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India smash abject Kenyans
Wisden CricInfo staff - October 11, 2001

India (91 for 0 in 11.3 overs; V Sehwag 55*) beat Kenya (90 in 37.1 overs; A Agarkar 4-27, A Kumble 3-14) by 10 wickets
Full scorecard India completed a simple ten-wicket victory over Kenya at Bloemfontein with a whopping 38.3 overs to spare. They took full points from the match -- four for winning and a bonus point for despatching their opponents so quickly -- and also went ahead of South Africa on net run rate.

Sourav Ganguly, India's captain, probably expected to win, but even he must have been surprised at the extent of Kenya's capitulation. On a low-bouncing pitch, the Kenyan batsmen showed an abject lack of batting technique. Once they lost early wickets after choosing to bat, they were never in the game.

Ajit Agarkar started the rot with three wickets in his first four overs. The last ball of his first over beat Ravindu Shah's back-foot defensive shot and hit the middle stump three-quarters of the way up. He struck again with the last ball of his second over, when David Obuya played across the line to a good-length ball which moved in a shade and pegged back his middle stump. And the prize scalp of Steve Tikolo, Kenya's best batsman, came in Agarkar's fourth over. Tikolo went for an expansive cover-drive off a widish one, but only succeeded in nicking it to Deep Dasgupta, the wicketkeeper. All three dismissals had as much to do with good bowling as with poor batting technique.

Anil Kumble then took over, and wrung three lbw verdicts from umpire Dave Orchard. Orchard was under the spotlight for much of the first innings, and was involved in a landmark decision when he recalled Thomas Odoyo after he had first given him run out. The batsman had already crossed the boundary line when Orchard, after consultation with the third umpire, Wilf Diedricks, overturned his original decision.

Odoyo didn't make the most of his reprieve. He was all but lbw next ball, and Anil Kumble inevitably got his man shortly afterwards after another indeterminate prod. Kenya's biggest partnership came when Collins Obuya and Tony Suji stitched together 23 for the eighth wicket. But Agarkar and Srinath came back to wrap up the innings quickly. Srinath may have been flattered by his figures of 2 for 13, but Agarkar's 4 for 27 was richly deserved.

A target of 91 was never likely to trouble the Indians. They rightly opted to give batting practice to Virender Sehwag and Deep Dasgupta. And the way Sehwag batted, even Ganguly and Tendulkar might have struggled to finish off the match any quicker. After five overs it was 35 for 0, and when tea was rather eccentrically taken after eight overs, only 31 runs were required. Both Martin Suji and Odoyo sprayed the ball around at a gentle medium-pace, and gave the batsmen plenty of scoring opportunities. Sehwag did not need a second invitation, and tucked into the bowling with elegant cover-drives, square-cuts and pulls. His unbeaten 55 came off just 42 balls, while Dasgupta spent some useful time in the middle.

S Rajesh is a sub-editor with Wisden.com India.

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