Another last-over finish saw India lose again to the West Indies and allow the hosts to go one-up in the five-match series. If anything, the result proved that the West Indies under Lara are not going to cave in easily and can hold their nerve in a tight situation.
With Ramnaresh Sarwan playing another capital innings, the West Indies were in control throughout the chase and seldom looked as if they would stumble. In today’s one-day games, scores of 250 are par for the course and not many teams sweat over chasing totals even in the 280-300 region. The key is to keep wickets in hand as India showed in the first match and at St. Kitts, the West Indies did the same and scampered home.
Rahul Dravid’s luck with the toss is going well and this time he opted to bat first because a big game was being played at this ground after a long time and there was doubt over the durability of the pitch. Having two spinners in the team meant that he could take advantage of the deterioration in the pitch and so it made sense to bat first when the wicket would be at its best.
How crucial it is for the skipper himself to get runs for India to win can be seen by the fact that both games have been lost in which Dravid hasn’t scored runs. Virender Sehwag’s return to form augurs well and more than anything, it was the refreshing manner in which he batted and applied himself that was great news. With Kaif also batting better than his earlier efforts, India were well placed at one stage with the score reading 211 for 2. With 10 overs to go then, there was a comedy of sorts as three run-outs meant that suddenly with few overs left, the tail was at the crease, and we have seen that they have not been able to cope with the pressure in the past.
Yuvraj’s absence in the middle order was felt keenly as the southpaw has been in the best batting form of his life and so would have helped bolster the total by another 30 or so runs.
The fielding of the West Indies team has picked up so dramatically after the first game that it’s unrecognizable from the schoolboyish effort of that game. They have not only given their bowlers the added edge with the fielding but also helped save lots and lots of runs and thus put India under tremendous pressure. They also have in Bravo, a bowler who can bowl in the mid-80s mph speed and who can bowl one of the best disguised slower ones in the one-day game.
The West Indies also made a batting change where they sent the classy Samuels to open the batting with the attacking Gayle and they got the team to just the start that was needed. Though Morton was out cheaply, the Gayle — Sarwan partnership and then the Sarwan — Chanderpaul one meant that India were never going to be able to defend the meager total that they had put up. The pitch too didn’t deteriorate as much as was anticipated and so the spinners didn’t get the turn and uneven bounce that could have caused anxiety to the batsmen. Sarwan’s cool, calm innings got him the ton that he so narrowly missed in the previous match, and he took the West Indies home even as India gave the last crucial over to the relatively inexperienced Sreesanth. Speaking of him, if he was unfit for the first two ODIs due to an injury sustained in the Abu Dhabi games versus Pakistan, then how did he board the flight to the West Indies without a fitness test and who cleared him to go? Or are there special rules for some?
The win will give the West Indies tremendous confidence for the manner in which they have first defended a small total and then the way they kept their cool while chasing. And don’t forget the great Lara hasn’t even fired as yet!!
