India have set themselves a hard task to get to the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy. By losing to the West Indies for yet another time this year, the Indians now have to beat the world champs Australia to get to the knockout stage of the tournament. Mind you, with the Australians not ever having won the Champions Trophy, history is in India’s favor but then the Aussies are known to create history, so it’s going to be an interesting match indeed.
At this time of the year, in the sub-continent the dew becomes a major factor not only in the decision to bat or bowl first but also on the selection of the bowling attack. India opted to go with four new ball bowlers and dropped spinner Ramesh Powar and after the splendid manner in which Harbhajan bowled and with Sehwag also getting a crucial wicket, the Indians sorely missed another purveyor of spin. Their thinking cannot be faulted as they went with the dew factor in their mind and no skipper in the world can ever guarantee that he will win the toss every time. With the West Indies winning it, India needed to put a score of 250 plus at least, if only to allow for the dew factor hampering their bowlers from getting a grip on the ball. They never had a decent partnership going and that meant that the West Indians were able to constantly put the pressure on. This West Indies team also believes that they have the measure of this Indian side and so go in with lot of confidence in the game.
India continue to send Pathan ahead of Dravid which is understandable if it’s a situation where a big blast is required but if one scans the scoring rate of Pathan it’s not much better than Dravid, so why the better batsman gets shunted lower is hard to understand. If a big hitter is needed at the top then who better than Dhoni whose highest score has come at No. 3 . When Dravid comes into bat there’s already pressure with two wickets gone early so it’s not easy for him. The slowness of the pitch also did not make it easy as Tendulkar and Sehwag both found the ball not quite coming on to the bat as they like. Dravid did a fine holding operation and then Dhoni, as is his wont, played a cracker of an innings taking to Gayle and that helped India post 200 plus.
It was never going to be enough unless the West Indies went into their couldn’t care attitude but this side under Lara is different and there’s a lot better balance with the likes of Samuels, Bravo and Gayle who can contribute with both bat and ball.
There’s certainly more options for the West Indian skipper and he is a shrewd skipper and is leading brilliantly.
The win makes West Indies qualify along with New Zealand for the semis and the last game becomes a do or die game for both Australia and the hosts. India will have to look at the composition of their team carefully and give Mongia a chance on his home pitch. He scored against the Australians the last time the teams played in Kuala Lumpur after which he should have been an automatic starter for the team in both the games so far, so why he wasn’t selected is a mystery. Now there will be renewed pressure on him in this knockout game against the world champs. India better win the game for the adulation that they get from the fans means there’s only one way to repay and that is by winning the Champions Trophy.
