6th Match: India v West Indies at Harare, 4 Jul 2001 John Ward |
India innings:
West Indies innings: Pre-game: |
The fifty came up in the eighth over as Tendulkar hooked a short ball from Mervyn Dillon for six, and he went on to a personal fifty off 49 balls, soon followed by Ganguly off 80. The West Indian bowlers failed to keep a consistent length and the batsmen were never under real pressure. After 25 overs they appeared to be well set for victory at 128 for no wicket (Tendulkar 65, Ganguly 58).
Wavell Hinds was next to his fifty, which came off 57 balls, tribute to his ability to keep the score moving almost constantly, mainly with back-foot drives and the occasional pull. He alone of the top batsmen seemed able consistently to evade the fielders, and a score of 157 for two after 40 overs was perhaps not enough on such a flat pitch.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, perhaps frustrated in his efforts to keep the score moving, chipped a catch to midwicket off Debashish Mohanty to depart for 16. Then Hinds skied an attempted pull to be caught and bowled for 66 by Harvinder Singh, making West Indies 170 for four.
Carl Hooper and Ridley Jacobs had to reorganize the innings, which they did quite successfully until Hooper (24) holed out at long-on off Harvinder. Jacobs, with 27 not out, as usual did all that was asked of him, while Ramnaresh Sarwan was unbeaten with 13, but 229 for five was probably rather less than West Indies would have liked in good batting conditions.
After 27 overs, West Indies were 89 for one (Ganga 38, Wavell Hinds 24).
Play began on a clear winter’s day, with the flattest of pitches, but India still decided to bowl on winning the toss. Both teams played one or two reserve players, but West Indies are concerned about Cameron Cuffy, the best bowler of the tournament to date, who had a leg injury and was also doubtful for the final on Saturday.
The teams were as follows:
India: *Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Hemang Badani, Rahul Dravid, Virender Shewag, Reetinder Sodhi, +Sameer Dighe, Harbhajan Singh, Harvinder Singh, Debashish Mohanty, Ashish Nehra.
West Indies: Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, *Carl Hooper, Ramnaresh Sarwan, +Ridley Jacobs, Neil McGarrell, Mervyn Dillon, Reon King, Colin Stuart.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 04 Jul2001 - 18:27