West Indies won the toss and put India in. Dwayne Bravo was forced to sit out with a groin injury. Kieron Pollard was leading the side in his absence. Ravi Rampaul also missed the fixture due to a sprained ankle. India went in with an unchanged eleven for the sixth game in a row.
Shikhar Dhawan could not continue his Bradman-esque form and was sent packing by Kemar Roach for 11 in the 5th over. Virat Kohli stamped his authority early, upper-cutting Tino Best over the deep backward point boundary for a six. Best was guilty of bowling short and wide in his initial spell. Meanwhile, Kemar Roach was firing in on an impeccable line and length keeping the batsmen on their toes. Kohli was kept quiet for a while before Darren Sammy saw the back of the Indian number 3 for 11 in the 10th over of the innings. India were reduced to 39/2.
Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik resurrected the innings. Sammy and Samuels were difficult to get away and kept a tight leash on the incumbent duo. The latter was rewarded with Karthik's wicket who fell for a rather sluggish 23 off 56 deliveries offering a simple caught and bowled to the off-spinner. A painfully slow 59 run-stand between him and Sharma had come to an end. Rohit Sharma notched up a solid half-century - his 16th in ODI cricket but soon threw it all away with a mis-hit off Sammy to long-off. Sharma departed for 60 off 89 deliveries. India had moved to 124/4 after 31 overs.
Sunil Narine did an excellent job in the batting powerplay (overs 35.1 - 40) conceding just 11 runs off his 3 overs. MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina were satisfied in nudging the ball in the gaps and did not show any urgency to step on the accelerator - the intention was to preserve their wickets till the final five. The Indian skipper pulled his hamstring while completing a run in the 43rd over. Roach picked up his 2nd getting rid of Raina for 44 off the very next delivery. Dhoni's movement and stroke-play was hampered. An injured MSD was cleaned up by Tino Best for 27. Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit a few lusty blows to lift India to 229/7. Narine was taken for 17 in the last over of the innings. Best, Sammy and Roach picked up 2 wickets each but Samuels was the pick of the West Indian bowlers with figures of 20/1 off his 9 overs.
Dhoni did not take the field after the innings break and Kohli took over the reigns. West Indies got off to a terrible start. Umesh Yadav got the prized scalp of Chris Gayle for 11 before sending Devon Smith packing for a duck to reduce the hosts to 25/2 in the 4th over. It got from bad to worse for them when Bhuvneshwar Kumar cleaned up Marlon Samuels for 1 in the next.
Johnson Charles, who had hit a flurry of boundaries to get going, began the rebuilding process with Darren Bravo. The opener took the risks while Bravo looked solid at one end. The pair took a liking to Jadeja and tonked him for a number of boundaries and sixes. West Indies reached the three-figure mark in the 22nd over. Charles notched up an impressive fifty off just 60 balls. The pair raised a fine hundred stand off 131 balls. Bravo followed suit and brought up his half-century off 72 deliveries. The 4th wicket partnership had added 116 before Ashwin got rid of Bravo for 55. Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin fell in quick succession and there was a little panic in the West Indies' dressing room as the home team were reduced to 161/6 in the 32nd over.
Darren Sammy came in and heaved Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav for a few massive sixes taking the match away from India. But he tried his luck a bit too often and was eventually sent packing for 29 by Ishant Sharma. Meanwhile, Johnson Charles had paced his innings beautifully, playing the role of the aggressor initially before settling down to play the anchor. He seemed determined to take the West Indies over the line before he had a rush of blood and gifted his wicket to Umesh Yadav for 97. Kohli's masterstroke to introduce Raina paid dividends as he dismissed Narine for 5. However, the last-wicket pair of Tino Best and Kemar Roach held their nerve and took the West Indies home in the 48th over to clinch a thriller at Sabina Park. Fittingly, the birthday boy, Kemar Roach hit the winning runs and remained unbeaten on 14 off 32 deliveries.
No comments:
Post a Comment