Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir already had said that he was a ‘wanna be’ Captain and today in Jaipur he played a captain’s knock to ensure India go 2-0 up in the 5 match ODI series. He made a dazzling 138 off a mere 116 balls. The ‘maverick 2010 Virat batsman’ of India Mr. Kohli also made a good contribution of 64 at a healthy strike rate of 87.67. He along with Gambhir parted in a 116 runs stand. Earlier, M. Vijay who opened the innings with Gauti made a slow contribution of 33 off 58 balls to the opening 87 run stand. Yuvraj was looking in the mood to fire at the end, but, India was pretty close to the target by that time. He made a 16 runs as India chased the 259 total successfully in the 43rd over itself. India won the match triumphantly by 8 wickets.
Earlier in the day the Indian bowlers did a real good job to restrict the Kiwis to 258 runs. They bowled smartly and accurately. Every time the Kiwi batsmen tried to cut loose India made a breakthrough. Styris and Guptill tried to take NZ to a good total making half-centuries. The opener MJ Guptill made 70 runs off 102 balls as Styris made 59 runs off 56 runs. But, Guptill departed in the 36th over off Ashwin and Styris departed in the 45th over off Sreesanth. Vettori the Kiwi Captain came in the lower order and made a handy 31 off just 32 balls.
The Indian bowling attack was led by Sreesanth who bagged 4 wickets giving just 47 runs in the 9 overs he bowled. Munaf, Nehra and Ashwin also bowled well. Whilst Nehra was left wicket-less all others had a piece each. Yusuf Pathan also chipped in with the crucial wicket of Taylor. Although it was a slow and wicket, Indian bowling attack did a great job by bowling wicket to wicket for the most part.
So, well, it was a great day for Gambhir as he led the team from the front. With this innings he can indubitably be called to return to full form and flow. He never let his strike-rate come below 100 once he crossed the mark on the sixth over. The only flaw I saw in his innings was when he was in the 70’s. He could have ended up gifting his wicket to Kiwis when he ducked off a direct hit at the runner’s end trying to take a cheeky single. He was not even grounding his bat when he was about to reach the crease. And, of course Mr. Kohli again displayed tremendous character to seal victory. Now, I must say that Kohlis is in with a real good chance to make it to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 squad. He might even be considered in to come at the third spot! “Good going Kohli keep it up” I must say!
Tags: Gautam Gambhir, India, Indian Sports, Jaipur, New Zealand, ODI Match, ODI Series, Sports, Sports India, Virat Kohli
