6th Match: India v Kenya at Port Elizabeth, 17 Oct 2001 Peter Robinson |
India innings:
Pre-game: Kenya innings: |
Angara grabbed the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar as he opened with four successive maidens as India, chasing 247 to win, reached 46 for two after 15 overs. Not out at that point were Jacob Martin on 17 and Rahul Dravid who had yet to score. At the same stage in their innings, Kenya had been 60 for one.
Tendulkar simply could not get out of the blocks on a perfect batting pitch as he faced 20 balls in making just 3. Fourteen of the deliveries came from Angara who bowled the Indian star with the second ball of his third over.
At 7 for one India seemed bewildered by the state of affairs and the first boundary of the innings only arrived in the seventh over when Ganguly glanced Martin Suji to fine leg.
After another maiden from Angara, Ganguly clearly decided that enough was enough, moving down the wicket to crash a six over extra cover and then putting the seamer back over his head for another six as 13 came off the over.
Angara was rested after six overs in which he took one for 19 and when Thomas Odoyo came into the attack he struck immediately, bowling Ganguly behind his legs for 24 to have the Indians 40 for two.
There was another scare for the Indians before the fielding restrictions were lifted when Martin edged Tony Suji just short of Ravindu Shah at slip and later in the over Kennedy Otieno missed a difficult chance from Martin, then on 16.
After both openers had gone within the space of four balls, Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo added 80 for the third wicket with Odoyo the primary aggressor. Tikolo, captain for the day in place of the suspended Maurice Odumbe, made 27 before being bowled by Harbhajan Singh at 203 for three.
Odoyo had reached his own 50 and raised the Kenyan 200 with two fours of Yuvraj Singh in the 42nd over of the innings, but he eventually fell for 51, caught on the midwicket boundary by Jacob Martin off Anil Kumble at 213 for four.
Collins Otieno made only 3 before he skied one off Venkatesh Prasad to be caught by Reetinder Singh Sodhi, but his brother, David, gained some measure of revenge by hitting Prasad’s next ball into the sightscreen for six.
David Otieno went quickly to 26 off 27 balls before he was bowled by Prasad, hitting across the line in the last over of the innings.
For the Indians, whose fielding fell some way below the standards they had set at Centurion Park and in Bloemfontein last week, Harbhajan was again the pick of the bowlers, taking two for 38 in his 10 overs.
Otieno has assumed the senior role in the partnership, hooking Sourav Ganguly for six high over backward square leg for six as the Indian captain was hit out of the attack with 21 coming off his first three overs.
There was a narrow escape for Shah when he had 38 as he scooped Anil Kumble just over the head of Ganguly at wide mid on before Otieno reached his 50 by slashing Reetinder Singh Sodhi over point for his sixth four. Otieno then took Kenya in three figures in the same over, hoisting Sodhi high over long off for his third six.
But having reached 64, Otieno tried to repeat the stroke off the left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh and succeed only in lifting a high catch to Sachin Tendulkar at long off. The first Kenyan wicket had fallen at 121 and four balls and two runs later Shah went for exactly 50, lapping Harbhajan Singh around the corner straight to Yuvraj at backward square leg.
Otieno’s 64 had come off 95 balls with six fours and three sixes while Shah took 50 balls for his 50, hitting five fours.
The dismissals brought Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo together and after 30 overs Tikolo had 4 with Odoyo on 1.
On Friday, Kenya were bowled out for just 90, but Shah and Otieno put together Kenya’s best opening partnership of the series. Not that there were many there to watch it with just a few hundred spectators scattered about the ground.
Shah and Otieno helped themselves to a boundary apiece off Venkatesh Prasad and Harvinder Singh before Sourav Ganguly switched his new ball pair around. Shah played several handsome drives off the back foot off Prasad, but Otieno produced the best shot of the stand when he whipped Prasad over square leg for six.
Shah emulated the stroke in Prasad’s next over with the ball landing just inside the rope and then Otieno produced another fiercely-struck boundary, a spanking straight drive off Harvinder.
The 50 came up when Otieno dabbed a Harvinder no ball down to third man for a single in the 13th over and when the fielding restrictions were lifted, Shah had 29 with Otieno on 24. Kenya had scored at four runs to the over at this point.
Tikolo has taken over from Maurice Odumbe, banned for two matches for comments he made about umpire Dave Orchard after Sunday’s game against South Africa in Kimberley.
The Kenyans, still without a win in the series, brought in Sandeep Gupta and Joseph Angara with Jimmy Kamande dropping out.
India, meanwhile, made three changes to the team that crushed Kenya by 10 wickets in Bloemfontein last Friday. Virender Sehwag, Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar were rested with Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Venkatesh Prasad and Harvinder Singh coming into the side.
Teams
Kenya: Steve Tikolo (capt) Kennedy Otieno, Ravindu Shah, David Otieno, Sandeep Gupta, Thomas Odoyo, Martin Suji, Tony Suji, Collins Otieno, Brijal Patel, Peter Ochieng.
India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Yuvraj Singh, Jacob Martin, Deep Dasgupta, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Harvinder Singh.
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Date-stamped : 17 Oct2001 - 23:06