Shewag ton powers India to title clash with Sri Lanka
Charlie Austin - 2 August 2001
Looking down and out after their first three games, India stormed into
the final of the Coca-Cola Cup at a sun bathed Sinhalese Sports Club
today after their best batting performance of the tournament to
date.
Required to chase the highest target of the triangular so far, an
imposing 265, after a sloppy performance in the field, India powered
to a seven wicket victory over New Zealand, as Virender Shewag,
opening the innings in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, thumped the
seventh fastest century in the history of one-day cricket and the
second fastest by an Indian.
Already famed for an uncanny likeness to Tendulkar, in both bowling
and batting style, Shewag emerged from the shadow of India's star
batsmen, with some exhilarating strokeplay in the opening 15 overs.
The Delhi batsmen made full use of the fielding restrictions, hitting
Darryl Tuffey for 22 runs in his sixth over and 12 boundaries in all
in his first fifty, which came from just 28 balls.
His second fifty was slower, as he focused his attention on a maiden
one-day century, but he was still no slouch, reaching the landmark off
just 69 balls. Only Shahid Alfridi (37), Brian Lara (45), Sanath
Jayasuriya (48), Mohammad Azharuddin (62), Basit Ali (67) and Ijaz
Ahmed (68) have reached three figures off lesser deliveries and not
many of them would have been missed only once, like Shewag was by
Parore when he had made 98.
This was not, however, just a one man show. When Shewag was bowled by
McMillan's first ball, straight after his celebrations, Sourav Ganguly
held the innings together with Rahul Dravid, who came to the wicket
after the dismissal of VVS Laxman.
Ganguly, lucky to be playing at all after his verbal tirade last
evening, for which he was let off by match referee Cammie Smith with
just a fine and a slap on the wrists, added 33 with Rahul Dravid and
scored 64 from 103 balls before paddling a tame catch to short fine
leg.
With 86 runs required from 17.2 overs, India looked well in control
having lost just three wickets, but those who have watched the team in
the past would not have been totally convinced, especially with the
out of touch Hemang Badani and normally slow scoring Dravid at the
wicket.
Such fears were quickly soothed, as it became clear that Dravid was in
a positive frame of mind and in fine form. He took the bowling by the
scruff of the neck and shepherded his side home with an unbeaten 57
from 56 balls. Badani meanwhile chipped in with a fluent 36 from 38
balls that included two sixes.
Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first on a
wicket, which was being re-used. Aware that the new ball in the
morning represented their greatest threat, they batted cautiously at
the start, scoring just 55 runs in the opening 15 overs, which
compares unfavourably to the 101 scored by India.
Steadily and professionally, however, Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle
raised the tempo, as they added 138 for the second wicket, before the
captain was stumped for 66 as he jumped down the track to Yuvraj
Singh.
Astle went on to score 108, his second century of the series, and was
well supported by Lou Vincent, who came back into the side today.
Vincent scored 45 from 37 deliveries; his highest ever score in ODIs.
India now take on Sri Lanka at the Premadasa International Stadium on
Sunday. Full of confidence after three successive victories, they
probably even start as favourites.
© CricInfo
Teams
|
India,
New Zealand,
Sri Lanka.
|
Players/Umpires
|
Virender Shewag,
Nathan Astle,
Stephen Fleming,
Lou Vincent,
Craig McMillan,
Zaheer Khan,
Ashish Nehra,
Yuvraj Singh,
Harbhajan Singh,
Sourav Ganguly,
Rahul Dravid,
Hemang Badani,
Chris Harris,
Daryl Tuffey,
Kyle Mills.
|
Tournaments
|
Coca-Cola Cup (Sri Lanka) |
Scorecard
|
9th Match: India v New Zealand, 2 Aug 2001 |
Grounds
|
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo
|