da bet sport： The Kolkata police were made to toil hard to keep the enthusiastic crowdunder control during the days leading up to the first one-dayer at EdenGardens
da dobrowin： Woorkheri Raman21-Jan-2002The Kolkata police were made to toil hard to keep the enthusiastic crowdunder control during the days leading up to the first one-dayer at EdenGardens. The crowd scrambled desperately in a bid to buy the tickets butit was an impossible situation with more than half the population keento witness the match. This is what makes Kolkata unique and special andeventually the crowd was entertained by a superb display from bothteams. The hosts were made to work hard for their victory butunfortunately the incompetence of one umpire meant that they could notfully relish it.
© CricInfoMarcus Trescothick threatened to “sweep” the game away from the Indianswith a superb knock. His innings was reminiscent of the match-winninginnings Gooch played way back in the 1987 Reliance World Cup semi-final.Trescothick was not fully fit and that made the manner in which heapplied himself all the more remarkable. He seemed to have worked out aplan and though he struggled in the early part of his innings, he gaveGanguly plenty to worry about. Trescothick was very fluent during theTest series and he picked up from where he left off exhibiting emphaticstroke play. Such was his dominance over the Indian attack that thevisitors were maintaining a run-rate of over six for the best part ofthe innings before he was dismissed. Mind you, not very often does onesee an opener reach his hundred in the 26th over and that too with theteam score only reading 169.Trescothick was lucky early on and with Laxman spilling a catch offAgarkar, he made it count in a telling fashion. After he got a measureof the pace and bounce, he unleashed some powerful shots off the backfoot against the medium pacers. Ganguly was forced to bring on thespinners well within the first fifteen overs but the tall left-handernot to be perturbed. He used his feet very well and tonked both AnilKumble and Harbhajan Singh for a six apiece. Once the fieldingrestrictions were removed, he played very cleverly using Kumble’s paceto his advantage and sweeping Harbhajan at will. At one stage, Harbhajanwas at his wits’ end when bowling to the man of the match. As far as thehosts were concerned it was a matter of getting Trescothick’s wicket asthe others failed to provide him the required support. There were usefulpartnerships but Trescothick did the bulk of scoring in thosepartnerships.
© CricInfoHussain tried in desperation by charging the medium pacers and though hepicked up a few streaky boundaries he was never convincing. Kumbleprovided the breakthrough by trapping Hussain in front off the verysecond delivery but there was an element of doubt, which though did notgo in favour of the batsman. If Hussain’s dismissal was doubtful, thenthe decision against Trescothick that swung the game in favour of Indiawas horrendous. Mr Sharma was the umpire who gave both the decisions andit appeared that he was prone to instant ruling. Agreed that leg beforedecisions are not easy but he would have been better off by taking timebefore he handed out the verdict. This particular gentleman has beenumpiring for well over a couple of decades but unfortunately his urgencyhas robbed off a fair bit of credit from the Indian victory.Moving on, it now remains to be seen if Sanjay Bangar, the only allrounder in the Indian squad will be pressed into service at Cuttack.There is no point in looking for all-rounders when the deemed one is notutilised. Anyway, if the first one-dayer is any indication, this one-dayseries will be enthralling.
