India v West Indies, 6th ODI, Jodhpur
Thursday, November 21, 2002

Today's game was a perfect illustration of how one can never quite read a pitch perfectly before a match. The pitch at Jodhpur looked the best of the lot in this series, and 300 again looked a likely first-innings score. Yet, in the first 40 minutes of play itself, that illusion was dispelled. Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds, explosive batsmen both, struggled to get the ball off the square due to the slow pace and low bounce, and it was obvious that it would be a low-scoring match.

But it was more than the pitch that tied West Indies down. The Indian bowlers bowled extremely well and used the conditions to optimal effect. Ajit Agarkar provided a perfect example of how a player can go out of the side, get his confidence back in domestic cricket, and come back stronger. His performance for Mumbai in the short time he's been out of the national side seems to have rejuvenated him.

Murali Kartik was the key player for India. He came in to bowl at a difficult stage in the game and picked up three of the first four wickets. One ball, in particular, seemed to flummox the West Indians: the one that he pushes through with little change in trajectory. Marlon Samuels was beaten by just such a delivery, and Kartik cunningly mixed it with the one that spun.

Kartik looks a different bowler from what I saw of him a year earlier, not in terms of skills, but his mental maturity. He is less excitable now, and his composure may well be due to his getting married recently! Whatever its cause, it is good for India, because their big weakness recently has been an inability to take wickets in the middle overs. Kartik shows promise of being able to do that for India.

The target of 202 was always gettable, but it was disappointing to see Dinesh Mongia fail. He hasn't done too badly in one-dayers for India, but he hasn't been a regular part of the playing XI, though he's travelled a lot with the side. This was a big opportunity for him and he was obviously tense. Often, in such circumstances, you only gets one chance to come good, and that pressure told on Mongia.

Virender Sehwag was once again India's big hope, but it has happened in recent times that even when India's main batsman has failed, some of the others have come good. It was good to see that trend continue, as Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh rose to the occasion.

The West Indians looked flat and dispirited in the field today, with diffident body language, and the reason for that was fatigue. Seven one-dayers is way too many for a series in India, and even the Indians have been falling ill. It is in such situations that international matches are taken casually, with players wanting to take a break. West Indies clearly felt the exertion today, and were tired both mentally and physically.

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 Amit Varma.

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