da marjack bet： It was a vintage performance from Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Gangulythat guided India to an easy win over Kenya in the land of vineyards,Paarl, on Wednesday
Krishnamachari Srikkanth26-Oct-2001It was a vintage performance from Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Gangulythat guided India to an easy win over Kenya in the land of vineyards,Paarl, on Wednesday. The match was so one-sided that I could not helpbut wonder how we had lost to the same Kenyans in Port Elizabethexactly a week before.The fate of the match was sealed the moment Sourav won the toss. Asall of you would no doubt have observed, India seem to do rather wellwhen they bat first. It is only while chasing a decent total that weturn into nervous wrecks. Our middle-order being inexperienced andbrittle doesn’t help matters; they seem to run out of ideas the momentSachin and Sourav fail.
© CricInfo On Wednesday though the twomaster batsmen were determined to put the Kenyan bowling to the sword.By the time Sourav was out after a worldrecord partnership for thefirst wicket, the match was over as a contest. The two men had earliergone past the Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes century partnershiprecord.I feel the two great Bajans would be happy to know that their recordhas passed on to two batsmen as illustrious as Sourav and Sachin. TheIndian duo compare more than favourably with their West Indiancounterparts who dominated the one-day game in the eighties.What I particularly like about Sachin and Sourav is the fact that bothare attacking batsmen of the highest order. This means the bowlers getno respite. The men who bowled to Greenidge-Haynes were luckierbecause they could at least trust Haynes to keep to the straight andthe narrow. The latter was content to push for the singles and twoswhile Greenidge enjoyed himself. It is nowhere as predictable withSachin and Sourav at the crease – when one partner turns conservativethe other takes off while on other occasions both make merry. The factthat they are a leftright combination only adds to the misery of thehapless bowlers.In the match at Paarl, it was Sachin who was the slightly moredominant partner. He was looking good for many more when he hit a lowfull toss from Thomas Ododyo straight into the waiting hands of midoff. No wonder he was furious.Whenever I see the little champion I can’t help but be reminded of the16-year-old boy I met during India’s 1989 tour of Pakistan. Whatimpressed me most then was his enormous self-belief. I was his captainand remember jokingly remarking to him, “One day you will becomegreat. Don’t forget your captain then.” The little man has fulfilledall my expectations and is now one of the all-time greats of the game.Sourav too played a fine innings and went past a few landmarks on hisway to a hundred. The Indian skipper has adapted well to the task ofopening the innings and is now one of the finest one-day batsmen ever.It was also good to see Virender Sehwag lay into the bowling in theend. The Delhi lad has a great sense of timing. If he could play aswell against top teams like South Africa, India would be well-served.
© AFP I don’t want to set great store bythe performances of the bowlers against a very ordinary Kenyan battingside. All I hope is that they turn in their best performance againstthe South Africans in the final on Friday. Durban has the reputatioinof being one the fastest pitches in the world and I hope that ourquicks especially will do well on the day. I can’t, however, helpfeeling that it would be best if the turn of our bowlers arrives inthe latter half of the day. As I said earlier India are a much betterside when they bat first and so my ideal scenario would be for theIndians to win the toss and for Sachin and Sourav to hold centrestageyet again.It has been a a long and frustrating title-drought for us and we areup against a formidable South African side. My gut feeling though isthat Friday would be the day when India taste championship victory atlong last.