da brwin： India XI beat Australia XI by 154 runs in the day/ night encounter atthe MA Chidmabaram Stadium, Chennai, on Friday to win the Siyaram’sCup
da apostaganha： Santhosh S23-Mar-2001India XI beat Australia XI by 154 runs in the day/ night encounter atthe MA Chidmabaram Stadium, Chennai, on Friday to win the Siyaram’sCup. The match was played for the benefit of the ‘Gujarat EarthquakeVictims’. It was a noble gesture on the part of the touringAustralians and the Indian players to turn up for such an event.Most of the leading Aussie players preferred to keep out, leaving itto some select players who are touring India to join a few of theirmainstream players. Saurav Ganguly did not play in the match. RahulDravid led the Indian side which was in full attendance.In the afternoon, India XI won the toss and elected to bat. They made338/8 in their allotted 40 overs. There was hardly any competitivenature to the match as the batsmen unleashed a savage attack on thebowling, much to the thrill of the packed stadium.Sachin Tendulkar, the star attraction of the match, did not fail toentertain the big crowd. He was at the crease for just 39 minutesfacing 49 balls to knock off 93 exhilarating runs of a haplessbowling. He punctuated his explosive knock with 18 fours and 2 sixes.Local lads S Ramesh (35), Hemang Badani (55) and Robin Singh (33) toogave the crowd the opportunity to cheer their heroes. Vijay Dahiyamade an entertaining 50 with the help of six boundaries off just 32balls. The Aussie veteran Greg Matthews added colour to the festiveoccasion.An Australian run chase was never a possibility against a fullstrength Indian bowling attack. Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkarbowled with a lot of fire. The Australians were all out for 184 in27.1 overs. The two Australian one day specialists Darren Lehmann andMichael Bevan gave glimpses of their ability with some lusty hitting.Lehmann struck two mighty sixes and three boundaries to score 24 runsoff just nine balls. Bevan who has been in tremendous form in theAustralian domestic season, seems to have carried it with him toIndia. He delighted the crowd with some exquisitely timed boundaries,leaving the fielders watching the ball scream to the boundary. Bevanmade 58 off 35 balls with the help of 13 boundaries.Justin Langer too got cracking in the middle order. He struggledinitially against the spin of Virendra Shewag (3/19), but went on tomake 53 runs off 39 balls. He struck six boundaries and three bigsixes. The big crowd that converged at the MA Chidambaram stadium hadtheir share of fun, with some big Mexican waves going around, when theAussie batsmen got a little defensive in the middle.All the proceeds from this benefit match are to go to the GujaratRelief Fund. In another noble gesture, all district associationsaffiliated to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association donated Rs 1.1 lakhsto the relief fund.
