da esport bet： © Reuters The third one-dayer at Chennai was special for the visiting captainNasser Hussain in more ways than one
Woorkheri Raman27-Jan-2002
© ReutersThe third one-dayer at Chennai was special for the visiting captainNasser Hussain in more ways than one. He returned to his birthplace asthe captain of his adopted country. For one who is not known to wearhis heart on his sleeve, he was fairly emotional when he was honouredby the Madras Cricket Club prior to the match. Hussain would haveliked to gain his team the lead as the two sides were 1-1 at thatstage, but as it turned out his men let him down rather badly on agood batting pitch at the MAC Stadium. The end result might have beenclose but that could not deny the fact that the visitors were short byat least 30 odd runs.The Indians took the field under a new leader in Anil Kumble asGanguly was declared unfit. Kumble’s captaincy would have been thefocal point and his natural aggression came to the fore as he appliedpressure right through the England innings. The visitors lost the plotafter the first ten overs because of some very poor shot selection.The fall of Nick Knight and Hussain provided the opening the Indianswere looking for and it was at that stage that Kumble decided to chokethe visitors by attacking. His fellow bowlers did their bit withAgarkar returning with the best figures. Quite apparently, the bowlersenjoyed playing under a captain who encouraged them to bowl forwickets.This was one rare occasion where England showed a lack ofdetermination and unfortunately for them it happened when they had thechance to bat the Indians out of the game. Jeremy Snape saved thevisitors from total embarrassment with a significant knock but theIndians achieved the target after they almost pressed the selfdestruction button. Sachin Tendulkar walked out to bat with a newpartner yet again and also sans his French beard. He was emphaticright from the word go and seemed to have decided that a quick startwould give him an opportunity to crack another ton.
© AFPDarren Gough was mauled by Tendulkar and with Sehwag taking the cuefrom the little master, the visiting captain was driven to despair.The medium pacers (except for Flintoff) were smashed to the ropes withconsummate ease. The century partnership for the opening wicket camein brisk time and Snape had to be introduced to effect a breakthrough.Sehwag got himself out going for a slog and after his dismissal, thelittle master, for some reason, started playing for ones and twos,which appeared pre-meditated. He though had paved the way for an easyvictory for his side before he departed but what transpired later canonly be repeatedly effected by India.The batting order was marginally changed with VVS Laxman coming aheadof Dinesh Mongia. The middle order committed hara-kiri as three quickwickets fell with Laxman, Mongia and Sanjay Bangar departing in quicksuccession. Laxman perished to a terrible shot and but for a slice ofluck Badani would also have joined him in the dressing room. However,after that narrow escape, Badani in the company of Ratra ran extremelywell between the wickets and almost got his team to the winning postbefore being dismissed. Ratra once again chipped in with a very usefulknock under pressure and in the end it must have been a relief for theIndians that they managed to scrape through.The selection committee has brought in Mohammad Kaif for Laxman but aslong as the batsmen individually take on the responsibility, nothingdifferent will be on display. Winning is the ultimate objective butthe Indians would be better off if they start winning in a moreconvincing manner than they have in this game.