Sourav Ganguly led from the front with a judicious 90 as India beat Kenya by 98 runs in their opening Group C match in the ICC Champions Trophy, at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, on Saturday.
The Indian skipper shared a vital 161-run stand with V V S Laxman (79) for the second wicket that proved the backbone of the innings.
Mohammad Kaif (49) and Rahul Dravid (30) chipped in with some gusty batting in an unfinished fifth-wicket partnership of 77 runs in 41 balls as the Indian total raced for 213 to 290 for 5 at the end of 50 overs.
In reply, the Kenyans found the going tough in the face of some accurate bowling by the Indians, particularly Harbhajan Singh (3 for 33) and Irfan Pathan (2 for 11), and could only settle for 192 for 7 in their allotted 50 overs.
The Indians were once again guilty of letting their opponents off the hook. After reducing Kenya to 74 for the loss of 6 wickets at the 25-over mark, any other top international team would have finished off the match by the 40th over.
Nevertheless, the victory was comfortable, though it could have been spectacular.
A point to note: it was surprising that the Indians allowed the Kenyans to bat out the 50 overs. As many as 17 overs were bowled by part-timers. In the event of the India-Pakistan match being rained off, the top team from Group C will be decided on the net run-rate.
The match had a record attendance of a little under 12,000 spectators at the Rose Bowl. The number breaks the previous total for tickets sold at the NatWest Series One-Day International, between New Zealand and the West Indies, which was rained off in July, by 2,000.
India innings
Kenya won the toss and elected to field. India made only one change in the team that won the third NatWest Trophy One-Day International against England, with medium-pacer Ajit Agarkar coming into the side for leg-spinner Anil Kumble.
Kenya skipper Steve Tikolo was influenced by the slow nature of the wicket. His bowlers are not very quick and the wicket suited their style perfectly.
India skipper Sourav Ganguly took first strike instead of Virender Sehwag, who is in the midst of his worst slump in form in years. In his last five innings, the Indian opener totalled just 27 runs and he was expected to spend time in the middle and bat himself back into form against the World Cup semi-finalists.
India started defensively, scoring only nine runs after the first six overs. Both Ganguly and Sehwag were pegged back by some fine bowling by Thomas Odoyo and Martin Suji, Kenya's most experienced bowlers.
In the seventh over, a frustrated Sehwag finally exploded with a cross-batted slog down the wicket for four and then followed it up by another square cut to set India on its way.
Things proceeded smoothly to 30 for no loss by the end of the ninth over. But smooth is something Sehwag seems to abhor. With the right-hander at the wicket a period of relative calm is almost impossible to find.
Sehwag's shot off the first ball of the ninth over left Ganguly fuming. His wild swipe completely missed the ball, which crashed into the middle stump. As Sehwag (17 off 27 balls) walked off the field looking forlorn, one understood clearly that talent alone cannot achieve success. (30 for 1)
Laxman was promoted to number three in the batting order and he did not disappoint. He and Ganguly soothed nerves with some sensible scoring. The runs never came in a flurry but at least the batsmen in the dressing room were secure. By the end of the 15th over, India had reached 55 for the loss of one wicket.
Ganguly loves making runs against the minnows of the game. Amongst them, Kenya is a favourite. With three hundreds and a fifty against them, the left-hander was a picture of confidence. Not once did he look hurried. And once Odoyo had finished his initial spell of six overs, one maiden, 12 runs and one wicket, there simply was no stopping the Indian skipper.
Ganguly's soon started to open up and with a few flowing drives through the covers he announced his intentions. Even though the runs did not come quickly, he was in no trouble whatsoever and reached his 58th ODI half-century off 79 balls.
Luck favoured Laxman when Martin Suji took a splendid catch, diving forward. But a no-ball was called immediately and the Hyderabadi took his chance with glee and slammed a boundary off the next ball.
By the 25th over, India were 110 for 1. The scoring rate was still slow, but with wickets in hand one knew that India could accelerate in the end.
The Kenyan bowlers were not really threatening and in the next ten overs there was little that troubled the Indian batsmen as Laxman finally started to find his touch in the middle.
But just then Ganguly slowed down after reaching 80. One felt that Matthew Hayden's comment about players of the sub-continent playing for personal records has an element of truth in it.
Once you slow down, sometimes it's hard to get going again. Ganguly was clean bowled by Martin Suji for 90 off 124 balls, which was studded with eight boundaries. The 161-run partnership for the second wicket had put India into a position of strength. Now they had to make it count. (181 for 2)
For quick runs, the Indians have always turned to Yuvraj Singh. A huge cheer went up as the batsman walked in. The crowd could finally expect some big hits. But the left-hander disappointed; he was dismissed after scoring just 13.
Odoyo slanted a ball across Yuvraj, who, without moving his feet, tried to drive it through the covers. The ball nipped away, caught the outside edge and Kennedy Otieno completed a simple catch. (204 for 3)
Laxman soon joined Yuvraj back in the pavilion. He completely misread a flighted delivery from Tikolo and was stumped by Otieno. The right-hander scored 79 off 99 balls, which had eight boundaries.
It was left to Mohammad Kaif and Dravid to provide the final push. They did that in brilliant fashion.
India scored 59 runs in the last five overs, with Kaif scoring a brilliant 49 off just 29 balls and Dravid, 30 off just 16 balls.
India finally ended up with 290 from their allotted 50 overs.
Kenya innings
Kenya needed one of their batsmen to produce an inspirational innings if they were to get anywhere near India's total. But there was none to stand up as the India bowlers, led by Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan, dominated the proceedings from the word go.
The East Africans didn't start well. After four overs they had only nine runs on the board as Pathan and Ashish Nehra stuck to a line and length.
Opener Kennedy Otieno and Ravindu Shah are Kenya's most experienced batsmen along with Steve Tikolo and Hitesh Modi. But they all failed to get going. Disaster struck when Otieno was run-out off the first ball of the fifth over. Shah pushed to cover and took off for a single, but Kaif swooped down on the ball and hit the stumps on the full to catch Otieno out of his crease. Otieno made his displeasure known but was on his way back to the pavilion for a duck. (9 for 1)
These days you can't keep Pathan out of the action for long. The left-arm seamer contributed to India's cause when he trapped Kenya's most experienced batsmen, Tikolo, plumb in front of his castle for 2. (13 for 2)
The procession of wickets was truly on when 18 balls later Hitesh Modi (5) holed out to Ganguly in the mid-off region off Pathan. (21 for 3)
Odoyo joined Shah at the wicket and the duo averted a total collapse by putting on 37 for the fourth wicket before Harbhajan got into the act.
Harbhajan seems to have rediscovered the joy to spin bowling in his time away from cricket due to injury. Before his finger injury, he looked like a jaded bowler, tired of the rigours of one-day cricket. He seemed reluctant to flight the ball, afraid of being hit.
But the break has done him more good that any other Indian player. In every match he played since the Asia Cup, he claimed at least one wicket. The aggression is back as is the ability. He tormented the Kenyan batsman no end.
His dismissal of Shah only proved the point. The ball was tossed up outside the off-stump. It was a cleverly disguised 'doosra' which drew the batsman into the stroke, and Shah ended up with a thick edge to Dinesh Karthik, who did well to hold on. (58 for 4)
Shah was gone for 33 off 55 deliveries including three boundaries.
Harbhajan snared next batsman Rageb Aga (0) too. The off-spinner was much too wily for the 20-year-old, who failed to read a delivery and Ganguly at silly point took an easy catch. (62 for 5)
The ace spinner wasn't about to rest on his laurels and this time it was Odoyo who suffered. The toss was the same - the flighted delivery outside the off-stump -- but instead of going away, it turned in sharply. Odoyo (15 off 42) pushed at it away from the body and the resultant edge ended up safely in Karthik's gloves.(74 for 6)
At the end of the 25th over, Kenya had reached 74 for 6. They were completely out of the match and it only went on longer because India decided to give all their bowlers a go. Ganguly, Sehwag and Yuvraj all turned their arm over but a breakthrough eluded them right up to the 45th over when Maurice Ouma, who batted doggedly for 49 off 93 deliveries was caught by Karthik off the bowling of Agarkar.
Brijesh Patel (38) and Martin Suji (6) played out the remaining overs as Kenya ended up with 192 for 7.
Harbhajan ended up India's most successful bowler, claiming three wickets for 33 runs.
