Sports

Honours Even!

With the matches being more or less a run feast, the two teams have shared the honours evenly, no matter who wins the series

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Honours Even!
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At Jodhpur, it was once again the surprise package, Sanjay Bangar, who did it for India. An unbeaten 32 off 38 balls saw India safe before the top order yet again made the customary mess of chasing a gettable target. From being 147 for 3 in the 33rd over India were 148 for 6 in the 35th over when Bangar walked in.

Compared to the totals that they have been chasing and the way they have been going about it of late, India made a mess of chasing the 201 set by the Caribbeans.

Rahul Dravid, captain of the side in absence of Saurav Ganguly, led from the front topscoring with 58. His 99-run partnership with Yuvraj Singh helped India recover from the early loss of three wickets. Yuvraj made 54 off 64 balls with six fours.

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In the end, it was left to Bangar and Agarkar to the see India through to the end safely. Agarkar, declared the man of the match for his 3 for 24, was instrumental with Bangar and Murali Kartik keeping the punishing West Indian batsmen quiet.

BARODA ODI: At Baroda, it was once again a blazing assault from their opening batsmen that helped the West Indies to come back and post a 3-2 lead in the series. They registered an emphatic five-wicket victory.

Set a target of 291 in a fixture reduced to 48 overs per side, Wavell Hinds attacked the Indian bowling with such savagery that his equally aggressive partner, Chris Gayle, trailed in his wake. The pair plundered 132 runs off just 17 overs. The ferocity and frequency of his strokeplay left another full house in Baroda in stunned silence while Indian captain Saurav Ganguly was left completely clueless.

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Hinds smashed five sixes in a 61-ball innings of 80 and by the time he departed, top edging an attempted swing to leg-off Virender Sehwag, the other West Indies batsmen merely needed to maintain their composure to formalise the result. Gayle went on to complete his third ton of the series, but such was the impact of Hinds’ explosive performance that match referee Mike Proctor had no option but to award him the Man of the Match title.

Ahmedabad ODI: In Ahmedabad it was the same story, though this time it was scripted by the Indians. It was India’s formidable batting line-up that fashioned yet another remarkable run-chase to defeat the West Indies by five wickets.

Five months after they successfully chased 325 to defeat England in the final of the tri-nation series at Lord’s, Saurav Ganguly’s men did it again in an even more emphatic fashion, winning with more than two overs to spare to the undisguised delight of a capacity 50,000 crowd at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium.

Chris Gayle took the Man of the Match award for another spectacular assault on India’s bowlers, racing to 140 off 127 deliveries in the touring side’s total of 324 for four. So, it was scant consolation for being on the losing end after such an individual effort. Ramnaresh Sarwan’s consistent run in the series continued with another fine innings but he was left stranded on 99 when the overs ran out.

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Whereas India relied on young stars Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh to pilot them to the famous triumph in London, the victory in Ahmedabad was fetched by the veterans, headed by the insurmountable Rahul Dravid.

A considerably improved Dravid, who has of late been able to notch up a commendable strike rate to silence his critics, kept a cool head through an early assault from the West Indies opening bowlers. He also held firm when the middle order wobbled slightly and then joined Sanjay Bangar in the late charge that produced an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 94 in just nine overs.

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He had the satisfaction of hitting the winning runs to finish on 109, while Bangar, remembered for his dour efforts in the Test series, turned into a banger and exploded 57 runs in 41 balls to provide the support and impetus that Dravid desperately needed.

The total, though imposing, did not prove enough to hold India back from essaying a victory.

Incidentally, the win at Jodhpur also meant that Dravid has won all the three matches he has led India in. His first victory as captain came against Zimbabwe at Rajkot in 2000 and the other was against Sri Lanka in Colombo last year.

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It is only providence that when this page went to press the 7th odi at Vijaywada had become the decider keeping the suspense in the series alive. The Jodhpur win also means that Hooper would be denied the rest he was hoping to take and it also means that Ganguly may perhaps come back to try and wrest the issue.

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