Saturday, May 20, 2006

JAMAICA

In the end, India pulled off a win with just one ball to spare. India made heavy weather of the target having been comfortably placed at one point, with the good partnership between Dravid and Kaif. Dravid batted like a dream while Kaif’s was a scrappy one.

The decision to field first after winning the toss continues to baffle me.The decision could have been prompted either with the confidence of chasing well the targets or the inability to face the ball on a wicket that was green. I don’t expect the team think tank to be defensive in their approach while being confronted with a wicket that offered assistance to the faster bowlers.

The Indian bowlers were taken apart by Chris Gayle who seems to relish this attack. The other destroyers of Indian attacks like Chanderpaul and Sarwan could not make a big contribution and that kept the Windies total within the reach of India. Lara has never played a spectacular knock against the Indians and that is a cause of worry, since the left-hander wants to make it big in his final stint as captain.

The win should not take away some of the concerns for the Indians. Irfan Pathan was not effective. It was only Agarkar and Harbhajan who could control the runs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Should be a lot of fun to watch the games in the sun

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