da fazobetai： India once again had an easy victory
Anand Vasu18-Jan-2000India once again had an easy victory. While this is a good thing as ofnow, it might prove to be a handicap later in the series. The Indianteam has hardly been stretched in the matches they have played thusfar. Today, India won the toss and put Nepal in to bat on a slowwicket at the Police Park Ground in Colombo. The match was scheduledto be played at the FTZ Sports Complex in Katunayake, but heavyovernight rains made the pitch totally unplayable.The opening bowlers Salab Shrivatsa and Mrithynjay Tripathi bowled asuperb line and did not allow the Nepal openers to score. They set upa platform for the spinners to attack. Yuvraj Singh gave the ball afair bit of air, and got good purchase off the wicket. From his nineovers he picked up 4/15. Nepal could manage only 101 off their 44overs.In response, India’s Manish Sharma tapped the first ball of theinnings lamely back to the Nepal captain Binod Das. After that,Ravneet Ricky and Mohammad Kaif played with determination and battedsteadily to see India through to 87 for 1. At that point Ricky grewimpatient and threw his wicket away after making a fine 35. YuvrajSingh smashed the first ball away to the cover boundary and then tookIndia to an eight wicket victory. Kaif was unbeaten on 57.