Symonds spoils start of Sachin’s second stint

GALLE, AUG 23: The sky was grey in the morning. The Indians seemed in a sombre mood. Captain Sachin Tendulkar was unusually quiet and pat...

GALLE, AUG 23: The sky was grey in the morning. The Indians seemed in a sombre mood. Captain Sachin Tendulkar was unusually quiet and patient while he spent nearly an hour at the crease. For a while, it did appear that Tendulkar and his partner Saurav Ganguly were preserving their best for the last and were making an effort to lay a sound foundation for a brutal assault to follow. It turned out to be a false hope.

Tendulkar’s first outing as India’s captain in his second avtaar ended in disaster, not only for his team but for him as well. World Champions Australia controlled the game from the first ball and once they got rid of the openers, India had little fight left in them. The capitulation was complete and the end came much faster than expected as the Australian batsmen made the Indian attack look even more pedestrian than it normally is on placid wickets.

The Galle ground was not buzzing with excitement. In the absence of the home team, yesterday’s carnival atmosphere was missing. The moodseemed to have got to the Indians and they matched the surroundings with a gutless display. After 40 minutes of play, Ganguly was back and 19 minutes later, the Australians were celebratinga again. After having kept his head down and played mostly in defense, Tendulkar could not resist the temptation of pulling a short ball from Tom Moody. The result was a catch to mid on.

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Tendulkar had not scored a boundary in 33 balls. These statistics tell a story: A batsman working hard to stay at the crease but in the end falling to a bad ball and a bad shot. Tendulkar’s first essay as India’s captain had begun in this country and with a century. His second stint has begun in failure.

The third of this prolific trinity of the Indian top order — Rahul Dravid — too did not bother the fielders and the bowlers much.

The captain had resisted the temptation of pushing in his Mumbai-mate Vinod Kambli ahead of the man who was part of the team in the World Cup but was never played. People who have seen Amay Khurasia batin the domestic circuit say he is the most destructive of our times. The manner in which he began, striking some sweetly-timed boundaries on the off-side, showed the man’s potential.

Then came the rains, a torrential downpour which lasted for only half an hour but disrupted the game for nearly three hours. The overs were reduced from 50 to 38 and Messrs Duckworth-Lewis were back in operation. It was announced that whatever India makes, Australia will have to get eight runs more than that to win. Once the game resumed, India came out with the attitude of a patient who has no hope of living for long. Khurasia patted a full toss back to the bowler, Ajay Jadeja failed to get past the long-off fielder to become Shane Warne’s first victim. Only Robin Singh showed signs of some life and Nikhil Chopra chipped in a few. The end result: 151.

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It was now the turn of the bowlers to bear the brunt and wilt under the dual attack of the left-hander Adam Gilchrist’s unorthodox methods and newcomer Andrew Symonds’lightning footwork. Symonds, a product of English cricket but playing for his country of origin, was in his third One-day match and batting at number three. Symonds was brutal in his aggression and Anil Kumble’s first over saw the ball sail over the mid-wicket fence and into it once each. The other bowlers too had no clue where to pitch the ball and the match was as good as over after the Indians had bowled half their quota of 38 overs.

`Bowling suicidal’: Despite the disappointment of losing the first match of this triangular series comprehensively, Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar urged fans and critics to show patience. He cited a few reasons for India’s poor performance today, none more damning than the one against his bowlers who he felt were more responsible for the defeat than the batsmen.

“We did not bat well but in the end, I felt we had reached a reasonable total. But our bowlers bowled too short and on a wicket like this, it was suicidal,” Tendulkar said after the match.

CoachAnshuman Gaekwad had nothing to add except: “In the last few days, we have not been able to practice because of rain and the wickets have been too soft for the bowlers to practice.”

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

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Saurav Ganguly lbw Gillespie 10, 29b, 39m
Sachin Tendulkar c Lehmann b Moody 14, 33b, 52m
Rahul Dravid c Gilchrist b Symonds 5, 11b, 25m
Ajay Jadeja c Fleming b Warne 30, 2×4, 54b, 65m
Amay Khurasia c & b Moody 17, 3×4, 23b, 25m
Robin Singh lbw Gillespie 38, 1×4, 1×6, 52b, 60m
MKS Prasad b Warne 4, 7b, 7m
Nikhil Chopra not out 18, 2×4, 15 b, 31m
Anil Kumble not out 3, 6b, 7m
Extras (lb4, w6, 2nb): 12 Total (for 7 wickets, in 38 overs): 151
(Target revised to 159)
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (9 overs), 2-32 (11.2), 3-38 (14.4), 4-66 (21.1), 5-92 (28.1), 6-103 (31), 7-139 (36.2).
Bowling: Gillespie 8-0-30-2, Fleming 8-0-31-0, Moody 8-0-25-2, Symonds 7-0-25-1, Warne 7-0-36-2

AUSTRALIA

Mark Waugh c MKS Prasad b VenkateshPrasad 12, 1×4, 12b, 17m
Adam Gilchrist c Dravid b Ganguly 68, 7×4, 93b, 122m
Andrew Symonds not out 68, 7×4, 1×6, 68b, 111m
Ricky Ponting not out 1, 4b, 6m
Extras (lb6, w1, nb3) 10 Total (for 2 wickets in 29.1 overs) 159
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (3.5 overs), 2-155 (28.2 overs)
Bowling: Srinath 5-0-26-0, Venkatesh Prasad 5.1-0-37-1, Kumble 6-0-35-0, Chopra 8-0-33-0, Robin Singh 4-0-18-0, Ganguly 1-0-4-1.

Result: Australia win by eight wickets, with 8.5 overs to spare

Man of the Match: A Symonds