Monday, March 21, 2011

India Vs West Indies – Match Review

India Vs West Indies – 20 March 2011, ICC Cricket World Cup, Chennai

India made two changes from the previous game, Suresh Raina came in for the injured Sehwag and R Ashwin finally made way in place of Ashish Nehra. For the West Indies both Chris Gayle and Kemar Roach were not playing.

India lost Sachin Tendulkar in the first over to a beauty, he made just 2 runs. Gambhir struggled against the pace attack and fell soon after with India at 51/2. Then came Indias best phase in batting with both Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli looking in good form and hitting the ball well. Kohli completed his 50 but fell soon after. Yuvraj completed his 13th ODI hundred but looked drained of energy upon reaching there. From 218/3 they were 268 all out losing their last 7 wickets for just 50 runs!!

West Indies started well and Devon Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan took them to 154/2 in the 31st over but then Zaheer Khna broke the partnership and with it broke the resilience and will power of the Windies batsmen. They too collapsed getting all out for a paltry score of just 188 and India won the game comfortably by 80 runs. They now play against Australia on the 24th March in Ahmedabad in the Quarter Finals… What a game that will be!!

Though India won the game there were too many weaknesses that one could clearly see – 

1. Poor handling of the short ball

2. Batting collapse once again (read Vs England and Vs South Africa)

3. Looking dispirited, deflated and disinterested in the field for a long long time!!

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