India advance; England (Azh)are beaten

India made just one change to their playing eleven – Robin Singh made way for Nayan Mongia. England made three changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Nick Knight, Vince Wells and Ian Austin made way for Nasser Hussain, Adam Hollioake and Alan Mullally.

Thanks to the inclement weather, the reserve day was used. Alec Stewart, England’s captain, chose to field upon winning the toss. Seventy-seven balls into the match, Sadagoppan Ramesh, who faced 41 balls, was caught by Graeme Hick for 20. He scored a couple of boundaries. Mullally broke the 49-run stand.

The second-wicket pair put on 44. Sourav Ganguly, the player of the match, scored 40 off 59 balls. His innings was laced with half-a-dozen boundaries. Fifty-one balls later, Mark Ealham ran him out. Tendulkar, who faced 40 balls, scored 22. HiS(ach)innings included a couple of boundaries. Seventy-three balls later, he was caught by Hick. Ealham broke the 46-run stand.

Rahul Dravid, who faced 82 balls, scored 53. His innings included six boundaries. Thirty-eight balls later, he was caught by Ealham. Andrew Flintoff broke the 35-run stand. Mohammad Azharuddin, India’s skipper, faced 35 balls. He scored 26. His innings included three boundaries. Four overs later, he was caught by Nasser Hussain. Ealham broke the 14-run stand.

Nayan Mongia, who faced five balls, scored just a couple. Seventeen balls later, Mullally broke the 21-run stand. Javagal Srinath, who faced a couple of balls, scored a run. Three balls later, Darren Gough broke the one-run partnership. 

Ajay Jadeja faced 30 balls, scoring 39. His innings included five boundaries. A couple of overs later, he was caught by Angus Fraser. Gough broke the 18-run stand. Anil Kumble, who faced eight balls, scored six. He was unbeaten, as was Venkatesh Prasad, who faced three balls and scored a couple.

England conceded 21 extras. India scored 232 for the loss of eight wickets off 50 overs. Adam Hollioake bowled five overs, conceding 34. He was wicketless, as was Fraser, whose 10 overs included a couple of maidens. He conceded 30.

Flintoff bowled five overs, conceding 28. He picked up a wicket. Mullally bowled 10 overs, conceding 54. He picked up two wickets. The ninth over of the Indian innings – Mullally’s first, called by Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar – was a seven-ball over. Gough bowled 10 overs, conceding 51. He picked up a couple of scalps, as did Ealham, whose 10 overs included a couple of maidens. He conceded 28.

Stewart, who faced nine balls, scored just a couple. Nineteen balls into the chase, he was caught by Azharuddin. Debasis Mohanty broke the opening stand, which was worth a dozen. Hick, who faced a ball, didn’t open his account. The next ball, Mohanty broke the one-run stand.

The Chennai-born batsman, who faced 63 balls, scored 33. His (Hussa)innings included three boundaries. Ninety-five balls later, Ganguly broke the 59-run stand. Graham Thorpe, who faced 57 balls, scored 36. His innings included seven boundaries. Twenty-seven balls later, Srinath trapped him leg before wicket, breaking the nine-run stand.

The fifth-wicket pair put on 37. Flintoff faced 21 balls, scoring 15. His innings included a boundary and a six. Forty-seven balls later, he was trapped (Kumb)leg before wicket. Hollioake, who faced 13 balls, scored six. Twenty-six balls later, Kumble trapped him leg before wicket, breaking the sixth-wicket stand, which was worth a dozen.

Ealham, who faced three balls, did not open his account. Six balls later, he was caught by Azharuddin. Ganguly broke the one-run stand. Neil Fairbrother, who faced 62 balls, scored 29. His innings included a couple of boundaries. Eleven balls later, he was caught by Mongia. Ganguly broke the one-run stand.

Gough, who faced 25 balls, scored 19. His innings included a boundary. Thirty-three balls later, he was caught by Kumble. Prasad broke the 29-run stand. Fraser faced 17 balls, scoring 15. His innings included three boundaries. He was unbeaten. Mullally, who faced a couple of balls, did not open his account. Srinath was in seventh heaven, because he broke the eight-run stand.

The Indians conceded 14 extras. England, who were dismissed for 169 off 45.2 overs, lost by 63 runs. Prasad bowled nine overs, including a maiden. He conceded 25 and picked up a wicket. Srinath bowled 8.2 overs, including three maidens. He conceded 25 and picked up a couple of wickets.

Mohanty and Kumble, who bowled 10 overs each, picked up a couple of wickets apiece. While the former conceded 54, the latter, whose spell included a maiden, conceded 30. Ganguly, who bowled eight overs, conceded 27. He picked up three scalps. Sri Lanka were also eliminated. The Indians advanced to the Super Six.