 57 for the seven wicket to enable Sri Lanka stay in the chase before the latter played on to left- arm spinner Yuveraj Singh. Pieris continued the good work but the writing on the wall was clear.

Pakistan defeated the West Indies at the Colombo Cricket Club ground to record its third straught win while Tim Welford's allround show enabled Australia beat New Zealand in Moratuwa for its second win. West Indies finished third with one victory and New Zealand fourth with no points.

lThe scores:

India: Manish Sharma c Nissanka b Ganegama 11, Ravneet Ricky c Pushpakumara b Dhammika 32, Md. Kaif c Kandambi b Dhammika 12, Yuveraj Singh st Pieris b Pushpakumara 36, Reetinder Singh Sodhi (run out) 74, Niraj Patel c Nissanka b Dhammika 43, Venugopala Rao (not out) 14, M. Tripathy c Weeraratne b Dhammika 0, Ajay Ratra (not out) 6; Extras (lb-1, w- 8, nb-5) 14; Total (for seven wkts. in 50 overs) 242.

Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Sharma), 2-51 (Kaif), 3-74 (Ricky), 4-123 (Yuveraj), 5-212 (Sodhi), 6-234 (Niraj), 7-235 (Tripathy).

Sri Lanka bowling: Nissanka 5-1-19-0, Ganegama 6-0-27-1, Weeraratne 3-0-20-0, Dhammika 10-1-43-4, Pushpakumara 10-0-38-1, Lokuarachchi 7-0-35-0, Daniel 1-0-5-0, Mubarak 8-0-54-0.

Sri Lanka: K. Weeraratne lbw b Tripathy 6, Ian Daniel c Ricky b Tripathy 14, Jehan Mubarak c Sodhi b Srivastava 30, Thilina Kandambi c Yuveraj Singh b Venugopala Rao 4, Malintha Gajanayake c Ajay Ratra b Sodhi 16, Muthumudaliage Pushpakumara c Srivastava b Sodhi 11, Rashan Pieris st Ratra b Kaif 61, Kaushal Lokuarachchi b Yuveraj 30, Ranil Dhammika c & b Kaif 2, Akalanka Ganegama (not out) 14, Prabath Nissanka b Kaif 1; Extras (lb-3, w-7, nb-2) 12; Total (in 45.4 overs) 201.

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Weeraratne), 2-44 (Daniel), 3-56 (Mubarak), 4-76 (Kandambi), 5-76 (Gajanayake), 6- 106 (Pushpakumara), 7-163 (Lokuarachchi), 8-167 (Dhammika), 9-197 (Pieris).

India bowling: Srivastava 8-0-49-1, Tripathy 6-0-19-2, Venugopala Rao 5-2-17-1, Sodhi 7-0-22-2, Dave 4-0-25-0, Yuveraj 8-1-38-1, Kaif 7.4-1-29-3.

Other results:

Group II: England 260 for seven in 50 overs (Ian Pattison 97, Gary Pratt 51, Tim Phillips 26, Aamir Akhtar three for 57) bt Nepal 196 in 46.3 overs (Virendra Vikram Shah 32, Paras Lunia 37 not out, Justin Bishop three for 39, Graeme Bridge three for 28), at Moors.

Group I: Australia 122 in 42.2 overs (Edward Cowan 28, Tim Welsford 30, James Franklin four for 18) bt New Zealand 53 in 27 overs (Tim Welsford five for 22), in Moratuwa.

West Indies 182 in 49.4 overs (Kirk Wilkinson 29, Ryan Hinds 32, Sionarine Chattergoon 44, Zahid Saeed four for 27) lost to Pakistan 185 for seven in 43.1 overs (Faizal Iqbal 67 not out, Taufeeq Umar 65, Ryan Hinds four for 19), at CCC.

Sunday's schedule - Plate championship: Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, Kenya v Namibia, South Africa v Ireland and Americas v Holland.

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