Ross Taylor inspires New Zealand to a Taylor-made win over India in Sri Lanka Tri-Series opener
The Indian cricket team may be the best in the world in Test cricket, but when it comes to One-Dayers, they are not as good. Although the ICC rankings place them as one of the top sides in the world, there are times when they show lack of experience, overconfidence and irresponsible batting, something they demonstrated in the opening match of the Sri Lanka Triangular Series against New Zealand in Dambulla.
New Zealand were under pressure ahead of the match, since it was their first outing since playing Sri Lanka in two Twenty20 matches in Florida, right after the third Twenty20 World Cup three months back. But these 2 months did wonders for the Kiwis, who returned as a fresh, confident side raring to go. They were without regular skipper Daniel Vettori and hard-hitting batsman/wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum but all that hardly mattered. Ross Taylor was in command as the leader, and Gareth Hopkins did an excellent job as the man behind the wicket.
Taylor won the toss and elected to bat first in the series opener, against the Men In Blue, who were over the moon after levelling the test series against Sri Lanka. Taylor counted on the overconfidence of the Indians, which has played an integral part in their recent losses in limited over games.
Fresh from a well-deserved break, skipper Ross Taylor smashed a quick fire 95 and Scott Styris stroked his way to 89 as the Kiwis humiliated the Indian bowling. The duo took their side from the hopeless position of 28 for 3 to a respectable 218, adding 190 valuable runs for the fourth wicket. Their partnership was 22 runs better than the previous one between former skipper Lee Germon and Chris Harris, who added 168 runs against Australia in the quarterfinal of the 1996 World Cup at Chennai.
Ross Taylor was unlucky to miss out on what could have been his 4th one day century, yet his innings proved to be decisive for his side in winning the match. Along with Styris, they were indestructible and didn’t give the Indians a single happy moment during their 31-over stay. The Kiwi skipper faced 113 deliveries for his 95 and hit eight fours and a six. Styris, on the other hand, faced 95 balls for his 89, and completed his 4,000 runs in One-Day internationals in the process.
For India, Ashish Nehra was the most successful bowler since he finished with 4 wickets for 47 runs. Praveen Kumar took 3 wickets as well for 43 runs, yet the support bowlers fared badly to take the match away from India. Abhimanyu Mithun went for 24 runs in his 4 overs (with an economy of 6 runs) while Ravindra Jadeja's 9 overs cost 63 runs (conceding the highest economy of 7 runs). Pragyan Ojha bowled his quota of 10 overs which resulted in 58 runs, like the part timers Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh who went for more than 5 runs per over in their short spells.
The Indians were without the services of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who have scored over 10,000 runs in this format of the game, and their absence proved to be crucial. It was once again in their absence that the Indians did what their next-door neighbours Pakistan are famous for. The Men in Blue succumbed to their overconfidence and accurate bowling by the Kiwis. Not only did they fail miserably, their grand total was less than what Taylor or even Styris managed individually.
The Indians folded in less than 30 overs for just 88 runs, which was 200 short of the target they were given to win the match. Only the two openers - Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik - and Ravindra Jadeja (who had the highest score with a pitiful 20 off 44 balls) managed to reach double figures as the rest just couldn’t apply the basics. The leg before decision by Australian umpire Simon Taufel that sent back the dangerous Dinesh Karthik was dubious, yet the others weren’t. Stand in Kiwi skipper Ross Taylor took four catches as a fielder and like his fielders, backed the bowlers who were magnificent throughout the innings. Daryl Tuffey was the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets, while Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram managed two wickets each.
By winning the series opener convincingly, the Kiwis have improved their chances of reaching the final of the tri-series. They finished the first match with 5 points, and if they continue their good performance, they might give a tough time to hosts Sri Lanka, who are the third team in the tournament. The final of the tournament will be played on August 28th, hopefully between the two better sides of the event.