Sunday, February 27, 2011

When Kapil’s 5-for proved futile

There are occasions in one-day international cricket when a bowler’s performance doesn’t quite grab the desired eyeballs, especially when a batting side sets up a huge target. Kapil Dev endured the same against a rampaging Australian batting line-up at Trent Bridge at the 1983 World Cup. Up against the Kim Hughes’ men on a batsmen-friendly deck, Kapil didn’t allow the Australian openers to stack up a big opening stand, cleaning up Kepler Wessels to briefly nullify Aussies’ move to bat first after winning the toss.

That was the only success India met with for a long while. Kapil kept probing at the opposition batsmen but received little support from the other bowlers, as they were put to the sword by a feisty 144-run second-wicket stand between Trevor Chappell, who grabbed his first opportunity of the tournament with both hands (scoring a fine century) and Kim Hughes.

The state of the game was such that Australia were literally lining themselves for a massive final assault with the score on 277 for 5, but all such hopes were buried by Kapil, who bowled an inspired spell of bowling towards the death.

He scalped wicketkeeper Rodney Marsh to begin his wicket-taking act in earnest. The Australian tail failed to wag even as Graham Yallop dugged deep at the other end with a solid half-century. Kapil first had Ken Macleay caught and bowled before showing the dressing room way to Tom Hogan and Geoff Lawson to make sure Aussies full-stopped at 320 for 9 in 60 overs.

Kapil’s superb bowling effort was a big factor in restricting Aussies to a score of 320, as at one stage, they looked good to reach a score close to 400. Just tad unfortunate that Kapil’s 5-for failed to act as motivational tonic for his batsmen, who capitulated for 158 in 37.5 overs, handing Australia a whopping 162-run victory.

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