Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag made fine centuries, while Sachin Tendulkar took another five-for at Kochi as India romped to an easy 87-run win in the first one-day international
Bulletin by Amit Varma02-Apr-2005
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out
Virender Sehwag played a fine hand on a stiflingly hot day© AFP
Centuries by Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid set India up for aconvincing 87-run win against Pakistan in the first one-dayinternational, at Kochi. Recovering from the loss of two earlywickets, and despite slowing down in the slog overs, India made 281for 8. Pakistan lost four early wickets, and Sachin Tendulkar tookfive wickets in the middle overs as Pakistan crumbled to 194 in 45.2overs. It was a game played in scorching temperatures of more than 40degrees celsius and high humidity, conditions that made cricket difficult.India coped the better of the two teams.They won the toss and batted first on a pitch that was a belter, butlost two wickets in the second over. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan dismissedSachin Tendulkar for 4 and Sourav Ganguly for 0, and India’s twobatting heroes of the Test series, Sehwag and Dravid, found themselvesat the crease with the score on 4 for 2. Then they added 201 runs.Sehwag had a shaky start – he was dropped twice early in his innings,and played a few streaky strokes. But once he settled down, helaunched into a flurry of boundaries. When Sehwag is set, aggressionis not necessarily risky, and what appears exotic to others is breadand butter for him. Full ball outside off? Midwicket boundary. And soon.Dravid’s innings was more controlled. His strokeplay was precise, heran hard between the wickets, and India’s run-rate lifted to close tosix an over. India were 205 for 2 at the end of the 35th over, butboth batsmen were utterly exhausted by the heat. Sehwag, who hadcompleted his century, was looking only to slog, and was duly bowledby Abdul Razzaq while trying to smash a ball out of the ground.Dravid, meanwhile, was panting as he completed his runs, and lay downfor a rest when a break in play happened. It was clearly time for theyounger men to take over the onus of making big runs, but none of themmanaged to do so. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif got their eye in andmishit slog-sweeps off Arshad Khan to be caught in the deep, and allthe other wickets fell off slogging attempts, except Dravid’s. Dravidwas run out for 104, barely able to stretch himself.
Rahul Dravid: His century came under such trying conditions that he celebrated exuberantly when he reached the landmark© AFP
Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal opened Pakistan’s innings, and Butt hitsome early boundaries as the bowlers gave him too much width. The pairadded 45 runs in 39 balls before Akmal smashed Lakshmipathy Balajistraight to Sehwag at point. Four runs later, Ashish Nehrafinally got his captain’s instructions right, bowling a short ball onButt’s hips, and Ganguly caught the resultant flick at squareleg, taking a good high catch.Shoaib Malik then smashed Balaji to Yuvraj at point. Four overslater, Zaheer Khan took a diving one-handed return catch to his rightto get rid of Yousuf Youhana.Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez added 48 useful runs in the highestpartnership of the innings. Hafeez began slowly, but hit a couple ofpowerful sixes and used his feet well against the spinners. OnceInzamam was out, though, wickets fell steadily, and by the time Hafeezwas the ninth man out, having top-scored with 42, victory wasimpossible.Inzamam played a composed innings, driving and pulling powerfully whenhe got the chance, but doing nothing untoward otherwise. But therequired run-rate climbed past seven an over, and he was deceived, andbowled, by a quicker ball from Tendulkar that he tried to glide ontothe off side.Apres him le deluge de Tendulkar wickets. One by one, batsmen tried toslog him and got out, as he finished with the second five-wicket haulof his one-day international career, in which he has now taken 137wickets. He had failed with the bat, but had made up for it with theball, and looked rather pleased at the end of it all. And why not?How they were outIndia Tried to pull, ball rose more than expected, looped up to mid-on. Stepped across his stumps as the ball swung towards leg and sneaked past him to hit the leg stump. Bowled while attempting a wild slog. Top-edge off a slog sweep, caught in the deep. Ditto. Slog to deep midwicket. Run out going for a quick single. Bowled going for a slog over square leg.Pakistan Slashed uppishly to point. Flicked a short ball on his hips, good overhead catch at square leg. Slashed uppishly to point. Powerful drive towards mid-on, superb diving catch with one hand. Tried to steera faster one on the off side, missed
Full tossoutside leg, desperate attempt at a sweep popped up to short fine leg Slog to square leg Beaten by flight,easy return catch Pulled to deep midwicket Tried to slog, missed