Ashish Nehra and Javagal Srinath were the cannon fodder in Chris Gayle's poker-faced destruction of India. He ravaged them for 68 off 38 balls. The pitch yielded startling life to Merv Dillon and Pedro Collins, so the blame clearly lay elsewhere. Srinath and Nehra conceded 124 runs in 14 overs of rubbish. With Gayle smashing his fifty in 30 balls, Harbhajan Singh took over in the 10th over of the innings. His remarkable first spell read 5-1-6-0. The five overs before Harbhajan's entry had gone for 55. But with him bowling in tandem with Murali Kartik, Gayle and West Indies managed only 33 runs in the next ten, a crucial hiatus for India. Gayle's onslaught had been halted.

Of the 81 balls Gayle faced from the slow bowlers, 58 were on a good length and with less width for the booming drives that murdered the medium-pace bowlers. Seeing that, Ganguly ensured that spinners bowled 81 of the 127 balls Gayle faced. They delivered 39 of the 54 dot balls in Gayle's knock It helped save India from being hopelessly batted out of the match, even after 41 had been plundered in the last 3 overs of the innings.

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