India v West Indies, 1st ODI, Jamshedpur
Wednesday, November 6, 2002

The West Indian resurgence, which started in the Kolkata Test, continued in the first match of the one-day series. The confidence with which they chased a stiff target showed how much good that match had done the team.

I was impressed with the way they approached the entire match, beginning with the plotting of Virender Sehwag's dismissal – for the second time in two innings, he was done in by the short ball.

Then came one of several moves by the Indian think-tank that baffled me. In a line-up which bats down to No. 7, the decision to send in a pinch-hitter was quite unnecessary. Ajit Agarkar didn't do much wrong, but his long stay at the crease gave in-form batsmen like Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif very few overs to play with. To make matters worse, Jai Prakash Yadav was sent ahead of Kaif.

Experimenting with a view to the World Cup isn't a bad thing, but here the Indian team gave me the impression that they took the West Indians too lightly. They expected to win despite tinkering with their combination, and finally paid the price for their complacency.

It didn't help either that the Indian spinners had a terrible day. Both Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble got little out of the deceptive surface – there were plenty of cracks which weren't firm, but the pitch held up pretty well for 50 overs – and the West Indian batsmen carried on their form from the last Test.

Wavell Hinds showed an impressive hunger for runs – after completing his fifty, he just carried on in pursuit of his century – while Ramnaresh Sarwan showed superb composure under pressure. His last-ball four wasn't a slog; he picked his spot, and calmly stroked it into the gap.

In an excellent cricket match, the disappointment was the crowd. Travelling to Jamshedpur wasn't very easy, and to be subjected to such rough treatment in the field wasn't fair on the players. It was especially cruel to see Harbhajan, who was declared Man of the Series in the Tests only a few days back, being pelted with bottles for bowling one over which cost 17 runs. Such is the fickleness of the crowd in India. The authorities need to take a hard look before handing matches to non-regular venues.

Sanjay Manjrekar, the mainstay of India's batting in the late 1980s and early '90s, will be providing the Expert View on every match of this ODI series. He was speaking to S Rajesh.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd