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Indian collapse squares Toronto series
Anand Vasu - 13 September 1999

Having beaten West Indies convincingly in the first game of the DMC Toronto series, India made no changes in their line-up going in to the second game. West Indies on the other hand brought in Merv Dillon and Jimmy Adams to replace Hendy Bryan and Adrian Griffith. Brian Lara won the toss and elected to bat first.

Ridley Jacobs and Sherwin Campbell weathered the opening spell from Prasad and Mohanty, but Nikhil Chopra was immediately successful when he came on to bowl the 10th over. Chopra tossed the ball up outside off-stump and invited Jacobs to play on the front foot. Jacobs came forward but only managed to inside edge the ball onto his stumps, scoring 11 from 32 balls.

With Chanderpaul at the crease, the Indian captain Ganguly introduced spin at both ends and this helped stem the flow of runs. After 14 overs West Indies had just 47 on the board. With the batsmen gaining the ascendancy after a while, Ganguly brought himself in to the attack and struck with his very first delivery. Chanderpaul played at a ball going down leg-side and tickled the ball through to the wicketkeeper. Diving low, MSK Prasad took a good catch to dismiss Chanderpaul for 7.

Sherwin Campbell brought up his fifty with a superb flick off Ganguly from his 64th delivery of the innings. Chris Gayle was next to go, just as he started to look impressive. He played across the line to a straight ball from Ganguly and was trapped plumb in front of the stumps. Gayle had made 15 off 22 balls.

Campbell's patient innings came to an end in the end of the 32nd over when he tried to turn Joshi around the corner. The ball straightened up a bit and rapped Campbell just below the knee roll. Umpire Steve Dunne had no hesitation in raising his finger and sending Campbell on his way. Campbell had batted very sensibly for his 59.

The Powell hurricane breezed in and out of the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. Off the second ball he faced, Powell thumped Mohanty over long-on for six, in characteristic fashion. Two balls later, Powell chased at a ball outside off-stump. The ball moved away late and the Indian fielders were up appealing for a catch behind. Umpire Harper upheld the appeal in a flash and Powell was on his way. The ball appeared to have missed the outside edge, but nevertheless Powell was gone and West Indies were struggling at 126 for 5.

Brian Lara fell to one of the most spectacular wicketkeeping catches of the recent past. Bowling from around the wickets Ganguly cramped Lara up for room with a ball that was angled in towards the batsman. The ball flew off the outside edge of Lara's bat and Prasad threw himself full length to his left and plucked the ball out of the air. Prasad rolled over, beaming all over. The Indians knew how important Lara's wicket was. Saurav Ganguly had picked up his third wicket and West Indies were in serious trouble.

Jimmy Adams and Mervyn Dillon struggled in the final overs and West Indies ended their innings at 190 for 6. Adams' unbeaten 22 off 43 balls was uninspiring at best. The West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals and could not post a sizable total. For India, Chopra (1/26) was the most economical bowler, while Mister Toronto, Saurav Ganguly (3/37) claimed the most scalps.

Chasing 191 for victory, disaster struck for India in the second over of the day. Ramesh Played at a ball from Reon King away from his body and edged the ball to Powell in the slips, gone for a second-ball duck. In the very same over, Brian Lara turned the heat on, fielding at mid-wicket. Dravid played to Lara and set off for a single. Prasad ran a little casually, and Lara's powerful throw knocked the stumps down before Prasad could make his ground. Prasad was gone for a duck as well, and India were struggling at 2 for 2.

Corey Collymore was brought in to the attack at the end of the 6th over. Ganguly went after a wide delivery from Collymore and hit the ball in the air in the point region. Chanderpaul took a brilliant catch diving low and the Indian captain was gone. India were in serious trouble at 12 for 3.

Collymore turned the heat on and bowled with fire. The newcomer Kanitkar found it very difficult to even pick up singles. The West Indian team were charged up on the field. The fielders backed their bowlers up very well, and in turn the bowlers tightened the screws on the Indians.

Brian Lara then attacked further, bringing his number one bowler Courtney Walsh back into the attack to bowl the 13th over. King's 6 overs cost him just 9 runs. Walsh bowled a terrific line, spearing the ball in at Dravid. Walsh began his second spell with a maiden over.

From this point on, the West Indian pacemen dominated the game totally. The Indians simply did not have the required skills or guts to counter the high quality fast bowling that was being dished out by the West Indian quicks. Dillon squeezed Kanitkar so hard that he had to fend at a ball outside off- stump. The ball moved away with the angle of delivery and kissed the edge of the bat on its way. Ridley Jacobs pouched the catch and Kanitkar was gone having scored a mere 2 off 33 balls. Merv Dillon began his third over by trapping Dravid plumb in front. Dravid tried to play the ball across the line and missed the ball completely. Dravid was the only Indian batsman who looked like he was in the right class of cricket, but he too was gone. Dravid had made 16 off 59 balls. At that point, Dravid was indeed the only Indian batsman to reach double figures.

Robin Singh (4) fell to a runout from an outfield return by Mervyn Dillon, while debutant Jacob Martin made 7, India slumping to 43 for 7.

Sunil Joshi and Nikhil Chopra then occupied the crease for a while without doing very much to help the Indian cause. While both of them could bat a bit, neither seemed to be capable of finding ways to score off the West Indian quicks. Joshi finally decided to take the attack to the opposition and hit Adams for a straight six before holing out to Powell at deep mid- wicket off the bowling of Adams. Chopra was beaten in the flight and off the pitch by an off-spinner from Chris Gayle and he too departed. Venkatesh Prasad and Debashish Mohanty provided some comic relief, but they too folded up soon enough and India slumped to a 70 run loss.

Sherwin Campbell was named man of the match for his well paced knock of 59.

The 2nd match of the DMC Toronto Cricket Festival exposed the Indian batting to the maximum possible extent. After India lost a couple of quick wickets, they at no stage looked like they were going to offer a fight. Apart from Ganguly and Dravid, the rest of the batting looks very dicey - even on paper. Out in the middle against quality opposition, the Indian batting looked completely inept.

It was hardly surprising that the top-scorer in the Indian innings was batsman number 12 - Extras, with 26, which is more than what the top six Indian batsmen scored put together.


Countries India, West Indies.
Players Sherwin Campbell, MSK Prasad, Nikhil Chopra, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Joshi.
Tournaments DMC Toronto Cricket Festival
Scorecard 2nd Match: India v West Indies, 12 Sep 1999