THE band was missing from the stands. The occasion did not demand the kind of atmosphere which would inspire the West Indians to be charged up. The Indians, however, had enough motivation to go for a win and maintain their unbeaten record in the triangular series.
Sachin Tendulkar (left), who made a masterly unbeaten 122, and Sourav Ganguly gave India a fabulous start of 133 runs. Tendulkar, adjudged Man of the Match, is seen forcing Hooper through the off-side while the Indian captain is seen punishing Stuart.
Motivation can be a worry in such encounters where nothing is at stake. The teams were in the final and had little to prove really. But Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly stressed, "playing for India itself is a great motivating factor. I don't think motivation has ever been a problem. The boys are doing well. They are hungry for success. And that's what matters. That's what keeps the team going."
India had won the previous three matches and the motivation now was to win the fourth too. "The middle-order was fired up. Except Rahul (Dravid) we all got runs. I think the batsmen were getting a bit stuck in the middle-order. It happens because of the change in pitches quite frequently. They've to play a bit more freely. I didn't see any undue pressure on the middle-order in this match," said Ganguly.
The Indians did well to restrict the West Indies to 229 and the credit went to the bowlers who excelled on a track which did not assist them much. "It was a different wicket. It was a good batting track and I thought we did pretty well to restrict them to 229. We had aimed at winning every game and the bowlers remembered that in the middle," said Ganguly.
It was not that the win was perfect. The Indians have some areas to worry about as Ganguly pointed out rightly, "I think we gave away 15 extra runs at least on the field. We should've fielded better and batted better."
Coach John Wright agreed with the skipper. He remarked, "I don't think the fielding was as good as in the last game. The bowlers did a good job and they actually set it up. There was not much help for them from the pitch. They bowled an excellent length and were quite disciplined in their approach."
It was tough for Harvinder Singh who had nightmares in the slog overs. He went for a few runs in his second spell after making an impression in the first but Ganguly defended the Railways seamer. "Harvinder bowled in the 'death' overs and one should remember that fact. His first spell was pretty tight I thought. It happens. It was a good track and the opposition had wickets in hand. He should have put the ball further up and that's what he needs to aim at. He can't bowl his best in every match."
The Indian victory was based on the splendid start by Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. Playing positive and aggressive strokes in the beginning enabled them to establish an early dominance and the trend was maintained by Tendulkar, who finished the job well.
Ganguly was in excellent form too. "I've been hitting the ball well. I knew it was a matter of getting one big knock. I was getting out at the wrong time," he said reflecting on his breezy innings.
It was not an easy target and the match did become interesting once the Indian middle-order showed signs of panic. Ganguly agreed, "it was a closer game than what it actually looked. We lost wickets and then got stuck. But we played very well under the circumstances," said Ganguly.
The team indeed played well. There were some exciting moments in the match and the West Indians did make the Indians work hard. With Cameron Cuffy ruled out because of an injury on the left instep, the West Indians had to rely on Mervyn Dillon and Reon King to guide young seamer Colin Stuart and left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell. But the West Indian bowling could not measure up to the task and India managed to finish the match in the penultimate over with six wickets to spare.
For West Indies, Wavell Hinds excelled with the bat while Darren Ganga showed his potential with some good drives on either side. But their efforts were matched by Harbhajan Singh, who produced a tight spell in the middle overs to keep India in the match. It was indeed the bowlers who showed the way while the batsmen completed the assignment in style.
The match also showed the other side of Ridley Jacobs, the West Indian wicketkeeper who foxed umpire Kevin Barbour with his stumping of Virender Sehwag. He flicked the bails without the ball in that glove. True, the umpire could not have known that the wicketkeeper had not been fair but then Jacobs could have come off a good sportsman by bringing the fact to the attention of Barbour. But cricket is played with a different spirit these days.
West Indies: D. Ganga (run out) 55; C. Gayle c Sodhi b Harbhajan 23; W. Hinds c and b Harvinder 66; S. Chanderpaul c Ganguly b Mohanty 17; C. Hooper c Dravid b Harvinder 24 R. Jacobs (not out) 27; R. Sarwan (not out) 12. Extras (nb-3, w-2) 5. Total (for five wkts in 50 overs) 229.
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-118, 3-162, 4-170, 5-201.
India bowling: Mohanty 10-1-39-1, Nehra 9-1-33-0, Harvinder 10-0-65-2, Harbhajan 10-1-33-1, Sehwag 5-0-30-0, Tendulkar 2-0-11-0, R. S. Sodhi 4-1-18-0.
India: S. Ganguly c Ganga b Dillon 62; S. Tendulkar (not out) 122; V. Sehwag st Jacobs b Hooper 4; H. Badani b Hooper 4; R. Dravid b Gayle 15; R. S. Sodhi (not out) 16. Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-5) 7. Total (for four wkts in 48.1 overs) 230.
Fall of wickets: 1-133, 2-138, 3-152, 4-207.West Indies bowling: King 7.1-0-49-0, Dillon 10-4-22-1, Stuart 5-0-34-0, McGarrell 10-1-55-0, Hooper 10-0-39-2, Gayle 6-0-30-1.
SOURAV GANGULY was lavish in praising his best batsman. "Sachin's a great player and he's doing what he's supposed to do. He's been doing it day in and day out."
Sachin Tendulkar has indeed been doing his job day in and day out and this day was no exception. Winning the match is what he aims when he steps on to the field.
"I think we played a good game and it was good practice for all of us. We were serious right from the word 'go' and never treated it easy just because we were in the final," said Tendulkar after his unbeaten innings of 122, which fetched him the Man of the Match award for the third time in the triangular one-day series.
Nothing pleases Tendulkar more than his team winning. "We need to continue this habit. This is what we have been longing for and I'm happy we did it convincingly."
Tendulkar's innings can be divided into two phases: an explosive start was followed by sensible batsmanship. As he explained, "we didn't want to lose wickets. We must attack only when the need arises. I felt we had enough runs to slow down a little in the middle overs."
It was Tendulkar's 29th century in one-day internationals. Not his best but quite a pleasing effort. It had everything that makes a quality innings. How does he rate it? "I've never rated my hundreds. It's important to score big runs and a hundred after all is a hundred. I'm happy about it."
Tendulkar concentrated hard on this innings and made it a point to finish the job. "I just like to go out and play my game. I'd decided to hang around till the end, try to stay there till the winning shot was struck. The West Indies is a good side and no one wants to underestimate them."
The former India skipper was happy with his form. "I think my strike rate is almost 95 per cent. I don't think it's a bad strike rate. I can't always go bang bang in the first 15 overs. And here there was no need to."
Coach John Wright gave a lot of credit to Tendulkar's innings. "He's such a thorough professional. His innings was a great example. He's one player who can allow himself the luxury of expressing himself. Here he put the team first. He played to win the match. Good teams are made when people start thinking this way. From my point of view it's better to do the job than getting the job done."
Wright was right. He could not have asked for a better man than Tendulkar to do the job.
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