Pictures and report from Sanjay Borkar in Margao
for Daijiworld News Netwrork in Goa
- Goa takes a break from a football-crazy record
Margao, Apr 3: Indian Cricket captain Rahul Dravid won the hearts of cricket fans, by winning first time in history of cricket in Goa by 49 runs, while India has had lost three times here in past.
He kept his pledge of winning this time in Goa by defeating England who made 245 all out. A day before the match he had said that if he won the toss and batted first he would definitely try to win and he did it.
The mammoth crowd surged at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to witness the 3rd ODI cricket match, danced with joy when men in blue bowled England for 245 all out, thus registering a ODI victory hat-trick.
The crowd supporting India was bit upset during the first for 10 overs, when Sehwag was bowleld by Anderson on 15. But Irfan Pathan supported Rahul Dravid and the score steadily got piled up.
At over 22.5, Rahul Dravid was bowleld by Collingwood. He missed his half century, getting out on 46.
Irfan Pathan made 36 runs, and gave a catch in collingwood's hand off Flintoff's delivery.
Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina boosted the score, with a steadying partnership. Yuvraj scored 103 off 76 balls and Raina 61 off 68. Though Yuvraj was caught by Collingwood, off a Flintoff delivery, he got a place in fans' hearts by posting 103 runs. For Goans' he was the hero at that point.
It was not a good pitch for Mohammad Kaif, as he was back in the pavilion with just 3 runs, was caught by Jones off Plunket.
The slow progress, 42-1 in 10 overs, 54-1 in 13 overs, 90-1 in 20 overs and 130-3 in 26 overs shows the picture of progress.
But Yuvraj set the stadium on fire with his aggressive shots.
While people were applauding Sursesh Raina for his powerful strikes, he was bowled at 61 by Flintoff.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni making use of the last two overs of the quota hit a six in his typical style, scoring 13, and the
Indian innings ended with 294-6 (50 overs) on board.
England made only 245. It was not a good start for England as their 5 stalwarts were out in quick succession, with still a low score posted. But P Collingwood raised the score and hopes for England in the middle by scoring 93 runs. Unfortunately for him and the England team, Suresh Raina took his catch off Harbhajan Singh.
They lagged behind by 49 runs and were all out for 245. Ajit Agarkar took the last wickets of L Plunkett and S Mahmood.
At the presentation ceremony, Yuvraj Singh was declared the Man of the match and the trophy was presented by BCCI vice president and health minister of Goa Dayanand Narvekar, with a cheque for Rs 50,000 and an attractive Red TVS bike.
Meanwhile former cricketer of Goa, Dilip Sardesai, who was at the venue, was felicitated by chief minister Pratapsingh Rane by presenting a cheque for Rs 5 lac.