A lacklustre West Indian performance
Erapalli Prasanna - 30 May 2002
After two washed-out matches at Sabina Park, it was a relief to get
some cricket underway again with the third one-day international at
the Kensington Oval in Barbados. The pitch looked like a cracker, full
of runs and holding plenty of promise for a high-scoring one-dayer.
Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, won the toss and, as expected,
asked the West Indies to bat first.
The hosts' batting impressed me very little. The West Indian batsmen -
perhaps as a result of their 2-1 Test win over India - looked over-
confident and complacent. The batting on display oozed carelessness,
and it was no surprise that the Indian bowlers capitalised on that to
the fullest extent.
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I was particularly disappointed with Brian Lara and the way he jumped
out to Harbhajan Singh so early in his innings. It only showed that
Lara wanted to hit Harbhajan out of the attack, even though he had
been at the wicket only for a couple of deliveries. Harbhajan himself
was only in his second over at that point, and Lara's wicket could
only be attributed to a sever lack of self-confidence or, indeed, a
supreme over-confidence.
The Indian attack, for its part, looked particularly sharp and
incisive. I was impressed especially with Tinu Yohannan, who struck me
as a very quick learner. His line was excellent, and he was prepared
to attack the batsman and make him play at the ball all the time. In
my opinion, that is what good bowling is all about.
The only West Indian batsman who seemed prepared to stick around and
graft his runs was the skipper, Carl Hooper. In possibly the form of
his life, Hooper seemed to have no trouble at all with the pitch or
the bowling, and his partnership with Ramnaresh Sarwan, at one stage,
looked to take the West Indies to a considerably strong total.
Sarwan's dismissal was the turning-point. After the youngster, none
appeared willing to stick with Hooper at the crease and give him the
support he so desperately needed. Admittedly, he played a knock of
considerable brilliance, but even he must have known that once
Shivnarine Chanderpaul - the West Indies' Mr Dependable at the moment
- was brilliantly run out, it was going to be an uphill struggle.
India were helped in no small measure by the fact that the West Indies
could not bat out their full quota of overs. That in itself meant that
the target was not going to be an imposing one.
The Indian outfit during the match looked a very strong side. The
fielding was sharp, and the captaincy was spot-on. Ganguly's bowling
changes were well thought-out and effective. Once the work in the
field was done, the batsmen had to merely buckle down to their task,
and that they did with great efficacy.
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Ganguly himself played a good knock, but Dinesh Mongia, coming in at
number three, was a revelation. We have seen his ability to unleash
the fireworks, but this was a calm and measured innings from the
youngster. Recognising the situation, he quickly adapted his game to
collect the runs at a steady rate, rarely panicking or slogging.
With such an innings chasing such a moderate total, the Indian chase
was always going to end with a win. Mongia, with his all-rounder
performance, deserved the Man of the Match award in full. The West
Indies, going by their lacklustre approach to the match, will have to
do something extraordinary if they are to come back in this series.
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