Close India 351 for 3 (S Tendulkar 146, S Ganguly 111) beat Kenya 165 for 5 (K Obuya 40) by 186 runs
Scorecard

Things went exactly as Sourav Ganguly would have planned -- India won the toss, posted an insurmountable total, and shut Kenya out of the contest before they went out to bat. The record 258-run first-wicket partnership he shared with Sachin Tendulkar set India up for a huge score, and the nail was driven into the coffin by an incredible 23-ball unbeaten 55 by Virender Sehwag. In the end, Kenya didn't even get half of India's score.

Ganguly did the Indian cause a huge favour by winning his second toss of the tournament. As expected, he chose to bat. India started slowly -- the pressure of playing what amounted to a knockout match seemed to weigh heavily on both Tendulkar and Ganguly, as just 19 runs came in the first five overs.

That was the only time Kenya were in the contest. Tendulkar played a lovely cover-drive off Martin Suji in the third over, but the run-riot began only when 11 came off Suji's fourth over, the seventh of the innings.

Sourav Ganguly joined the party in Suji's next over. He moved to leg and smashed Suji over wide long-off for four, pulled a good length delivery on middle and leg over midwicket for a glorious six, and then helped a leg-side ball over fine-leg for four. In all, 79 runs came between overs 5 and 15, as India raced to 98 for 0 in 15 overs.

Having established a solid platform, both batsmen milked the Kenyan spinners in the middle overs, as only 47 came off the next 10 overs. Collins Obuya's flat legspin combined well with Steve Tikolo's gentle offbreaks to check the big hits, and both batsmen seemed to be taking a breather before launching into another onslaught.

The floodgates opened as soon as Tendulkar reached his 31st century in one-day internationals. It took him exactly 100 deliveries, and he soon signalled his intentions with authoritative sweeps off Brijal Patel and Maurice Odumbe, and a square cut off Odumbe.

Sourav Ganguly nudged on to his 18th one-day hundred, off 118 balls, but fell soon after as he clipped Thomas Odoyo high in the air on the leg side and Brijal Patel ran in from long-on to take the catch.

Odoyo got rid of Tendulkar too, when he pulled a full-toss to Maurice Odumbe on the edge of the circle at midwicket. Tendulkar departed just four runs short of his 150. After an economical opening spell, Odoyo had the satisfaction of dismissing both openers in consecutive overs.

Laxman's first innings in South Africa was a brief 14-ball 15, but Sehwag provided the final impetus to the innings. He waded into Martin Suji in the final over, scoring 20 off the last four balls. The final 10 overs yielded 105 runs; more incredibly, 74 came off the last five.

Kenya were never in the hunt. Ravindu Shah started positively, but his run-out, and then the early dismissal of Steve Tikolo, put paid to their chances of achieving a semblance of respectability. Kennedy Obuya pottered around for 97 deliveries to score 40, and Hitesh Modi was undefeated on 31, but the match was over long before the final ball was bowled.

The Indian pace bowlers looked disciplined. Srinath kept the ball up to the batsmen, while Agarkar generated a fair amount of pace and had Obuya jumping in discomfort against the short delivery. Kumble and Harbhajan troubled most of the Kenyan batsmen, while Reetinder Sodhi had a useful six-over spell.

India's experiment with Rahul Dravid behind the stumps was partly successful -- he effected two smart stumpings, even as he missed some leg-side collections and conceded a few byes.

India won with lots to spare, and can now look forward to causing an upset at Durban on Friday.

S Rajesh is a sub-editor with Wisden.com India.

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