India beat Zimbabwe to enter Sharjah Cup final
Indian players celebrate the dismissal Grant Flower
SHARJAH: Late order batsmen pulled India out of a self-made crisis to
score a three-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the triangular one-day
series here on Thursday night and move into the final of the tournament
on Sunday.
India were placed in a comfortable situation after being set a target of
219 runs by Zimbabwe with Saurav Ganguly (66) and Vinod Kambli (60)
batting pretty well, but some unnecessary shots saw four wickets fall
within 34 runs which had India struggling.
However, Sunil Joshi (25 not out), Vijay Dahiya (20) and Ajit Agarkar
(16) played fine little innings to pull it back for India.
Earlier, India invited Zimbabwe to bat and restricted them for 218 for
nine with new find Zaheer Khan being the wrecker-in-chief claiming four
wickets for 42 runs.
India were in for a shock when they lost batting maestro Sachin
Tendulkar (4) and newcomer S Sriram (0) with just 18 runs on the board.
Tendulkar was out trying to fish outside his off-stump and gave
wicket-keeper Andy Flower a regulation catch off Travis Friend. Sriram
followed four balls later without adding anything to the total, when his
mistimed pull landed straight into the hands of Pommy Mbangwa.
Captain Saurav Ganguly and Vinod Kambli then got into the rescue act
with some patient batting. They were satisfied working the balls into
the gaps and scoring singles.
Once set they accelerated quickly, scoring 41 runs between the 21st and
26th over. Ganguly brought his 34th fifty with a six off Paul Strang
that also saw him crossing six thousand runs in one-day cricket.
Kambli lent his captain excellent support and got into his own later. He
finally got a good score when he reached his 14th half-century in
one-day internationals off 61 balls that had three fours and one six.
India were rolling on nicely and in total control with the asking rate
just over four an over when they when they hit the self-destruct button.
The third wicket stand between Ganguly and Kambli was worth 106 runs
when Ganguly opted to play a rather silly shot to be caught by
substitute Douglas Marillier at the third man boundary and become the
third victim of Friend. (PTI)
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India beat Zimbabwe to enter Sharjah Cup final
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