Agnivo Roy

India today broke the previous record World Cup total of 398 for 5 made against Kenya in 1996 after breaking their own one-day record of 373 for 6 scored against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup, by piling up 413 runs at the loss of 5 wickets, batting a full 50 overs.

Well, although this is quite a record but it’s against the minnows, Bermuda who are playing their first World Cup this time. This comes just after the unfortunate loss to another weak team, Bangladesh on the 17th., the first World Cup 2007 match of India. It was highly unusual and shameful that India has lost to the Bangladeshis by setting up a miserable total. Now, this match and score should bring some confidence to the team which crumbled up for 191 the other day.

Considering that Bermuda would be bowled out today for a very modest score , the net run rate of the Indians will be higher and have to win against the Sri Lankans on the 23rd. to secure a berth in the Super Eight, in order to carry on their hopes to win the World Cup 2007.

The Indians received a blow at the start of their innings, batting first. Robin Uthappa was caught out for 3 runs only and our good old Saurav Ganguly aka “dada” held on while Virender Sehwag came in, got set on the crease quickly and executed some marvelous shots en route to his century (114 off 87) consisting of 17 fours and 3 sixes, his first ODI century for nearly two years!

Sourav Ganguly was looking good, played some excellent shots but was unlucky enough to get stumped while trying to thrash a delivery over the boundary in his indigenous step-out style.

MS Dhoni, already known for his massive and monstrous stand-and-deliver hits came in, played a few decent shots, but was very nicely caught by an emphatic Tucker who came in charging and managed to grab the ball at the end, off a casual spoony shot.

Yuvraj Singh’s way of playing did attract attention. He seemed to play naturally and as there was no pressure on the batting line up, he carried on quite well, playing some beautiful and powerful shots. Yuvraj’s 83 run knock off just 46 balls was studded with 4 boundaries and 7 sixers. It was a real treat to watch his batting.

Last but not the least, the master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar was also seen playing in the way he’s always expected. Making full use of the already high pressure on the Bermuda team, the maestro thrashed the deliveries around the park and added to the fireworks.

The skipper Rahul Dravid struck a six off the last ball at the close of the innings.

Currently, Bermuda is struggling at 73 for 5. Seems they’d not even reach 100 runs before the get all out.

Detailed ScoreCard [ India vs. Bermuda 19th. March, 2007 ]

India Batting (50 overs max) Runs Balls 4s 6s

1. AR Uthappa c.Leverock b.Jones 3 4 0 0
2. SC Ganguly st.Minors b.Borden 89 114 6 2
3. V Sehwag c.Jones b.Hurdle 114 87 17 3
4. MS Dhoni c.Tucker b.Borden 29 25 2 1
5. Yuvraj Singh c.Jones b.Leverock 83 46 3 7
6. SR Tendulkar notout 57 29 2 4
7. R Dravid notout 7 2 0 1

Extras : (lb 7, b 0, nb 7, w 17 ) 31
Total : ( 5 wicket(s), 50.0 overs, mins) 413 (R.R 8.26)
Fall of Wickets : 1-3(AR Uthappa, 1.1 ov), 2-205(V Sehwag, 29.5 ov), 3-238(SC Ganguly, 34.5 ov), 4-269(MS Dhoni, 38.2 ov), 5-391(Yuvraj Singh, 48.4 ov).