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 Cuttack,
Nov 7: A jittery India allowed New Zealand to wriggle out of a
precarious position to clinch a stunning four-wicket victory over
the hosts and bounce back into the reckoning in the TVS Cup
triangular cricket series here yesterday. Chasing a competitive
target of 247 for victory, the Kiwis found themselves on the mat to
give the hosts an early control of the game but Scot Styris and
Craig McMillan showed remarkable resilience to steer the team to
victory with 2.3 overs to spare. After leaving the visitors gasping
at 68 for four at one stage, the Indians had themselves to blame for
letting the Kiwis fly out of the nest under the Barabati Stadium
floodlights as they ran out of steam when it mattered most on a slow
track.
New Zealand, who
desperately needed a win to keep themselves afloat in the series,
have caught up with India on the points table. Both teams have nine
points from four outings. Australia, the third team in the fray,
have romped into the final with 18 points from four matches. The
majestic clock tower at the far end of the picturesque stadium,
hosting its first-ever floodlight encounter, stood witness to the
Indian debacle as McMillan (82 not out) and Styris (68) led the
spirited Kiwi fightback with a 127-run fifth wicket association to
tame the hosts in their own den.
 The
New Zealand run chase began with a flourish as their captain Stephen
Fleming turned on the heat with a barrage of boundaries but the
innings plunged into disarray after his dismissal with the fall of
four quick wickets. The Kiwis rattled up 39 runs in just over five
overs but the home side bounced back to reduce the visitors to 68
for four with speedster Zaheer Khan doing the bulk of the damage.
Fleming, who seemed to be in a punitive mood slamming five
boundaries during his 14-ball 24, was the first to depart leading to
a top order collapse as Chris Nevin (29), Chris Harris (0) and Lou
Vincent (1) joined him in the dressing room in quick succession.
Paceman Ajit
Agarkar got rid of the dangerous Fleming trapping him leg before
wicket much to the delight of the Indians while Zaheer Khan, who
proved very expensive in the first two overs, accounted for Harris.
Harris was also adjudged leg before wicket to a sharp incoming
delivery from Zaheer but was distinctly unhappy with the decision.
Zaheer, who seemed to get his rhythm right after taking his first
wicket, struck another blow for the Kiwis by evicting Lou Vincent,
who has been having a rather disappointing triangular series.
Vincent became the
third leg before victim for the Black Caps, who suddenly found
themselves in a precarious position with Nevin also gifting away his
wicket for a 45-ball 29. Nevin, who appeared to be quite
comfortable, went for a sweep shot but Yuvraj Singh held on to a
brilliant catch at short midwicket in Harbhajan Singh's second over.
Scott Styris and Craig McMillan performed the salvage job to pull
the Kiwis out of the pit with a resolute 127-run partnership to put
the run chase back on track. Both Styris and McMillan did not take
too many risks and were quite content to keep the scoreboard moving
with gentle nudges and pushes against the Indians spinners who
managed to stem the run flow to some extent.
With the ball
tending to skid, the two batsmen played out Harbhajan Singh and
Murali Kartik cautiously but were prompt to despatch the loose
deliveries to the boundary. But the home team could not sustain the
pressure for a long time after the two spinners completed their
first spell with leg spinner Sairaj Bahutule, returning to
competitive cricket after a long gap, failing to make much of an
impact. While Styris was quite content in playing the sheet anchor's
role, McMillan opened up to execute some glorious shots on both
sides of the wicket to ensure that the run rate did not climb too
much.
Styris flicked
Tendulkar to the boundary to notch up his half century while his
partner also reached the landmark by taking a single off the same
bowler to frustrate the Indians who seemed to run out of ideas after
the fifth-wicket pair got into the groove. The pair put on a
valuable 127-run partnership before Kartik removed Styris from the
scene for a 89-ball 68 which contained five hits to the boundary.
Earlier, Zaheer Khan provided the sparks with a blistering unbeaten
14-ball 33 as the hosts overcame a mid-innings slump to score a
respectable 246 for nine in their allotted 50 overs.
 After
struggling at 207 for eight in the dying stages of the innings,
Zaheer launched the late assault to take the hosts to a decent total
which also included a determined 64-run contribution from Mohammad
Kaif. Hemang Badani, returning to the national team after a gap of
nearly 21 months, chipped in with a useful 41 while V V S Laxman
(31) and captain Rahul Dravid (31) were the other notable scorers.
The last over from Jacob Oram fetched as many as 20 runs as Zaheer
launched a brave counter-attack which included two sixes on a slow
track which was hardly conducive for stroke play. The Indians went
into the match with a brand new opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and
Laxman, who took up the new role in the absence of an injured
Virender Sehwag.
The new opening
pair launched the innings with a flourish by maintaining a
reasonably brisk run rate before Tendulkar's belligerence was cut
short by a rather dubious decision by umpire A V Jayaprakash. The
pair had put on 27 runs on the board when Tendulkar was surprisingly
adjudged leg before wicket by the umpire off a Kyle Mills delivery
which appeared to be going down the leg stump. (Agencies)
Published: Friday,
November 07, 2003
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