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 The
TVS Cup trination cricket one-day series got off to a wet start,
with rain playing spoilsport at the Chidambaram stadium in Chennai,
forcing abandonment of the match with India at 141 for 3 off 26.5
overs. The two teams will have a point each, with the match declared
as a 'No result' game.
India next plays
Australia at Gwalior on October 26.
 The Chennai match
was interestingly poised as Sachin Tendulkar looked in good nick,
playing shots all round the wicket. He was unbeaten on 48 and was
involved in a vital partnership with Yuvraj Singh, unbeaten on 29,
when play was called off.
Earlier, Rahul
Dravid won the toss and straightaway elected to bat, stating that
the wicket seemed to be a good one, and it would be nice to put up a
big total and put the Kiwis under pressure.
However, India
squandered the advantage of an explosive start provided by Tendulkar
and Sehwag, and lost three vital wickets by the end of the first
drinks break.
 Tendulkar played
some exquisite shots -- a characteristic straight drive and a
backfoot cover drive besides a lightning pull -- and Sehwag produced
an array of attacking strokes on the offside. He hit a
characteristic six over third man and almost hit another in the same
area but Cairns got his fingers to it, and restricted the score to a
boundary. However, when Sehwag was 31, he got an inside edge to a
delivery from Chris Cairns (making a comeback) and was bowled. V V S
Laxman, apparently continuing to bat with an exquisite sense of
timing as in the Test series, played some highly attractive cricket,
particularly a sweet flick and a pull to mid-wicket for boundaries.
However, Laxman's
brilliance was short-lived as he holed out to deep mid-wicket off
Styris for 25 (did he fail to notice that a sweeper was in place?)
and in the next over Dravid perished to a hasty drive off Vettori to
be caught at short mid-wicket for just 4-- another soft dismissal --
to leave India suddenly struggling at 93 for three. The Indians
appeared to be going too fast for their own good.
While
all this was happening, Sachin was quietly picking up runs but not
getting enough of the strike. Fortunately, Yuvraj Singh waited for
the right ball to score, sweeping and driving through the covers for
boundaries.
 When bad light
stopped play for the first time (dark clouds hovered above), the
score was 132 for 3 in 23.5 overs.
After a delay of
nearly 15 minutes, the game was resumed but only for about three
overs as a sharp shower stopped play, with the score at 141 for 3 in
26.5 overs. Tendulkar and Yuvraj were at the crease with 48 and 29
respectively. The two were involved in an unbroken 48-run
partnership which helped steady the innings. The run rate was around
5.4 runs an over.
With the outfield
apparently wet and a continuous drizzle, the umpires felt that
resumption of play was not possible, although they waited for more
than two hours, hoping that the weather would clear up and
facilitate both sides to play at least 25 overs. Scorecard
R Rangaraj
Published:
Wednesday, October 23, 2003
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