Post by Finlip on May 26, 2006 17:40:54 GMT 6
ONE I
0500 NST
Sunday, May 21, 2006
It was Saturday in Jamaica. In the second one day match between West Indies and India, India's Yuvaraj Singh was ready to face Dwayne Bravo in the fourth delivery of the final over. India needed two runs to win and lead the five match series two-nil.
Unlike two days earlier the West Indies had posted a weak total on the board. On Thursday, West Indies had made the best of starts by scoring seventy-four runs off the first ten overs without the loss of a wicket. But the Indian bowlers made a comeback restricting the West Indians to 252 runs in the forty-five over match. Lead by their captain Rahul Dravid's century, the Indians broke the West Indian streak of six consecutive victories which also sandwiched two matches where there was no result. In doing so India won their seventeenth match in a row while chasing a target. I had stayed up until early morning on Thursday until India won in the last over.
This time, the batsmen had failed to impress. West Indies posted 9/198 in their fifty overs. When the score was 4/43 anything could have happened. With an unbeaten 98 from Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies posted a score which I knew could be competetive if West Indies took early wickets.
After falling asleep with the TV open in front of me during the beginnnig of the Indian reply, I had woken up to see that three wickets had already fallen. It wasn't long before Taylor dismissed Kaif to have India reeling at 4/60. But then Raina and Yuvraj took part in a stand that could have taken the match away from the West Indies. Samuels and Gayle bowled really well in the middle overs. Raina was finally dismissed by Samuels which brought in the dangerous Dhoni. Dhoni didn't last long as he played on to his leg stump to be bowled off Jerome Taylor. Ian Bradshaw took a magnificent return catch to dismiss Harbhajan Singh. Then Powar came to join Yuvraj Singh. With four overs left Samuels conceded just two runs from his last over to leave the Indians requiring twentyone in the last three overs. I thought Lara might bowl Fiedel Edwards and Jerome Taylor. But Lara introduced Dwayne Bravo. Bravo had earlier been dismissed for a duck and then conceded twelve runs off the only two overs that he had bowled. In this over, Bravo went for nine runs easing the pressure on the Indians who now needed twelve off the next two overs. chris Gayle was introduced to bowl his last over. He took a magnificent return catch to dismiss Powar and bring in the last man Munaf Patel. Chris Gayle conceeded only one more run in that over. India were under pressure with only one over remaining. Munaf Patel who had taken four balls to score a single of Chris Gayle would face Dwayne Bravo and India would need to score eleven runs off the last over. Patel scored a single in the first delivery to bring Yuvraj on strike. Yuvraj then edged Bravo down third man for four runs. In the next delivery, Yuvraj scored another four runs to dash all my hopes.
With three bowls to be bowled, India would be home if they scored two runs. India would need only one run to tie the match. There were still three bowls to be bowled. Dwayne Bravo had conceeded thirty runs in three overs and three balls.
But India still had two runs to get and had only one wicket in hand. Dwayne Bravo's slower ball did the majic. Yuvraj was beaten and his leg stump went down. The West Indies had snatched a thriller. They had defended the modest sub-two-hundred total and levelled the series.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and the test series to follow. The World Cup will coincide with most of this season. I am surely going to have to do a lot of channel-switching.
TWO II
After three matches of the five match one day series, West Indies are two-one up. The West Indies bowlers and fielders did the unthinkable by restricting the India, who had reached two hundred for the loss of three wickets in the thirtyfifth over, to just 245/9 in their 50 overs. Chasing that target, West Indies looked like they may have faltered when they lost the first four wickets with over a hundred still left to score. However, a century partnership between Sarwan and Chanderpaul came to the rescue. However, even though the West Indies looked comfortable, India could have snatched the match right at the end.
Ramnaresh Sarwan's winning four reminded me of the first match of the seven match one-day series held in India. In that match, Ramnaresh Sarwan won the match for the West Indies by scoring a four off the last ball while chasing the target which seemed well under control but still was stretched to the last over. The two fours scored by Sarwan seem really simillar even though I haven't watched the replay of either of those boundaries after watching them during the matches.
With two matches left to play in the one day series, I hope it ends 4-0 in favour of the West Indies. Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain is pretty happy because he thinks the Indians have not played their best and are still being competitive. That's really funny. West Indies may be ranked eighth in both forms of the game. But I don't think any team can realistically claim to be better than the West Indies at their best.
0500 NST
Sunday, May 21, 2006
It was Saturday in Jamaica. In the second one day match between West Indies and India, India's Yuvaraj Singh was ready to face Dwayne Bravo in the fourth delivery of the final over. India needed two runs to win and lead the five match series two-nil.
Unlike two days earlier the West Indies had posted a weak total on the board. On Thursday, West Indies had made the best of starts by scoring seventy-four runs off the first ten overs without the loss of a wicket. But the Indian bowlers made a comeback restricting the West Indians to 252 runs in the forty-five over match. Lead by their captain Rahul Dravid's century, the Indians broke the West Indian streak of six consecutive victories which also sandwiched two matches where there was no result. In doing so India won their seventeenth match in a row while chasing a target. I had stayed up until early morning on Thursday until India won in the last over.
This time, the batsmen had failed to impress. West Indies posted 9/198 in their fifty overs. When the score was 4/43 anything could have happened. With an unbeaten 98 from Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies posted a score which I knew could be competetive if West Indies took early wickets.
After falling asleep with the TV open in front of me during the beginnnig of the Indian reply, I had woken up to see that three wickets had already fallen. It wasn't long before Taylor dismissed Kaif to have India reeling at 4/60. But then Raina and Yuvraj took part in a stand that could have taken the match away from the West Indies. Samuels and Gayle bowled really well in the middle overs. Raina was finally dismissed by Samuels which brought in the dangerous Dhoni. Dhoni didn't last long as he played on to his leg stump to be bowled off Jerome Taylor. Ian Bradshaw took a magnificent return catch to dismiss Harbhajan Singh. Then Powar came to join Yuvraj Singh. With four overs left Samuels conceded just two runs from his last over to leave the Indians requiring twentyone in the last three overs. I thought Lara might bowl Fiedel Edwards and Jerome Taylor. But Lara introduced Dwayne Bravo. Bravo had earlier been dismissed for a duck and then conceded twelve runs off the only two overs that he had bowled. In this over, Bravo went for nine runs easing the pressure on the Indians who now needed twelve off the next two overs. chris Gayle was introduced to bowl his last over. He took a magnificent return catch to dismiss Powar and bring in the last man Munaf Patel. Chris Gayle conceeded only one more run in that over. India were under pressure with only one over remaining. Munaf Patel who had taken four balls to score a single of Chris Gayle would face Dwayne Bravo and India would need to score eleven runs off the last over. Patel scored a single in the first delivery to bring Yuvraj on strike. Yuvraj then edged Bravo down third man for four runs. In the next delivery, Yuvraj scored another four runs to dash all my hopes.
With three bowls to be bowled, India would be home if they scored two runs. India would need only one run to tie the match. There were still three bowls to be bowled. Dwayne Bravo had conceeded thirty runs in three overs and three balls.
But India still had two runs to get and had only one wicket in hand. Dwayne Bravo's slower ball did the majic. Yuvraj was beaten and his leg stump went down. The West Indies had snatched a thriller. They had defended the modest sub-two-hundred total and levelled the series.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and the test series to follow. The World Cup will coincide with most of this season. I am surely going to have to do a lot of channel-switching.
TWO II
After three matches of the five match one day series, West Indies are two-one up. The West Indies bowlers and fielders did the unthinkable by restricting the India, who had reached two hundred for the loss of three wickets in the thirtyfifth over, to just 245/9 in their 50 overs. Chasing that target, West Indies looked like they may have faltered when they lost the first four wickets with over a hundred still left to score. However, a century partnership between Sarwan and Chanderpaul came to the rescue. However, even though the West Indies looked comfortable, India could have snatched the match right at the end.
Ramnaresh Sarwan's winning four reminded me of the first match of the seven match one-day series held in India. In that match, Ramnaresh Sarwan won the match for the West Indies by scoring a four off the last ball while chasing the target which seemed well under control but still was stretched to the last over. The two fours scored by Sarwan seem really simillar even though I haven't watched the replay of either of those boundaries after watching them during the matches.
With two matches left to play in the one day series, I hope it ends 4-0 in favour of the West Indies. Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain is pretty happy because he thinks the Indians have not played their best and are still being competitive. That's really funny. West Indies may be ranked eighth in both forms of the game. But I don't think any team can realistically claim to be better than the West Indies at their best.