Captain Saurav Ganguly has guided India to a six wicket victory over Kenya after his team was in deep trouble chasing a modest 226 to win their World Cup Cricket Super Six match in Cape Town, South Africa. Ganguly stroked an unbeaten 107 Friday after India had collapsed to 24 for three in reply to Kenya's 225 for five.
The India skipper combined with Rahul Dravid to take the total to 102, before Dravid was caught and bowled by leg spinner Collins for 32 to put the match back on balance. But Yuvraj Singh with 58-not out gave Ganguly invaluable support as they combined for 118.
In the Kenya innings opener, Kennedy Otieno made the most of some sloppy Indian fielding to score 79 before he was bowled out by Harbhajan Singh.
Meanwhile, defending World Cup cricket champion Australia has clinched a berth in the semifinals of this year's tournament.
Australia won its opening Super Six match over 1996 titlist Sri Lanka by 96 runs in Centurion, South Africa. These two teams had finished first in their respective groups in the preliminary stage of play. Since the Australians are unbeaten in seven World Cup matches, they can not be caught in the second round by either Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe, so they are through to the final four.
Australia scored 319 for five in 50 overs Friday, while Sri Lanka managed 223 runs in 47.4 overs. Ricky Ponting's century led the way for Australia as he tallied 114 runs. Adam Gilchrist came up just short of the century mark with a 99. Aravinda de Silva topped Sri Lanka with 92.
Besides the loss, Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya suffered a badly bruised left forearm and chipped left thumb. He was hit by Australian strike bowler Brett Lee and is in doubt for Monday's match against India.