Yuvraj Singh hit a fine century and played a knock of controlled aggression to help India avoid shame and overcome a gritty challenge by Zimbabwe, resulting in a four-wicket victory in the Videocon Cup cricket triseries. He was adjudged the man of the match for today’s game just after the match in which his partner Kaif played the same role.
Earlier Zimbabwe put up a healthy total of 250 but their bowling proved inadequate as the Indians overhauled the target comfortably in the final round-robin match. But not everything was going as per plan for the Indians. They were reduced to 91 for five at one stage. Virender Sehwag (12), Sourav Ganguly (2), Rahul Dravid (6) and Mohammad Kaif (8) could not do much, thanks to some sprightly fielding and purposeful bowling from the zimbabweans. Then came the wonderful knock from Yuvraj, who shared a 158-run sixth wicket stand from 140 balls with Dhoni, the best sixth wicket stand ever for India in One-Day Internationals.
The Punjab left hander, who had posted a hundred in a triseries in Sri Lanka last month, also crossed the 3,000 mark when he was on 36. In all, he faced 124 balls and hit 12 fours and a six. Mahendra Singh Dhoni proved he can bat with a calm head too as he lent support to Yuvraj with an unbeaten 67 off 63 balls and notched up the winning runs with his third six of his innings off Blessing Mahwire.
Earlier, India won the toss and elected to field. With Pathan, Nehra not in the side, RP Singh and Yadav had the task of opening the bowling for India. Skipper Tatenda Taibu led from the front with a 97-ball 71 while Charles Coventry top scored with 74 with seven fours and three sixes.
At the end, all is well that ends well. For India to put up a match against the Kiwis, its top order should fire in the finals. Rahul Dravid's out of form is definitely a concern, so is Ganguly's. If they too fire, an exciting match is in the waiting.....
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