India destroy Pak in first one-dayer

Sachin gets Inzi
By ICF Staff
April 2 2005

On the back of centuries by Sehwag and Dravid, and a 5-wicket haul by part-time spinner Tendulkar, India crush Pak by 87 runs in Cochin.

Sourav Ganguly chose to bat after winning the toss, in the midst of stifling summer heat and humidity in this southern coastal town.

The Indian innings swung like a yoyo, quickly losing Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly at the start of the innings.

Then, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid shared in a 201-run stand for the third wicket.

Sehwag's explosive 95-ball 108, studded with 9 fours and 3 towering sixes, dominated the partnership and was the ideal one-day innings. Dravid's century was a more sedate effort, but he added invaluable runs. By the end of his innings he was exhausted, struggling to complete even the easiest of singles, which triggered the fall of Yuvraj and Kaif who attempted to compensate for the slow run rate and lack of singles by going for big shots.

The Indian innings was wrapped up quickly after that, with Bhajji providing the lone resistance towards the end with a 14-run cameo to give India a competitive 281 in 50 overs.

However, it appeared an insufficient total on this pitch, with temperatures cooling down and the pitch providing little assistance to bowlers. Pakistani openers Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal provided an excellent start by hammering 45 in the first 6 overs, and Indian team looking off-color.

However, Sehwag led from the front once again by grabbing a very sharp chance off Balaji to dismiss Akmal for 17. This revitalized the Indian fielders and 2 more brilliant catches, by Ganguly and Yuvraj off Nehra and Balaji, saw Butt and Malik depart cheaply.

Paceman Zaheer Khan then dismissed Yousuf Youhana for a duck, taking a superb one-handed diving catch off his own bowling to set the stage for Tendulkar's heroics, leaving the visitors gasping at 64/4.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, Hafeez, Razzaq, and Afridi still threatened to make a match of it, but Ganguly betted on Tendulkar, and what a bet it was.

It was not long before Inzi stood his ground after being bowled, refusing to believe that it was Sachin's delivery that blew away his off bail and not the keeper. The third umpire sent the Pakistani captain on his way after a replay of the astonishing ball.

Tendulkar, fired up by the big wicket, went on to rip through the Pakistani middle order, taking the next 4 wickets to end with his second 5-for on this ground. Pakistan were bowled out for 194 in 45.2 overs. The part-time leg spinner, after failing with bat, had overshadowed India's lone specialist spinner. It was encouraging to see the return of Bhajji's doosra, despite the presence of controversial referee Chris Broad who has been handing out misguided penalties in defiance of ICC tests, even though it didn't buy him any wicket today.

Man of the Match winner Sehwag, coming off a Man of Series award in the just-completed Test series, said he was in the best form of his life after slamming his seventh one-day century.

Captain Ganguly, who received a big cheer after the win from the sell-out home crowd of 75,000 during the presentation ceremony on Saturday despite his first-ball duck, said it was important for his team to start the series on a winning note, and that they planned to keep up the pressure in Vishakhapatnam on Tuesday.