da fazobetai： Toronto, Sept 15: Rahul Dravid cracked 77 and held four brilliantcatches as India defeated West Indies by 88 runs to win theToronto Cricket Festival series of the three One-dayInternationals 2-1 here on Tuesday
Latafat Ali Siddiqui16-Sep-1999Toronto, Sept 15: Rahul Dravid cracked 77 and held four brilliantcatches as India defeated West Indies by 88 runs to win theToronto Cricket Festival series of the three One-dayInternationals 2-1 here on Tuesday.The Indians, who scored an eight-wicket victory in the seriesopener on Saturday, played with great determination in the finalgame yesterday to beat Brian Lara’s side comprehensively.Put in to bat first, the Indians managed to reach 225, thehighest total of the series, for the loss of seven wickets in 50overs. In reply, the West Indians crashed to 137, all out, in34.2 overs despite a stroke-filled knock of 76 by Ricardo Powell.The 20-year-old rising star from Jamaica came to the crease whenthe West Indies had lost seven wickets with only 52 runs on theboard.West Indians made a disastrous start when their openers weredismissed before they could get off the mark. Sherwin Campbell,who had scored half century in each of the two previous games,was bowled by Debashish Mohanty with his very first ball. Fromthe other end, Ventkatesh Prasad had the other opener RidleyJacobs caught by Dravid for naught.When the score slowly moved on to 20, Mohanty struck again. Thistime he had Christopher Gayle caught by skipper Saurav Gangulyfor 7.In the next over Prasad sent Indian supporters jubilant when hegot the vital wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, caught in theslips by Dravid, for 12.The rest of the job was done by off-spinner Nikhil Chopra, whofinished the day with his career best figures of five for 21 in6.2 overs. He started the mopping up operation with the wicket ofmost prolific scorer Brian Lara who offered an easy catch toagile Dravid for 26.Chopra also got the wicket of Powell who had raised West Indieshopes of victory with his belligerent knock which included seventowering sixes and three boundaries.With his desperate attempt of keeping the strike, the powerfulPowell accelerated the run rate with his forceful shots beforefalling to a diving catch by Robin Singh.During his stay at the crease for 87 minutes, Powell produced 84runs for the unique eighth-wicket partnership with tail-enderCorey Collymore whose contribution was only two runs. OverallCollymore scored three runs during his 81-minute innings beforebeing trapped leg before off Chopra.Earlier, Dravid, the star of the day, shared two goodpartnerships during his useful 112-minute innings. First he andJacob Martin produced 59 runs for the fifth-wicket partnership.His sixth-wicket partnership with Vinod Kambli produced 77 runs.Martin contributed 33 before falling to West Indies best pacebowler Courtney Walsh for 33 while Kambli was caught by RidleyJacobs off Mervyin Dillon for 26.Dravid, who was declared the Man-of-the-Match, hit two soaringsixes and six boundaries in his flowering innings of 77 beforebeing bowled by Dillion who picked up five wickets for 51.After having lost the series, West Indians are now hoping to beatPakistan in the next three-match series starting on Thursday.”We did not do well in the first and the last match and lost theseries. We are now looking forward to winning against Pakistan,”said Lara during his post match press conference.