Exuberance of youth takes India into semifinals
The match fixing controversy necessitated the induction of a few talented youngsters into the Indian side, which made a whale of a difference at the Nairobi Gymkhana as the Indians beat the World champions Australia in the Quarter final of the ICC
Woorkheri Raman
08-Oct-2000
The match fixing controversy necessitated the induction of a few
talented youngsters into the Indian side, which made a whale of a
difference at the Nairobi Gymkhana as the Indians beat the World
champions Australia in the Quarter final of the ICC KnockOut trophy.
The aggression displayed by the Indians came as a pleasant surprise to
the followers of the game. Not that the Indians lacked aggression on
earlier occasions but the difference was the collective belief
displayed by the team as a single unit.
Sourav Ganguly put all the speculations to rest by opening the innings
along with Sachin Tendulkar and the way they took the attack to the
enemy camp rattled the Australians. If the top two Indian batsmen
succeeded in rattling the Aussies, the youngster Yuvraj Singh
demolished the opponents with a very composed knock. It was a day
Yuvraj Singh will never ever forget for the simple reason that
everything went his way all through the day. Besides making a huge
impact with the bat, he fielded with real pluck and aplomb effecting a
crucial run out after pouching a very good catch earlier. All in all
it was the exuberance of youth, which made it possible for the Indians
to put it across the Australians.
Tendulkar and Ganguly realising that they had to lead the way, played
some glorious shots and were not hesitant to take a few risks. In the
end both were dismissed due to their own follies resulting out of over
enthusiasm. Dravid was unfortunate to pick the fielder at deep square
leg but the left handed trio of Kambli, Yuvraj and Robin contributed
enough to give the Indians a real good chance of winning. Robin guided
the young hero of the day, Yuvraj Singh, and it was a remarkable sight
to see the youngest and oldest members of the side running between the
wickets. The fact that Venkatesh Prasad hit a huge six over covers off
the last ball of the innings probably indicated that the Indians were
playing out of their skins.
Adam Gilchrist started off in his usual fashion carting a few
imperious blows square off the wicket. Mark Waugh got out in a manner
which would have been exasperating to his fans. Harvey promoted to do
pinch hitting did his bit, but the fielding of the Indians made things
more than difficult for the Australians. Ponting and Bevan collected
their runs with their customary brisk running between the wickets and
a direct hit by Yuvraj Singh to run out Bevan swung the game in favour
of the Indians.
Steve Waugh, the cool customer stayed on to fight it out along with
Bret Lee before Zaheer Khan outwitted him with a yorker as Waugh was
shaping to hit him over the infield by giving himself room. The
dismissal of Waugh left Bret Lee to pull off a miraculous victory in
the company of fellow medium pacers but the Indians finished off the
job in style.
The ultimate result must have delighted the team as well as the
cricketing fraternity in India. Yuvraj Singh was the hero of the day
but one cannot forget the performance of Zaheer Khan. He bowled with a
lot of aggression and control in the opening spell scalping Gilchrist
and he castled Steve Waugh at the most crucial juncture. Agarkar needs
to tighten up a lot as he has a very important role to play in the
team.
Ganguly's gang would do well to sit and reflect a lot about their victory
as that would help them learn a few things. It is imperative that they carry the same aggression into the next game as they have crossed one major hurdle
by being positive. The victory against the Australians would have provided
an enormous boost to the morale and the Indians can now fancy their chances
to win the championship. It is upto the captain to ensure that complacency
does not creep in and to shed the sense of euphoria well before they take
the field for the semi-finals.