Southampton (England), Sept 12: India showed signs of rediscovering their peak form as they launched their ICC Champions Trophy cricket campaign with a resounding 98-run victory over minnows Kenya in a Pool-C league match here last night. The much touted Indian batsmen shrugged off their indifferent form haunting them for the past few weeks to rattle up an imposing 290 for four before restricting the Kenyans to 192 for seven at the Rose Bowl to claim two points.
Captain Sourav Ganguly (90) and V V S Laxman (79) provided the foundation for the run feast with a 161-run second wicket association before Mohammad Kaif took centre-stage with a whirlwind 49 off 28 balls in the slog overs to propel the joint title-holders to 290, the last ten overs yielding as many as 90 runs.
Kaif found an able ally in Rahul Dravid who produced a breezy 30 off 16 balls aided by three fours and a six. The Indian out cricket was brilliant and the livewire Kaif shone once again with a brilliant run out of opener Kennedy Otieno. Harbhajan Singh seemed to get better and better with each match since his return from injury as he grabbed three for 33.
But Ganguly might be concerned that they could not bowl out the African team and extras column which read 44 including 19 wides and 12 byes. Maurice Ouma top-scored with 49 and with Brijal Patel, 38 not out, added 93 runs for the seventh wicket, a Kenyan record. (Agencies)
Published: Sunday, September 12, 2004
India thrash Kenya by 98 runs
