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Rediff.com  » Sports » Ganguly's final misery continues

Ganguly's final misery continues

By Rajneesh Gupta
September 07, 2005 12:24 IST
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- Virender Sehwag (75) scored a half-century in one-day internationals after a gap of 12 innings. His last half-century was against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam on April 5, 2005 when he made 74 off just 40 balls.

- Ganguly's wretched form in tournament finals is continuing. In 14 finals (of 12 tournaments) in which Ganguly has captained India, he has managed to aggregate 297 runs at an average of 27.00 with one hundred and one half-century. Interestingly, Ganguly had scored 117 in his first ever tournament final as a captain. Since then his scores in the finals read as -- 3, 28, 1, 9, 60, 24, 11 not out , 6, 3, 4 and 31. The only half-century came in the NatWest Series final against England, which incidentally is his only tournament win.

- Rahul Dravid registered the eighth duck of his ODI career -- his first against New Zealand.

- Dravid ended the series with an aggregate of 64 runs (ave.12.80). This is easily the worst series of his career (where he played at least five innings).  He had aggregated 116 runs (ave. 16.57) against New Zealand in 2002-03 in a seven-match series in New Zealand.

- Mohammad Kaif (93 not out) was left stranded in the nineties for the second time in his career. The previous such instance for him was against South Africa at Dhaka in 2002-03. Kaif had made an unbeaten 95 (off 103 balls) on that occasion.

- Kaif ended the series with 277 runs in five matches (ave.92.33), which is most productive series of his ODI career so far. His previous best aggregate in a series was 183 (ave.45.75) in five match series against Zimbabwe at home in 2001-02. Kaif's previous best aggregate in a tournament was 182 (ave.20.22) in 11 matches during the ICC World Cup 2002-03.

- Stephen Fleming (61) has a remarkable record with the bat in the finals in which he has captained New Zealand. In six such games, Fleming has aggregated 265 runs (ave. 44.16) with four half-centuries. His scores in tournament finals while leading New Zealand read -- 5, 50, 17, 65, 67 and 61.

- Nathan Astle (115 not out off 131 balls) scored the 15th hundred of his ODI career -- his fifth against India. He has now equalled Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya's record of scoring most hundreds against India.

- Astle's innings is the highest by a New Zealander in the final of a ODI tournament. The previous highest was unbeaten 102 jointly held by Bruce Edgar (vs Australia at Melbourne in 1980-81) and Chris Cairns (vs India at Nairobi Gymkhana in 2000-01).

- Virender Sehwag performed the all-round feat of scoring a fifty and claiming 3 wickets in the same match for the fourth time in his career. He has now equalled Sachin Tendulkar's record of doing so on most occasions for India.

- New Zealand's total of 278 for 4 is their best batting second to win in a tournament final. New Zealand's previous highest was 265 for 6 (in 49.4 overs) also against India in the ICC Knockout final in 2000-01.

- The above total is New Zealand's third best to win a match while batting second in all 50-overs games. New Zealand made 297 for 6 (in 48.5 overs) chasing Australia's total of 296 in a Benson & Hedges World Series match way back in 1982-83. The second other instance was against Pakistan at home soil in 2000-01 when New Zealand made 290 for 6 (in 48.1 overs) at Dunedin.

- Sourav Ganguly has now led India in 12 tournaments' finals -- losing nine and winning only one (NatWest Series in England in 2002). On two occasions the trophy had to be shared since finals could not be completed because of rain and bad weather.

- New Zealand, on the other hand, have reached finals only five times under Fleming's captaincy. But they have clinched the trophy four times. Fleming's only defeat in a tournament final was in 2001-02 VB Series when New Zealand were blanked 2-0 by South Africa.

 

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Rajneesh Gupta

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 2024

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 2024