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The West Indies seem to have made a habit of getting involved in last-ball finishes. Three out of their past four ODIs have been decided in such a manner. But even, then, the match at Jamshedpur must rank as one of the most dramatic encounters that they have been involved in. After crowd trouble saw the players walking off the field and the TV commentator saying that the West Indies had been officially awarded the match using the D/L method, the tourists returned to almost lose it. Fortunately, Ramnaresh Sarwan kept his head and saw them home with a last-ball four off Agarkar. The exciting finish was set up Ashish Nehra, who bowled a maiden, after being brought on by Sourav Ganguly, when the West Indies needed seven to win off two overs. Nehra only conceded a leg-bye and with Agarkar conceding just two runs in the first five balls off the last over, the West Indies seemed well and truly on the mat. That is before Sarwan chipped down the track and hit a boundary in the cover region to seal the win. The West Indies truly deserved the win. Despite being faced with a massive Indian score, their batsmen applied themselves and forged useful partnerships to ensure that the tourists were always in the hunt. First, it was Wavell Hinds and Marlon Samuels who set the stage with 86 for the second wicket; Hinds and Sarwan followed it with an 87-run partnership for the third wicket; before Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul almost saw their side home with a 71-run association for the fifth wicket. This meant that the tourists always had wickets in hand and were never on the verge of desperation. Sarwan's was an especially magnificent hand - the 22-year-old Guyanese displayed an unflappable temperament and was quick to pounce on the many loose balls on offer. He was helped to a great extent by the indisciplined Indian bowling. The spinners, in particular, were pathetic. In fact, it was in the 47th over bowled by Harbhajan that the match turned on its head - the offie conceding as many as 17 runs and bringing down the equation from 30 runs off 24 balls to 13 off 18 balls. Not that Anil Kumble bowled any better. India's most successful spinner of all-time seemed completely out of sorts and struggled to contain the batsmen. I have noticed that the duo seem to run out of ideas the moment they are asked to bowl on a good track. Probably, they might, then, do well to take a leaf or two out of the book of Virender Sehwag, who once again proved to be most economical of the home team bowlers. Moving to the Indian batting display, I thought they did their job well. The move to send Ajit Agarkar at No 3 was a pleasant surprise; the Mumbaikar doing full justice to his captain's faith in him by making 95. But that said, I feel Agarkar should revert to his normal place down the order in the next match and should only bat at No 3 on the odd occasion when he could be used as ... yes, a surprise option Agarkar's promotion menat that Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif came way down the order today. Okay, Kaif managed to blast an unbeaten 31 off 18 balls but considering his potential, India would only have benefited if he had come in at a higher batting position. What the Indian think-tank would do well to remember on such occasions is that both the youngsters have been match- winners in recent times. The more the overs that they get to play, the more the runs that India would pile. © CricInfo |
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