India beat Australia
Nairobi, Oct 7: India have knocked world champions Australia out of the ICC Cup here and earned a place in the semifinals.
India won by 20 runs after some heart stopping moments in the final overs when the Aussies led by fast bowler Brett Lee put up a characteristic fight.
Australia was all out for 245 in 46.4 overs. The clinching wicket was taken by Venkatesh Prasad who got Jason Gillespie to hole out to Robin Singh at covers. The move to bowl Prasad, taken after discussion between Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Prasad and Anil Kumble, paid off with Prasad slowing his deliveries down to prevent the ball racing to the fence.
This was exactly the mistake that Ajit Agarkar made. He bowled too fast for the occasion, and by bowling too many full tosses in attempting yorkers, nearly gave away the match for India. He conceded 14 runs in the 46th over. Earlier Anil Kumble had bowled a very expensive over to Brett Lee, who hit him for one six and two fours in that over. Lee was caught by Ganguly brilliantly off Agarkar when he was trying to accelerate further. He made an unexpected contribution of 31 in 28 balls.
The dismissal of Steve Waugh was the second turning point after Michael Bevan had been run out brilliantly by Yuvraj Singh. As long as the Aussie captain was there, nothing could be predicted. All credit to left arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan who bowled him with a piercing delivery. Khan is bowling really fast, and touched 88.6 miles per hour. One hopes that no one persuades Khan to slow down. A fast bowler who is accurate in the slog overs is a rare find for India.
It may be recalled that in the last ICC Cup at Dhaka too, India had beaten Australia.
The Indian fielding was brilliant. The youngsters seemed to inspire the senior players and Saurav Ganguly came up with the most brilliant performance he has ever put up on the field so far. Running Shane Lee out with a direct hit from mid wicket was the high point of Ganguly's fielding.
If he erred in persisting with Agarkar for too long and inexplicable not persisting with Tendulkar, one hopes these rough edges are ironed out before the semi-final. If the tournament proceeds according to seedings, that match should be against South Africa.
Yuvraj Singh was declared man of the match for his great batting (84) and amazing fielding.
Today's victory is to be enjoyed to the full, coming as it does after the most troubled period in Indian cricketing history so far.
