India v. New Zealand - ODI Tri series

[zoia]

this match is do or die for nz, if they lose this it will make very hard for them to meet australia iin the final. With gungully back india will be back to full strength

[Donny]

Cairns misses one-dayer
From correspondents in Cuttack, India - Fox Sports


NEW ZEALAND all-rounder Chris Cairns has been ruled out of today's one-day tri-series game with India with a hamstring injury.

"Cairns hasn't come through," coach Ashley Ross said after the player failed a fitness test.

Cairns, 33, first broke down in the rain-abandoned opening game with India on October 23 and missed the next match with Australia.

He returned for the next game on Monday, a two-wicket loss to the world champions in Pune, but aggravated the injury.

Ross said medium-pacer Paul Hitchcock will miss his second straight game due to a side strain.

[Donny]

Kumble to miss Cuttack ODI

Wisden Cricinfo staff

November 5, 2003





Anil Kumble - to miss the next match
(c) AFP



Anil Kumble will miss India's next match in the TVS Cup against New Zealand at Cuttack, due to the death of his father. The Indian team sent condolences to the Kumble family for this bereavement.

Sairaj Bahutule, the legspinner from Mumbai, has been included in the squad as Kumble's replacement. Aashish Nehra looked comfortable during a four-hour team practice session on Tuesday and is likely to play in the match at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner, is also a likely replacement for Kumble in the playing XI.

[Donny]

India won the toss and batted.

Tendulkar was out for 14 and Laxman for 31.

Kaif is 37 n.o. and in the 22nd. over India are 2/91.

New players for India are: HK Badani, M Kartik and SV Bahutule

[Donny]

India made 9/246. 20 in the last over from Zaheer Khan helped !

Khan hit 33 from 13 balls at the death after N.Z. had done well earlier and looked like keeping India to 220 or less. Badani debuted with 41 from 45 balls.

Tuffey and Styris each took 3 wickets and were economical.

[Donny]

New Zealand are 2/41 from 7 overs. Fleming was in good touch with 24 from 14 balls before falling to Agarkar, plumb l.b.w.

Harris (0) was unlucky as he clearly got an inside edge when he was adjudged leg before. Nevin is 14 n.o.

[Donny]

The first 5 overs produced 0/35. The second 5 was a different story completely. 3/10.

[HAL]

What was the second?

[Donny]

The Black Caps got home with 15 balls to spare due to a great partnership of 127 from Rod Styris, 68, and Craig McMillan, 82 n.o.

[Donny]

McMillan leads New Zealand to four-wicket win

The Wisden Bulletin by Amit Varma

A pugnacious 82 not out by Craig McMillan, and his 127-run partnership with Scott Styris, took New Zealand to an unlikely victory against India at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Zaheer Khan, with a burst of runs at the end of the Indian innings and a burst of wickets at the start of New Zealand's chase, had put on India well on top when McMillan and Styris began their fightback. On a slow-paced wicket, India did not appear likely to cross 225 when, with a 13-ball innings of 33, Zaheer propelled them to 246. He then picked up two wickets in an incisive first spell as New Zealand staggered, first to 44 for 3, and then 68 for 4.

But just as Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum had revived New Zealand's innings at Pune, McMillan and Styris kept the flame burning. They began tentatively, taking their time in getting used to the pace of the pitch, which made strokeplay fraught with danger. India's battery of spinners were a problem – India played three specialist spinners, as Murali Kartik and Sairaj Bahutule joined Harbhajan Singh in the India XI. (Kartik, Bahutule and Hemnag Badani took the places of a bereaved Anil Kumble, an indisposed Virender Sehwag and Parthiv Patel, as Rahul Dravid opted to keep wicket.)

McMillan and Styris did nothing rash, and from a phase of consolidation moved into a phase of accumulation, as the spinners found it difficult to bowl with a ball wet with dew. The batsmen ran quick runs, kept the scoreboard ticking, and punished the bad balls that came their way. And when one of them took a fancy to a particular spinner, there were fireworks.

McMillan hit Bahutule out of the attack with a series of powerful slog sweeps, and Styris took to Kartik, smashing him for a couple of boundaries in the 38th over as New Zealand galloped towards their target. But he was trapped leg before in Kartik's next over for 68 (195 for 4). Shortly after that Mohammad Kaif ran out Jacob Oram (6) with a brilliant pick-up and throw (214 for 6). But Dravid kept his part-time spinners, Yuvraj Singh and Badani, on, and McMillan and McCullum finished things off with a flurry of boundaries.

New Zealand had begun their chase well, going at seven an over in the first five, before Stephen Fleming (24 off 14) was out lbw to Ajit Agarkar (39 for 1). Zaheer then struck twice, trapping both Chris Harris (0) and Lou Vincent (1) lbw, though controversially – Harris certainly got an inside edge onto his pad, and Vincent appeared to have done so as well.

Chris Nevin, who had never looked comfortable during his innings of 29, slog-swept Harbhajan to midwicket in the 15th over, where Yuvraj took a well-controlled catch (68 for 4). Writing on the wall? No. Graffitti resistant paint.

India's innings was a stop-start affair, with a number of promising partnerships ending just as the innings was gathering momentum. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman added 27 at a run-a-ball pace before Tendulkar, on 14, played across the line to Kyle Mills, missed, and was adjudged lbw.

Laxman and Kaif, promoted to No. 3, then added 50 in 77, but both batsmen weren't entirely at ease. Many firmly hit strokes were going straight to fielders, and neither man was looking out for quick singles in the manner that, say, Australia do. Laxman was eventually out to Styris, driving a slower ball straight back to the bowler (77 for 2). His 31 had come off 46 balls.

Dravid injected some urgency into the innings, placing the ball beautifully with soft hands and running hard. He improvised well, and one paddle sweep in particular, off Daniel Vettori, showed an elan that few would have suspected him capable off in the last millenium.

Having set a platform, Dravid crashed trying to take off. He stepped out to Vettori and drove uppishly to Styris at midwicket, who held on easily (136 for 3). Dravid had made 31.

Yuvraj threw his wicket away off just the third ball he faced, stepping out to Vettori and lofting him down the throat of Mills at wide long-on (136 for 4). With 103 balls still left in the game, it was a remarkably stupid shot to play.

Badani then came in and, improvising furiously, lifted the tempo. He tonked Vettori for ten in his last over, eight of those coming in the first two balls: the first was slog-swept from outside off to the midwicket boundary; the next was reverse-swept to third-man for four.

Kaif, having added 33 with Badani, was out in the next over – the 39th – to Styris, chopping an incoming ball onto his stumps while trying to glide it to third man (169 for 5). Kaif made 64 off 108.

It was all down to Badani now, with the lower order to play around him. Bahutule made a spirited 11 off 13 balls, and Ajit Agarkar was giving good support to Badani as they settled in for one final charge. But a dubious decision brought an end to Badani's innings. He slashed at a widish ball from Daryl Tuffey, missed, and McCullum appealed successfully (205 for 7). Replays cast doubts both on whether Badani had nicked it and on whether McCullum had taken it cleanly.

India seemed likely to end at around 230, until Zaheer (33 off 13) lashed 20 runs off the last over of the innings, bowled by Oram. The last three balls read: 6, 4, 6. Could this be the difference between the two sides? No.

[Donny]

High Noon

Dileep Premachandran

There's something ironic about the fact that Stephen Fleming's abdominal injury has given the perennially crocked Chris Cairns a chance to lead New Zealand against India at Hyderabad. Fleming admitted defeat in his fitness battle, leaving Cairns with just over 24 hours to plan his second bite of the captaincy cherry. The first taste was sweet enough - a 23-run victory over a heavily fancied Australian side at Sydney in the VB Series (2001-2002).

For India, most of the injuries have been to the psyche, a result of the Adam Gilchrist-Ricky Ponting blitz in Bangalore two days ago. A week ago, you knew this would be a crucial game, with a place in the final at stake. But now, with India's selectors having delayed the announcement of the Test squad to Australia until after this game, there's far more at stake - shades of High Noon in fact. The likes of Aavishkar Salvi, Ajit Agarkar, Yuvraj Singh and Hemang Badani will be under the microscope in more ways than one, an unwelcome distraction in a match that India simply have to win.

The TVS Cup has been a sobering experience for both teams. At the press conference to unveil the trophy, both Fleming and Rahul Dravid, India's stand-in captain, had talked of how evenly matched the three teams were. On the field, they turned out to be anything but that, with an Australian outfit comprising second-string bowlers far superior to brittle opposition.

New Zealand's batsmen let them down badly in the games against Australia, while for India, it's the bowlers who have been culpable. That should make for a fascinating contest, on a pitch where India piled up 376 for 2 the last time they clashed here.

New Zealand don't have any selection dilemmas, with only 12 fit players to choose from. For India, the onus is on the management to decide whether or not a place in the final is a bigger priority than taking a look at hopefuls for Australia. If Agarkar and Salvi both play, Zaheer Khan – a dreadful disappointment so far this home season – will drop to the bench. For Badani to get a look in, VVS Laxman or Mohammad Kaif will have to make way. Given his abysmal record with the bat over the past year, Kaif appears the favourite for the chop.

The batting order will also be tinkered with. Now would be as good a time as any to reunite Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the order, with an out-of-sorts Virender Sehwag being asked to provide a late-innings impetus if needed. To be fair to the Indians, they batted magnificently for 40 overs in pursuit of a mirage against Australia. A repeat will most likely guarantee victory.

There's also likely to be a change on the spin front, with Harbhajan Singh coming in to partner Murali Kartik. Kartik is another player on the fringes, and a strong performance from him could leave the selectors with a major headache.

Fleming's injury gives Chris Nevin a reprieve, but much will depend on how well Cairns, Scott Styris and Craig McMillan perform in a pressure situation. New Zealand fretted and fumed about the pitches at Faridabad and Pune. On what appears likely to be a perfect batting strip, excuses won't be an option. They can only hope that certain Indian players are looking too far ahead to have their eye on the ball.

Teams

India (likely) Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (capt), VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid (wk), Virender Sehwag, Hemang Badani, Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik, Harbhajan Singh, Aavishkar Salvi.

New Zealand Chris Nevin, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Chris Cairns (capt), Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey.

[Donny]

Ganguly won the toss and India are batting.

After 5 overs, they are 0/23.

[Donny]

The Black Caps are staring BIG trouble right in the eyes.

0/167 in the 29th. over. Ouch.

Tendulkar is 93. Sehwag is 62.

[Donny]

Sach goes to his 100 from 87 balls then gets out for 102.

1/187 with 19 overs to come.

[Donny]

In the 40th. over, Sehwag gets his century. 1/244.