The Hindu : Ganguly, Yuvraj script India's win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 08, 2003

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Ganguly, Yuvraj script India's win

By Vijay Lokapally

The Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly, having a word with Yuvraj Singh during their match-winning partnership against Kenya in their first Super Six World Cup encounter at Newlands on Friday. India won the match by six wickets, with Ganguly notching up a brilliant unbeaten 107. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

CAPE TOWN MARCH 7. The Kenyans lacked the power to tame a tiger as Sourav Ganguly, caged for most part of this tournament, broke his shackles to race to freedom. He batted splendidly in phases to lead from the front and script a face-saving win for India on an eventful night at the Newlands here. Yuvraj Singh too distinguished himself with his second successive and significant half-century of the tournament.

India may have won the match but Kenya had every reason to take pride in this performance against a team which is being projected as a favourite to scale the peak at the ICC Cricket World Cup here. A chancy knock by the experienced Kennedy Obuya set up Kenya's refreshing batting performance which had to be viewed in the right perspective. "I'll be happy if they give a good account of themselves even if they lose the match,'' the Kenya coach Sandeeep Patil had prayed. He need not feel embarrassed. The Indians nearly made a mess of scaling the target before Ganguly took charge and batted with freedom unseen in the last six matches. His was a flawless effort and one which set the tone for India's campaign in the Super Six. It was an innings in keeping with his stature and obviously the team would be mighty pleased with the form of Ganguly, even as concern may have grown at the repeated failures of Virender Sehwag and his mode of dismissals.

Patil told the Kenyans to stay positive. It meant playing their natural game and the task was obviously tough because the batsmen were up against one of the best attacks in the tournament, especially after Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan had looked incisive and accurate against opponents like England and Pakistan. So, the Kenyans stayed positive and came up with a reasonably encouraging display at the Newlands as India opened its Super Six campaign on an expected note.

The Indians had a plan in mind. So had the Kenyans. They snared Sehwag by luring him to play away from the body and pouched Sachin Tendulkar on his productive flick which had worked so well against Pakistan. The failure of Tendulkar was just the tonic for Kenya but it ran into an inspired Ganguly, who ensured a victory by batting splendidly. The captain played the perfect gladiator in an arena which was abuzz in anticipation of an upset tonight.

Ganguly, in scoring his second century of this World Cup and his 21st in one-day internationals, may not have been at his best but he produced a match-winning effort that saved India much embarrassment. He timed the ball as is his wont and stood out because of his aggressive postures. It also worked in India's favour that Yuvraj Singh, his favourite pupil, came good with the bat when things threatened to go of hands for India.

Yuvraj adopted the best way_attack_to find a way out of the dark tunnel as Kenya conjured up a dream victory. It was on the cards when Rahul Dravid, a shadow of the confident batsman that he has been thus far, perished after a struggle but Yuvraj arrived at the right moment and dismissed the Kenyans with an innings that should do a world of good to his attitude in the remaining part of the tournament. In hindsight of course, it was Dravid's 84-run partnership with Ganguly that frustrated the Kenyan hopes.

Earlier, Kenya did most things right after electing to bat. The opening partnership between Ravindu Shah and Kennedy Obuya was just the kind of resistance that Patil had advocated. For Kennedy Obuya it was one glorious experience. He had waited long to dominate the Indian attack and the moment arrived in a big way here. The only Kenyan batsmen to notch up two centuries in one-day internationals, he has been quite an accomplished cricketer for Kenya with 55 appearances. He produced an entertaining innings, even if a charmed one at that, to put the scare in the Indian ranks.

Kennedy Obuya, still listed in the records book as Kennedy Otieno, was a revelation for those who tend to treat the Kenyans lightly. Often he had been accused of gifting away his wicket because of his tendency to indulge in some adventurous strokes. Many a time he had been guilty of wasting a strong start and he came close to repeating those acts on this occasion to but the Indians were quite generous in letting him off four times.

Mongia, who was preferred to V. V. S. Laxman because of his superior fielding, gave two `lives' to Kennedy Obuya. Once he failed to latch on to the offering at first slip and on the second misjudged the skier at midwicket. The `gifted' Mohammad Kaif, stiff as always, grassed the chance at short covers and Harbhajan Singh could not even get his fingers to the catch at square leg. Kennedy Obuya prospered by shedding the cautious route and it helped the team that he could unfold a few stunning strokes, including a straight six off Zaheer and another off Mongia. Obviously he enjoyed the huge slice of luck that enabled him get his eighth half century. For his plucky innings, Kennedy Obuya was also guilty of spoiling the day for Shah, who was run out even as he responded to the partner's call. Shah had batted with lot of purpose to give the team a fine start. Shah showed maturity in building an innings with the aim of providing solidity at one end. He did a good job until the unfortunate run out.

The stage was now left to Maurice Odumbe to guide the lower half and he did his bit even as the Kenyans changed the order by pushing the long-handle hitters ahead of Hitesh Modi and Brijal Patel. It was most creditable of Kenya to have taken the total beyond the 225-mark, making India earn its victory.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was declared Man of the Match

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