da wazamba： The final between India and West Indies began on time, with no raindelay
Anand Vasu07-Sep-1999The final between India and West Indies began on time, with no raindelay. Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bat first. Indiaopted to go into the final with Ramesh opening the batting. Thismeant that Amay Khurasiya missed out. West Indies played the same team thatplayed the match against Zimbabwe. The only change from their previousmatch against India was the return of Sherwin Campbell to the team inthe place of Wavell Hinds.Walsh and Dillon began erratically, mixing some high qualitydeliveries with wides and no balls. While Tendulkar did not come outall guns blazing like he did against Zimbabwe, he played a solidsteady knock. Tendulkar defended firmly. Sadagopan Ramesh did not gethis feet moving, but timed the ball impeccably. When the ball was onleg stump, Ramesh lost no time in guiding the ball to the on-sidefence. Ramesh worked the ball magnificently through the on-side, bothoff his hips and off his toes.Reon King came in to the attack at the end of the 6th over. King hashad a very successful tournament so far and replaced Walsh after theveteran had bowled just three overs. Though Ramesh stroked the ballfor a couple of well timed boundaries, King got sweet revenge at theend of the over. Ramesh’s lack of footwork was his downfall onceagain. King put the ball in the slot out-side off-stump and Rameshtook the bait and drove the ball straight to Perry at short-cover.Perry diving full length took a very good reflex catch to dismiss theopener. Ramesh had made 15 off 23 balls.Rahul Dravid came in at the fall of Ramesh’s wicket. Dravid came in tobat off a lean patch. In the last few games, Dravid had hardly madeany significant scores in the last four or five innings and waslooking to get his eye in. After beginning watchfully Dravid foundsome form, pulling Dillon to the mid-wicket fence. At the end of 10overs India were well placed at 50 for 1.Dillon was erratic in the beginning of the 12th over. Dillon bangedthe ball in short and surprised Tendulkar with pace and bounce.Tendulkar quickly took evasive action and the ball was declared ano-ball. Dillon followed up his no ball with a wide and then bowledTendulkar a cracker of a ball outside off-stump. Tendulkar was beatenall ends up. Tendulkar then smashed the ball through covers for four.Dillon lost his rhythm and presented Tendulkar with another free hit,bowling short and wide outside off-stump. Tendulkar’s powerfulsquare-cut raced to the point boundary.Reon King had been the pick of the West Indian bowlers in the match upto that point and he continued to tie down Rahul Dravid. Kinggenerated good pace and extracted good carry to the wicketkeeper. Kingmanaged to keep Dravid totally quiet and bowled out a maiden over.Lara, in a surprise move, brought on Jimmy Adams to bowl the 14thover. Adams looked very rusty in the previous game and went for 20runs off his first over on that occasion. Adams did nothing to suggestthat Lara’s move was a good one. He bowled a leg-stump line in anattempt to tie down Tendulkar. When he did pitch it outside off-stump,Tendulkar dispatched the ball to the fence. Adams’ first over cost him9 runs.King continued to bowl tidily and should have had Dravid’s wicket.Dravid played a fine glance and only managed to slide the ball of theface to Ridley Jacobs. Unfortunately for the West Indies, Jacobs couldnot hold onto the catch.Lara re-introduced Walsh into the attack in the 17th over. ThoughWalsh bowled a couple of no-balls, he tied Tendulkar down for the restof the over. Walsh angled the ball in to Tendulkar and did not givehim any width to free his arms and play his shots.Lara’s move to bowl Walsh in the middle of the innings very nearlypaid off in the 21st over. Walsh tied Tendulkar down for the first 5balls of the over. A frustrated Tendulkar looked to drive Walsh on theup and ended up patting the ball straight down the wicket. Walsh gothis hand to the ball but could not hold onto the catch.Adams then bowled a reasonably tidy over and kept up the pressure.Tendulkar was kept off the strike and looked increasingly frustrated.Walsh finally had his man, when Tendulkar was caught behind, playingan airy shot at a perfectly pitched ball outside off-stump. The ballwas perhaps too short and too close to Tendulkar’s body for him todrive, and he ended up nicking the ball through to Jacobs. Tendukarhad made 40 off 65 balls.Reon King came back into the attack and struck off the very first ballof his new spell. Rahul Dravid drove uppishly at ball outsideoff-stump and Sherwin Campbell threw himself full-length to his leftat short extra-cover and pulled off a spectacular catch. After gettinghis eye in, Dravid had departed. Dravid had made 29 off 58 balls.Vinod Kambli joined Ganguly out in the middle and suddenly the Indianbatting order did not look quite so strong. With only Robin Singh tofollow, a score of anything over 220 looked far away. Kambli has nothad a good knock in a long while and looked shaky. He lasted only 5balls and just got off the mark before he fished outside off-stump andgave Jacobs a simple catch. Jacobs made no mistake and King pickup histhird wicket.Nikhil Chopra came in at the fall of Kambli’s wicket. Robin Singh wasthe man scheduled to come in next. Chopra has had limited limitedsuccess with the bat and the move seemed to be designed to keep up theright hander – left hander combination. Chopra played neatly, wellwithin himself. He did not try any expansive shots and was content topush the ball into the gaps in the outfield and pick up singles. Atthe end of 30 overs India were 121 for 4.Chopra lacked the strokes to deal with Merv Dillon and patted a ballstraight back to him. Dillon made no mistake and Chopra was gone for9. Robin Singh came in at the fall of Chopra’s wicket. The combinationof Singh and Ganguly looked a complete mismatch. Robin Singh looked toconvert singles into twos and pushed hard for sharp singles. Gangulyon the other hand is not the quickest runner between the wickets andthis led to some stopping and starting.The writing was clearly on the wall, and in the 39th over, Gangulyfinally ran himself out. Playing the ball off his hips to Chanderpaulat short fine-leg Ganguly took off down the wicket. By the time he washalf way down the wicket, Chanderpaul had fired in his return andJacobs whipped the bails off. Ganguly had made 23 off 44 balls.Just moments after Ganguly was run out the skies opened, the cloudsburst and rain came pouring down. Rain came down very hard and thecovers were on in a flash. At the end of 38.2 overs India were 149 for6. The situation looked particularly bleak for India, with norecognised batsmen to bat alongside Robin Singh.After several pitch and ground inspections it was decided that theconditions were unfit for play. The match will be replayed onWednesday 8th September 1999.