Gayle force sinks India
Stabroek News
November 10, 2002
NAGPUR, India, (Reuters) - Opener Chris Gayle cracked his second one-day century to propel West Indies to a seven-wicket victory in the second game against India yesterday for a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.
The 23-year-old Jamaican, who hit 103, led a sustained attack on the Indian bowling as the tourists romped to 280 for three with four balls left, to make light of India's 279 for nine after being asked to bat first.
The tall left-hander was out with 59 more runs needed in 8.4 overs, but Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul kept up the tempo and remained unbeaten on 39 each.
West Indies needed 11 runs from the last two overs, but Chanderpaul hit left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra for two consecutive fours in the 46th over to put the issue beyond doubt.
Gayle, who raised 134 runs for the second wicket with Marlon Samuels (52) in only 132 balls, hit eight fours and three sixes in his 116-ball knock before he was bowled leg-stump by Javagal Srinath.
He first supported Wavell Hinds, who hit a rapid 27, before taking over with pulls and drives through both sides. He also firmly swept the top spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble who struggled again.
The 300-wicket Kumble and Harbhajan took only one wicket for 116 runs between them in the first match in Jamshedpur and struggled for their line on a flat wicket to give away 33 and 35 runs respectively in six wicketless overs each.
The 21-year-old Samuels, in top form after scoring 100 in the Calcutta test and 51 in Jamshedpur, again played well-timed shots and hit Virender Sehwag's off-spin for 17 runs in one over.
Earlier, Vangipurappu Laxman was out for an unlucky 99, one short of his second century, as he helped India recover from a precarious 20 for two in the fifth over.
He raised a record 128-run third wicket partnership with skipper Saurav Ganguly, who struck 78 for his 48th one-day fifty.
Their stand bettered the previous second wicket best against West Indies of 120 between Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Dilip Vengsarkar at Sharjah in 1988-89.
Ganguly also completed 8,000 one-day runs when he reached 34, the ninth overall and third Indian to achieve the feat.
India's Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin, besides Pakistan's Inzamam-ul Haq and Saeed Anwar, Sri Lanka's Aravinda De Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya, Australia's Mark Waugh and Desmond Haynes of West Indies are the others.
Laxman added another 105 from only 87 balls for the fifth wicket with Rahul Dravid, who shrugged off a stiff back to score 51. But Dravid and Laxman fell off successive balls as five wickets tumbled for just 16 runs.
The game was reduced to 47 overs a side after the start was delayed by 30 minutes due to dew on the field and a 10-minute stoppage after spectators hurled objects on to the field.
The repeat of the problem which marred the Jamshedpur game raised concern before authorities brought things under control.
