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| Yuvraj Singh |
(TOI)
BANGALORE. An Indian victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday was never in doubt and so their five-wicket win did not come as a surprise to anyone. But the fact is that Ireland ran India somewhat close, far closer than they should have been allowed to. Too many wickets were lost, too many overs were used up while chasing 208 for victory against an attack that was honest at best.
Yes, the Indians did collect full points in the end but then these matches against the qualifiers should be more about making a point or two. And who knows, had the big Trent Johnston, who picked up two early wickets, not gone off injured after five overs, it could have been even closer.
Yuvraj Singh, though, will take such a match everyday. The left-hander starred with the ball and his showing with the bat later justified his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's call to chase after he had won the toss.
That Yuvraj was India's unlikely bowling hero goes without saying. It was his maiden five-wicket haul that pushed back the Irish cause a long way. The visitors were dismissed for a paltry 207, barely three days after they had chased down more than 300 against England.
The Indians in turn stuttered a bit, losing Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir cheaply and then Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Dhoni all in their 30s but then were well served by Yuvraj the batsman as the target was reached with four overs to spare, setting off wild celebrations in the packed stadium.
That little cushion in the end was chiefly because of Yusuf Pathan, the only Indian batsman, apart from the composed Yuvraj (50 not out, 75b, 3x4), to make a statement. Pathan (30 not out, 24b, 2x4, 3x6) walked in and straightaway got going with the big hits to ensure that Ireland didn't come too close to causing a second upset in this edition of the World Cup.
In the afternoon, the pitch afforded some turn early on but it was a factor neither Piyush Chawla nor Harbhajan Singh, India's frontline spinners, could exploit. Yuvraj, with his part-time left-arm spin was easily the best on view, as his figures (0-0-31-5) reflect. He bowled all ten in one go.
The early damage was done by Zaheer Khan, who should have had Ireland skipper William Porterfield before he had got off the mark had Pathan held on to the edge at second slip of just the third ball of the innings. Porterfield (75, 104b, 6x4, 1x6) went on to anchor the innings and give it some respectability before that man Yuvraj struck.
Following the twin strikes by Zaheer, it was a sensible, 148-ball 113-run third wicket stand between the left-handed pair of Porterfield and Niall O-Brien that shored up the Ireland innings. The duo was also helped by some terrible bowling by leg-spinner Chawla, who even sent down two no-balls, the resultant free hit off the first handing the momentum to the Irish innings.
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score card
| Ireland innings (50 overs maximum) | R | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
| WTS Porterfield* | c Harbhajan Singh b Yuvraj Singh | 75 | 146 | 104 | 6 | 1 | 72.11 |
| 37.1 81.3 kph, the drinks break strikes. Porterfield is gone to one of Yuvraj's poorer balls today. He is turning things around for India here, and this performance could force Dhoni to rethink whether he needs two specialist spinners. This, though, was a shoddy delivery. Short and turning away slowly, Porterfield rocks back and spanks it hard. Sadly, he finds Harbhajan at cover. 160/6
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| PR Stirling | b Khan | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 0.4 134.0 kph, that's a Zaheer special, and Stirling has lost his stumps. 134 kph, angles across the batsman at a good length, inviting the drive and then zipping inwards of the track to crash into the pitch. Stirling went for the check-drive without moving his feet across or forward and the ball gladly snaked through the bat-pad gap. 1/1
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| EC Joyce | c †Dhoni b Khan | 4 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
| 2.3 133.1 kph, this is stupendous from Zaheer. He's been moving them away like a charm all along, and then just for fun, he gets one to jag back off the seam. Joyce was obviously expecting another one that moved away, and in an attempt to cover the deviation was groping outside the line. Too bad. Zaheer got it to go the other way and kiss the inside edge on the way to Dhoni 9/2
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| NJ O'Brien† | run out (Kohli/†Dhoni) | 46 | 93 | 78 | 3 | 0 | 58.97 |
| 26.5 Harbhajan Singh to Porterfield, and is that a run-out? the bowling has looked limp, but Virat Kolhi's fielding has brought the breakthrough, Porterfield pushed the ball towards cover, where Kohli swooped on the ball and fired in the throw, it was a bit wide but MS Dhoni breaks the stumps in a jiffy to catch O'Brien short, that was great work from Dhoni, and a stubborn stand is finally broken 122/3
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| AR White | c †Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh | 5 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| 29.1 Yuvraj Singh strikes, gives the ball loads of air, pitching on a length and it turns away, well outside off, White reaches for it and gets the outside edge and a regulation catch for Dhoni, who throws the ball up in delight 129/4
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| KJ O'Brien | c & b Yuvraj Singh | 9 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 69.23 |
| 33.4 82.0 kph, a massive cheer from the crowd as Kevin O'Brien departs, a soft, soft dismissal, an innocuous length ball is patted back to the bowler, who accepts the gift, Yuvraj gets his second, and Ireland have lost a huge wicket 147/5
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| AR Cusack | lbw b Yuvraj Singh | 24 | 49 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 80.00 |
| 43.4 92.1 kph, India have called for a lbw review here. Has Yuvi bagged a five-for? Lands back of a length on off stump and straightens, but the batsman is well down the track, his backfoot is a foot outside the crease and his front foot is well down the track. Will the 2.5 metres come into the picture? According to (a potentially inaccurate) HawkEye, since he is more than 2.5 m forward, it was hitting off and middle at a comfortable height. Right, on replays, umpire Tucker has reversed his decision and Yuvraj has five. Bangalore roars. Yuvraj puts out his hand, with all five fingers spread out. Dhoni just smiles. Good stuff this. 184/8
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| JF Mooney | lbw b Yuvraj Singh | 5 | 19 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 29.41 |
| 41.5 Mooney reviews an lbw appeal upheld by umpire Tucker. Yuvraj continues to impress - this is not part-time stuff. Looped up just outside off, and turning in sharply as Mooney presses half forward to defend. He did not get his pad out of the line, and was struck in front of off. Only height could have saved him, but the tracker predicts this to be clipping the top of middle. On your way, Mooney. 178/7
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| DT Johnston | lbw b Patel | 17 | 38 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 85.00 |
| 47.5 137.3 kph, Given lbw, and Johnston reviews it immediately. Munaf got some prodigious inward dip on this, it landed on middle and you could see Johnston's middle and off stumps as he went for the flick and missed. The predictive path of HawkEye says that is hitting leg stump. The umpire's call stays, and Ireland have been bowled out. 207/10
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| GH Dockrell | c †Dhoni b Khan | 3 | 19 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 30.00 |
| 46.6 Dhoni may not be considered among the better keepers in the game, but he's been stunning today. Full delivery outside off, it was there for the drive and Dockrell went for the off side with a flamboyant carve. He ended getting a very thick outside edge that seemed headed for third man. Someone forgot to inform the horizontal Indian captain. He was fully stretched to the right and pouched it inches above the ground. And he doesn't celebrate. Calm as always, flicks the ball away and heads to Zaheer for the celebrations. 201/9
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| WB Rankin | not out | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
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| Extras | (lb 4, w 8, nb 6) | 18 |
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| Total | (all out; 47.5 overs; 205 mins) | 207 | (4.32 runs per over) |
| Fall of wickets1-1 (Stirling, 0.4 ov), 2-9 (Joyce, 2.3 ov), 3-122 (NJ O'Brien, 26.5 ov), 4-129 (White, 29.1 ov), 5-147 (KJ O'Brien, 33.4 ov), 6-160 (Porterfield, 37.1 ov), 7-178 (Mooney, 41.5 ov), 8-184 (Cusack, 43.4 ov), 9-201 (Dockrell, 46.6 ov), 10-207 (Johnston, 47.5 ov) |
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| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ |
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| Z Khan | 9 | 1 | 30 | 3 | 3.33 | (1w) |
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| 0.4 to Stirling, 134.0 kph, that's a Zaheer special, and Stirling has lost his stumps. 134 kph, angles across the batsman at a good length, inviting the drive and then zipping inwards of the track to crash into the pitch. Stirling went for the check-drive without moving his feet across or forward and the ball gladly snaked through the bat-pad gap. 1/1
2.3 to Joyce, 133.1 kph, this is stupendous from Zaheer. He's been moving them away like a charm all along, and then just for fun, he gets one to jag back off the seam. Joyce was obviously expecting another one that moved away, and in an attempt to cover the deviation was groping outside the line. Too bad. Zaheer got it to go the other way and kiss the inside edge on the way to Dhoni 9/2
46.6 to Dockrell, Dhoni may not be considered among the better keepers in the game, but he's been stunning today. Full delivery outside off, it was there for the drive and Dockrell went for the off side with a flamboyant carve. He ended getting a very thick outside edge that seemed headed for third man. Someone forgot to inform the horizontal Indian captain. He was fully stretched to the right and pouched it inches above the ground. And he doesn't celebrate. Calm as always, flicks the ball away and heads to Zaheer for the celebrations. 201/9
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| MM Patel | 4.5 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 5.17 | (1w) |
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| 47.5 to Johnston, 137.3 kph, Given lbw, and Johnston reviews it immediately. Munaf got some prodigious inward dip on this, it landed on middle and you could see Johnston's middle and off stumps as he went for the flick and missed. The predictive path of HawkEye says that is hitting leg stump. The umpire's call stays, and Ireland have been bowled out. 207/10
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| YK Pathan | 7 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 4.57 |
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| Harbhajan Singh | 9 | 1 | 29 | 0 | 3.22 | (1w) |
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| PP Chawla | 8 | 0 | 56 | 0 | 7.00 | (2nb, 3w) |
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| Yuvraj Singh | 10 | 0 | 31 | 5 | 3.10 | (1w) |
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| 29.1 to White, Yuvraj Singh strikes, gives the ball loads of air, pitching on a length and it turns away, well outside off, White reaches for it and gets the outside edge and a regulation catch for Dhoni, who throws the ball up in delight 129/4
33.4 to KJ O'Brien, 82.0 kph, a massive cheer from the crowd as Kevin O'Brien departs, a soft, soft dismissal, an innocuous length ball is patted back to the bowler, who accepts the gift, Yuvraj gets his second, and Ireland have lost a huge wicket 147/5
37.1 to Porterfield, 81.3 kph, the drinks break strikes. Porterfield is gone to one of Yuvraj's poorer balls today. He is turning things around for India here, and this performance could force Dhoni to rethink whether he needs two specialist spinners. This, though, was a shoddy delivery. Short and turning away slowly, Porterfield rocks back and spanks it hard. Sadly, he finds Harbhajan at cover. 160/6
41.5 to Mooney, Mooney reviews an lbw appeal upheld by umpire Tucker. Yuvraj continues to impress - this is not part-time stuff. Looped up just outside off, and turning in sharply as Mooney presses half forward to defend. He did not get his pad out of the line, and was struck in front of off. Only height could have saved him, but the tracker predicts this to be clipping the top of middle. On your way, Mooney. 178/7
43.4 to Cusack, 92.1 kph, India have called for a lbw review here. Has Yuvi bagged a five-for? Lands back of a length on off stump and straightens, but the batsman is well down the track, his backfoot is a foot outside the crease and his front foot is well down the track. Will the 2.5 metres come into the picture? According to (a potentially inaccurate) HawkEye, since he is more than 2.5 m forward, it was hitting off and middle at a comfortable height. Right, on replays, umpire Tucker has reversed his decision and Yuvraj has five. Bangalore roars. Yuvraj puts out his hand, with all five fingers spread out. Dhoni just smiles. Good stuff this. 184/8
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| India innings (target: 208 runs from 50 overs) | R | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
| V Sehwag | c & b Johnston | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 166.66 |
| 1.1 the famous chicken dance come out as Virender Sehwag gets a leading edge back to the bowler, he was looking to play it to the leg side, it pops back to Johnston who collects and sets off on a celebratory dance 9/1
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| SR Tendulkar | lbw b Dockrell | 38 | 91 | 56 | 4 | 0 | 67.85 |
| 20.1 The left-arm charm works. Sachin is out. Dockrell has removed the big man. Innocuous delivery. Tossed up on middle stump and straightening. Sachin went down on a knee to play the sweep through square leg. He missed and was struck on the right thigh. He discussed long and hard with Kohli is it was worth reviewing. In the end he decided against it, and just as well. That was plumb, heading for leg and middle. Could not have been plumber if he was working with pipes and taps. Peterson, Yuvraj and now Dockrell... What's it with left-arm spinners today?! 87/3
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| G Gambhir | c Cusack b Johnston | 10 | 18 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 66.66 |
| 5.2 127.3 kph, no chicken dance this time, but Johnston has struck again, Gambhir is gone, that wasn't a great delivery, and it wasn't a great shot either, length ball on legstump, Gambhir looks to tuck it past short fine, he can only chip it to the fielder there, the Chinnaswamy is silenced 24/2
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| V Kohli | run out (Dockrell/KJ O'Brien) | 34 | 82 | 53 | 3 | 0 | 64.15 |
| 23.4 White to Yuvraj Singh, Is this game turning? Kohli is run out. Not the first time we have seen poor running from the Indian top-order. Short ball, turning away from Yuvraj and he goes for the cut. He played it pretty square, in that area where no one is sure whose call it is. Kohli thought there was a single, and ran almost all the way down. However, he seemed to stutter on the way. Yuvraj was initially sold on the single, but once he saw Kohli hesitate, he himself stopped. The throw to the bowler's end was not the most accurate, but it was good enough to catch Kohli well short. 100/4
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| Yuvraj Singh | not out | 50 | 108 | 75 | 3 | 0 | 66.66 |
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| MS Dhoni*† | lbw b Dockrell | 34 | 68 | 50 | 2 | 0 | 68.00 |
| 40.1 83.2 kph, is there still a twist? Dhoni has been given out lbw by Rod Tucker, Dhoni had taken a big stride forward and was hit on the back leg, that pitched on middle and off, and was going on to hit middle and leg, there's no inside-edge either, by the time the review upheld the decision to give him out, Dhoni was nearly back in the pavilion, a day to cherish for Dockrell, getting two of the biggest names in the game, first Sachin and now Dhoni 167/5
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| YK Pathan | not out | 30 | 23 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 125.00 |
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| Extras | (lb 4, w 5) | 9 |
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| Total | (5 wickets; 46 overs; 200 mins) | 210 | (4.56 runs per over) |
| Did not bat Harbhajan Singh, PP Chawla, Z Khan, MM Patel |
| Fall of wickets1-9 (Sehwag, 1.1 ov), 2-24 (Gambhir, 5.2 ov), 3-87 (Tendulkar, 20.1 ov), 4-100 (Kohli, 23.4 ov), 5-167 (Dhoni, 40.1 ov) |
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| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ |
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| WB Rankin | 10 | 1 | 34 | 0 | 3.40 | (2w) |
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| DT Johnston | 5 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 3.20 | (1w) |
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| 1.1 to Sehwag, the famous chicken dance come out as Virender Sehwag gets a leading edge back to the bowler, he was looking to play it to the leg side, it pops back to Johnston who collects and sets off on a celebratory dance 9/1
5.2 to Gambhir, 127.3 kph, no chicken dance this time, but Johnston has struck again, Gambhir is gone, that wasn't a great delivery, and it wasn't a great shot either, length ball on legstump, Gambhir looks to tuck it past short fine, he can only chip it to the fielder there, the Chinnaswamy is silenced 24/2
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| GH Dockrell | 10 | 0 | 49 | 2 | 4.90 |
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| 20.1 to Tendulkar, The left-arm charm works. Sachin is out. Dockrell has removed the big man. Innocuous delivery. Tossed up on middle stump and straightening. Sachin went down on a knee to play the sweep through square leg. He missed and was struck on the right thigh. He discussed long and hard with Kohli is it was worth reviewing. In the end he decided against it, and just as well. That was plumb, heading for leg and middle. Could not have been plumber if he was working with pipes and taps. Peterson, Yuvraj and now Dockrell... What's it with left-arm spinners today?! 87/3
40.1 to Dhoni, 83.2 kph, is there still a twist? Dhoni has been given out lbw by Rod Tucker, Dhoni had taken a big stride forward and was hit on the back leg, that pitched on middle and off, and was going on to hit middle and leg, there's no inside-edge either, by the time the review upheld the decision to give him out, Dhoni was nearly back in the pavilion, a day to cherish for Dockrell, getting two of the biggest names in the game, first Sachin and now Dhoni 167/5
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| JF Mooney | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 9.00 |
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| PR Stirling | 10 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 4.50 | (2w) |
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| AR White | 5 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 4.60 |
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| KJ O'Brien | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
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| AR Cusack | 3 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 6.00 |
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