India captain Sourav Ganguly had no complaints after rain forced his side's triangular series match between Australia on Monday to be abandoned as a no-result.
A huge downpour at the VRA Ground, just outside Amsterdam, saw the players leave the field with just two balls of the Australia innings remaining and left India relying on a freak result to qualify for Saturday's final.
PHOTO: EPA
World champions Australia were on 175 for seven in 31.4 overs after rain had already reduced the game to a 32 overs per side contest and delayed the start by four-and-a-half hours.
It was a game India were desperate to win after seeing their hopes of reaching Saturday's final severely dented by a 66-run defeat in the tournament opener against Pakistan.
Both Australia and India received three points for a no-result.
That meant they would have to wait for the result of today's final pool match between Pakistan (already in the final) and Australia to see if they had reached the showpiece game.
But only a huge win for Pakistan, by something of the order of 200 runs, would see India sneak through on net run-rate.
And as far as Ganguly was concerned his team were already out.
"We needed to win this game to qualify," Ganguly said afterwards when the ground was bathed in bright sunshine.
"If we had won this game we would have had some chance but now we are totally out," he added. "We didn't play well against Pakistan and we don't deserve to be in the final."
India were already without Sachin Tendulkar, the star batsman ruled out of the whole tournament before Saturday's opener with an elbow injury.
And for this match Ajit Agarkar was forced out with a side strain problem.
Ganguly admitted it was frustrating not being able to field his first-choice team. "It's really been a worry. But we have to realize we do play a lot of one-day cricket, we play more one-day cricket than any other country in the world. I think that's pretty hard on the body."
Michael Clarke's 42 off 28 balls with seven fours was the centerpiece of Australia's total. Opener Matthew Hayden (29) and captain Ricky Ponting (26) were the only other batsmen to get past 20.
Afterwards, Ponting praised the performance of 23-year-old New South Wales batsman Clarke, who has been playing English county cricket for Hampshire.
"I've been pleased with what I've seen right from the word go with Michael. The way he approaches his one-day cricket at the moment is fantastic.
"He can bat in almost any position in the order, he backs himself in any situation and hits boundaries to strange parts of the field which is always handy," Ponting added.
"He's got the ability to finish games off. He's a fantastic fieldsman and can bowl some good left-arm off-spin when required.
"He's a fantastic one-day player for us and he's maturing all the time."
Lakshimpathy Balaji, who was the pick of the attack against Pakistan with three for 27, led the bowling again with three for 20. "He has shown a bit of character," said Ganguly of the seamer. "He didn't have a good series in Sri Lanka but he's come back well."
Australia lost wickets regularly after Ponting won the toss before a sixth-wicket stand of 37 between Clarke and Darren Lehmann (19) briefly staunched the flow.
Clarke showed his ability to improvise when he drove paceman Irfan Pathan for an "inside-out" four over extra-cover and next ball pulled him for another boundary.
His innings ended in spectacular style when he lofted Balaji for what appeared to be a six only to see Virender Sehwag, leaping up just inside the long-on boundary, take a superb right-handed catch above his head.
Fred Kerley is competing unaugmented against drug-fuelled athletes at this weekend’s Enhanced Games and still hopes to race in the 2028 Olympics, the suspended former 100m world champion said on Friday. Arguably the biggest name at the divisive event in Las Vegas, where doping is permitted, the US sprinter said he had chosen not to take any of the banned substances including testosterone and steroids that his competitors have been using. “I don’t need it. God gave me fast feet for a reason. And I’m here to showcase my talent,” Kerley said. Kerley last September became the first US competitor and first track
MLB is experiencing an epidemic of guys being dudes. At ballparks all across the US, groups consisting of mostly young men are joining in on the “Tarps Off” trend that is loud, goofy, infectious and new to the baseball world. Joining in on the fun is simple: Go to the section where the party is happening, take off your shirt and start twirling it above your head. Soccer-like chants or singing usually follow — injecting a jolt of energy for a sport that is occasionally chided for its lack of energy inside the stadium. After getting its start in St Louis, Missouri, on
Hull City AFC are to play Middlesbrough for a place in the Premier League after Southampton on Wednesday failed in their appeal against expulsion from the Championship playoff final for spying on opponents. Southampton were thrown out of the final on Tuesday and handed a four-point deduction for next season after they had beaten semi-final opponents Middlesbrough. “The original sanction of expulsion ... remains in place, as does the four-point deduction to be applied to the 2026/27 Championship table and the reprimand in respect of all charges,” the English Football League said in a statement. The final is to be played at Wembley
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: Officials, players and fans winging across all of North America are likely to make this the most polluting World Cup ever, say scientists The largest and likely most lucrative ever World Cup this summer could set a record for the most-polluting sporting event in history, environmental experts say. “Unlike the case of the Olympic Games, where the carbon footprints have been reducing over the last several editions, this is totally opposite in the case of FIFA men’s World Cup,” said David Gogishvili, a geographer at the University of Lausanne (Unil). The summer’s World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams for the first time. It is being played in three countries — Mexico, Canada and the US — for the first time. It is going to
RSS