da bet7k： India clinched the five match India Zimbabwe oneday series with a fine nine wicket win at theGreen Park stadium in Kanpur on Monday
da imperador bet： Natarajan Sriram11-Dec-2000India clinched the five match India Zimbabwe oneday series with a fine nine wicket win at theGreen Park stadium in Kanpur on Monday. it was theallround display by their skipper Sourav Ganguly,who played the lead role to perfection, whichensured a thumping win for the hosts. It wasGanguly’s day. With a five wicket haul and aunbeaten 71 off 68 balls, there was no question asto who the man of the day was.Ganguly always tends to set an example on thefield. And today was no exception. Bowling a fullquota of ten overs, he tormented the Zimbabweanbatsmen to no end. With the pitch having lowbounce, any bowler would prove to be a handful.Deciding on bringing himself on, Ganguly struck agood line and before long sent back Andy Flower(20). Trying to force the pace the southpaw heavedGanguly only to be caught by Agarkar at midwicket.This gave Ganguly added confidence since it hasbeen quite some time since he bowled his fullquota of overs. Bringing himself back for anotherspell on the other side of the first drinks break,he packed off Grant Flower (6) and Stuart Carlisle(20). The Zimbabwean captain Heath Streak (3) alsodid not last long. At 141 for 6, the Zimbabweaninnings was going nowhere. It was just a matter oftime before the innings folded up. Ganguly thentrapped Travis Friend (6) giving him his secondfive wicket haul in international cricket. Thevisitors’ innings folded up in the 45th over whenAgarkar picked up the final wicket, that ofOlonga, who gave a return catch.Having reduced the visitors to 164, Ganguly andTendulkar went about their work with clinicalprecision. The way Ganguly dismissed Friend fromthe attack gave a glimpse of what was in store forthe 45,000 odd crowd. The two displayed utmostaggression while driving and pulling at will. Butthe most striking aspect is that the two batsmenforced the visitors into submission. They put upthe 100-run partnership on the board in the 15thover. The same over witnessed Tendulkar crossinghis fifty – incidentally his 50th half century ininternational career. The chase entered the lastphase with Ganguly also reaching his half centuryin the 20th over. Three overs later the Indiantotal crossed 150 as Ganguly launched into astraight drive over Nkala’s head.The stand came to a rather tame end, when withonly the formalities needed to be completed,Friend trapped Tendulkar leg before in the 25thover of the innings. Tendulkar faced 86 balls forhis 56. Ganguly needed just two scoring shotsafter his partner’s dismissal to clinch the seriesin favour of India.Earlier the Zimbabwean batsmen displayed abjectinability to face up to the Indian attack. Butcredit should be given to the openers AlisterCampbell and T Modondo, for battling it out in themiddle against some inspired bowling by ZaheerKhan. The Zimbabwean innings was pegged on theback foot early. On a pitch that offered littlebounce and with the ball not coming on to the bat,the Zimbabweans kept losing wickets in the middleovers. The innings folded up with the last batsmanOlonga offering a simple return catch to Agarkarin the 45th over.
