da realbet： Heavy rains at Matara postponed the start of the game between Indiaand Netherlands
Anand Vasu14-Jan-2000Heavy rains at Matara postponed the start of the game between Indiaand Netherlands. When the umpires finally decided that conditions weregood enough to try to squeeze in 50 overs of cricket, the players tookthe field. At 13:00 local time, the match was declared a 35 overs aside game.RV Ierschot, captain of the Netherlands side won the toss and decidedto bat. The Indian medium pacers Shalab Sriwatsa and MrithyunjayTripathy bowled a tight line and met with immediate success. OpenerPostma held fort at one end while wickets tumbled at the other end.Mohammad Kaif wasted no time in bring spinners Anup Dave and himselfon. Dave bowled superbly, varying his flight well and got goodpurchase off the wicket. He turned the ball away from the right handerand picked up wickets at regular intervals. Kaif complemented himperfectly, not giving away anything. Bowling in tandem, the spinnersknocked the stuffing out of the Dutch middle order. Dave with 7-3-7-3and Kaif with 7-2-6-1 ended any hopes of a comeback the Dutch may haveharboured. The last pair stuck around for five overs, and yet it wasthe extras that top scored with 20.The Indians should have had no trouble overhauling the meagre total of58. With storm clods gathering fast over the Uyanwatte Stadium atMatara, the Indian top order went for expansive shots and threewickets fell in quick succession. Ravneet Ricky (3), Venugopal Rao (2)and Yuvraj Singh (0) were all accounted for by left arm seamer VicTewarie who picked up the wickets of Rao and Singh and was on a brokenhat-trick as the rains once again came down. The showers came downunabated and the pools in the outfield forced the umpires to abandonthe game at 4.35 local time.When asked whether the outcome of the game was forced by the Indiansinability to dismiss the last batsmen for nearly six overs, the Indianteam coach Roger Binny said that “the lack of time was the crucialfactor.” He added that they “even sent a pinch hitter, but there justwasn’t enough time.”Each team comes away from the match with one point and the Dutch willbe overjoyed at the result.