India Lose By 84 Runs

Colombo

India put up one of their worst performances in recent memory to surrendermeekly against a steady New Zealand bowling attack on a slow pitch to lose theiropening one-day league match of the triseries by a big 84-run margin here today.

Bogged down by an exceptionally sluggish wicket and some tight bowling by theKiwis, India never really looked to be in the chase, losing two vital wickets bythe second over of the innings after New Zealand won the toss and elected tobat.

Lured into complacence by a less than modest total of 211, India weredismissed for 127 with 8.5 overs to spare and only V V S Laxman making arespectable contribution of 60.

Earlier, riding on a 117-run knock by all-rounder Nathan Astle, New Zealandtried to make most of the far from friendly pitch to cross the 200 mark afterthey were off to a disastrous start, losing opener Mathew Sinclair to the veryfirst ball of the match.

India's woes began with Yuvraj Singh's unlucky dismissal at six and the total on13. He was adjudged leg before off paceman Kyle Mills when the ball seemed topitch outside the leg stump.

But it was anything but luck when skipper Saurav Ganguly, who was expected tolead by example in the absence of his illustrious teammate Sachin Tendulkar,gifted his wicket away without a run being added to the total.

Tendulkar was ruled out of the entire triseries owing to hairline fracture inthe right big toe.

Ganguly's five runs came off 17 deliveries before he was caught by veteranChris Harris at point off seamer Daryl Tuffey.

India's hopes hinged heavily on Rahul Dravid but he too disappointed failingto judge a rising delivery by the medium pace bowler Dion Nash and edging toMathew Sinclair when on 15.

With the pitch playing tricks, more so after sunset, and a superb fieldingand bowling attack, it was never going to be easy for India and it seemed thebatsmen realised this early on and had prepared themselves for the defeat.

It was almost over for India when Nash struck twice in the 21st over to dismissHemang Badani (2) who nicked to wicketkeepr Adam Parore, and Virender Sehwag whoballooned a simple catch to Harris at point for a duck.

Though India was down at 50 for five and needed 5.42 runs an over, Laxmanoffered a glimmer of hope with a couple of robust shots. He reached his halfcentury in style with a brilliantly cut four off Astle.

Reetinder Sodhi, who came at the fall of Sehwag, also infused some life intothe batting with his heroics which included a powerful six over long on offVettori but his efforts were not enough to see India through as he fell for 18,clean bowled by Harris.

Laxman, who has struggled with his footwork ever since the Australian series,also succumbed to mounting pressure and holed out a catch to Harris off Vettorito leave India in dire straits at 123 for 8.

The scores of other Indian batsmen were nothing to write home about - SameerDighe (9), Harbhajan Singh (0), Zaheer Khan (2), A Nehra (2 not out), allfalling prey to a Kiwi attack which gave nothing away.

The bowling figures said it all in the end with Tuffey returning 7-2-7-1,Nash 6-0-13-3 and Harris 8-1-23-3.

Earlier, New Zealand batsmen too found it difficult to score on a pitch wherethe ball was coming slowly on to the bat with only man-of-the-match NathanAstle's fighting century shining among mediocre performances from his teammates.

Astle played the sheet anchor role to perfection and held on till almost theend, hitting nine fours and a six in his 117-run knock off 148 balls beforebeing run out by Sodhi.

Astle alongwith Fleming overcame the loss of Sinclair to put up a vital70-run stand for the second wicket.

New Zealand, however, failed to step up the run rate in the end overs againstsome tight Indian bowling and good fielding and it seemed they could have donewith about 20-30 runs more to the total.

Harbhajan Singh was the most economical bowler for the Indians, claiming 2wickets for 25 off his 10 overs as Ganguly used his spinners to bowl 33 out of50 overs.

But Nash and Harris made up for the modest total scalping three wickets eachto strangulate the Indian batting line up.

PTI

Ganguly blamesslow pitch for India's fall