Tendulkar provides platform for India

India 255-7 Zimbabwe 172 India win by 83 runs

India revived their chances of making the Super Six stages here yesterday by overcoming Zimbabwe by 83 runs. The victory came as a huge relief after a week of vilification on the Subcontinent following poor previous batting performances against the Netherlands and Australia.

After setting Zimbabwe 256 to win, Sourav Ganguly's team dismissed the hosts for 172, with the captain taking three wickets. "The mood was just right. Now there are smiles in the dressing room," he said. "We played much better than of late and we knew we could do much better than that."

Sachin Tendulkar rejuvenated the beleaguered Indians with a breezy 81 in 91 balls, including nine fours, and shared an opening partnership of 99 with Virender Sehwag. The latter made a solid 36 but, apart from Rahul Dravid who produced 43 in an apparent return to form, no other Indian batsman exceeded Mohammad Kaif's 25.

Zimbabwe were never really in the chase, Mark Vermeulen going for a duck in the first over and Craig Wishart departing soon after for 12. When Zimbabwe's top batsman, Andy Flower, was bowled by Harbhajan Singh for 22, the game was all but over.