Indian Oil Cup

By ICF Staff
August 2 2005

India's progress in the three-way Indian Oil Cup has been unremarkable in their first two matches against a second-string Windies and Lanka without their two best pacemen.

In the first match, India batted first and managed 205, largely on the back of a slow 50 from Dravid and a flurry of runs by the tail. Sri Lanka received a scare after some good bowling by Pathan, Khan, and Harbhajan, teetering at 140/6, but Jayasuriya guided them to the target with one over to spare.

Next, India played a West Indies without several of their best players, and once again the pacemen impressed. Windies were fired out for 178.

In response, Dravid once again turned in a key 50 to help India reach the target comfortably. India won by 6 wickets with 14 overs to spare.

Now Sourav Ganguly has returned, and one of the batsmen must make way for him. The finalists will almost certainly be India and Lanka, but it remains to be seen whether India can wrest a finals victory in Lanka, one of the more difficult places to win.