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| Saturday, 17 July 2004 |
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Dravid century gives India winning start in Asia Cup DAMBULLA, Friday - Asia Cup favourites India began the tournament on a winning note with a comprehensive 116 runs win over United Arab Emirates under lights at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium here today. Choosing to bat first India rattled up an impressive 260-6 off 50 overs and then dismissed UAE for 144 off 35 overs. Vice-captain Rahul Dravid scored the first one-day international century on this ground when he stroked his way to 104 off 93 balls as India recovered from a poor start to post a threatening total. His ninth one-day century gave him the man-of-the-match award. Winning the toss and batting first on a slow surface India's strong batting line up looked rusty after a two-month layoff. Against some enthusiastic and lively bowling by UAE's opening bowlers, India suddenly found themselves struggling at 65-3 in the 17th over. The big hitting Virender Sehwag was run out for a duck in the third ball of the innings. Then in the eighth over UAE grabbed the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar for 18 when he was caught at short midwicket off an attempted flick. That wicket won left-armer Asim Sahid US$1000, which was on offer before the match for any bowler dismissing the master batsman cheaply. Ten overs later, VVS Laxman put up an easy return catch with his score on 14. The UAE could easily had India down on their knees if their catching was reliable. Indian captain Sourav Ganguly struggling to come to terms with the pitch was put down twice - off the first ball when he was missed at slip and then again at three at cover. The left-hander battled his way to make an uncharacteristic half-century off 102 balls sharing an 88-run partnership with Dravid for the fourth wicket. Yuvraj Singh hit out powerfully for a quick 22 raising a partnership of 42 in 43 balls with Dravid who by then had completed his fifty off 49 balls with four fours. However it was not until Mohammad Kaif joined Dravid that the Indian innings began to gain momentum. Running fast between the wickets and converting the ones into twos and then threes, the pair brought up the 50 partnership off 40 balls when Kaif straight drove for the only six of the innings. Dravid batting fluently gave a great example that boundaries were not necessary to score centuries when he completed one off 93 balls. He had six fours and 40 singles in his innings that took India past the 250-mark - a figure that did not look possible in the initial stages. He was out with three balls remaining for the end of the innings, leaving Kaif unbeaten on 32 off 30 balls. UAE's new ball bowlers Asad and Asim bowled an impeccable length and control making use of the crosswinds to move the ball around appreciably and make life difficult for the Indian batsmen. But Dravid baded his time and once they were off took heavy toll off the slow bowlers. UAE in their turn slumped to 45-6 by the 13th over as young speedsters Pathan and Balaji sliced through their top order. But a debut one-day fifty from Mohammad Tauqir who made 55 off 73 balls (8 fours) delayed the inevitable for a further 22 overs giving their final total of 144 some respectability. UAE's last four wickets fell to spinners Kumble and Tendulkar. The former Indian captain finished with figures of three for 21 to rival Pathan's effort of 3 for 28. India play Sri Lanka on Sunday at the same venue. UAE meet Sri Lanka in another night game tomorrow. INDIA V. Sehwag run out 0 S. Tendulkar c Usman b Saeed 18 S. Ganguly c Naeemuddin b Latif 55 V. Laxman c and b Tauqir 14 R. Dravid b Latif 104 Y. Singh b Khan 22 M. Kaif not out 32 I. Pathan not out 1 Extras (lb-10, W-4) 14 TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 260 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-30, 3-65, 4-153, 5-195, 6-254. BOWLING: Asad 10-1-38-0, Saeed 7-2-25-1, Maqsood 4-0-24-0, Tauqir 10-0-46-1, Khan 10-0-48-1, Latif 9-0-69-2.
UAE
A. Saeed c Kaif b Pathan 12 Arshad Ali c Dravid b Pathan 0 F. Usman lbw b Balaji 9 A. Nameeuddin lbw b Pathan 0 K. Khan lbw b Balaji 5 S. Maqsood c Laxman b Zaheer 5 Asghar Ali lbw b Kumble 14 M. Tauqir st Dravid b Tendulkar 55 A. Rehman b Tendulkar 1 A. Asad not out 9 R. Latif c Laxman b Tendulkar 0 Extras (B-8, LB-1, NB-4, W-21) 34 TOTAL 144 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1, 2-26, 3-26, 4-29, 5-36, 6-45, 7-97, 8-121, 9-144. BOWLING: Pathan 8-0-28-3, Balaji 8-2-28-2, Zaheer 8-1-42-1, Kumble 7-1-16-1, Tendulkar 4-0-21-3. Man of the match: Rahul Dravid (IND) |
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