India in the West Indies

[cricket_lover]

I dont think Dravid needs to come down from the opening slot. let him open. India need to send Kaif up now. He has two innings of 60 odd runs.. He can take the no.3 slot and score some quick singles, two's and can rotate the strike. Yuvraj will come back for the next game which should be a great boost for india. i dont think india will panic here. they were 2-1 down against pakistan in pakistan in 2004 and then came back to win two games on the trot to win the series.

Also having off days for both Powar and Pathan didnt help India's cause. But you cant do anything about that! It happens... But I was happy with the way India took the match to the penultimate ball... when it was 10 to win off 12 balls with c'paul and sarwan batting, i thought "ok, this match is over". but was happy with the way india induced some pressure into sarwan and the windies team.

Its an odd start to the series. But it does happen sometimes.

I'm happy it is happening now.

It would be nice if India doesn't shuffle the batting order too much. Send kaif one down, Yuvi, Raina, Pathan, Dhoni will follow. You need to have stability, atleast for a while.

 

[edgarisapimp]

Do you all think that this demonstrates the resurgence of the Windies or is this just some poor choices by Dravid and/or the selectors?

 

[cricket_lover]

bit of both.

WI team has started to believe in itself, though its lower order, and few others like Morton, Samuels need some refining. The bowling can be more disciplined.

India is having problems with the batting, too much shuffling, making it hard for batsmen to get used to one particular position. If you shuffle a batting order, leave it the same for 3-5 games, and then change the batting order again. But you can't afford to shuffle for every other match.

 

[SaiSrini]

bit of both.

WI team has started to believe in itself, though its lower order, and few others like Morton, Samuels need some refining. The bowling can be more disciplined.

India is having problems with the batting, too much shuffling, making it hard for batsmen to get used to one particular position. If you shuffle a batting order, leave it the same for 3-5 games, and then change the batting order again. But you can't afford to shuffle for every other match.

Definitely. I think a settled batting order needs to be in place... why shuffle it even after 3-5 games? The batsmen all are doing well and if they are settled in a position, they might do even better!

the three important stars of india's recent dream run - pathan, dhoni and raina - have not done well this series. thats hurting the team. raina got two starts of 27 and 26 but couldnt capitalise on it and failed to convert them into big ones. dhoni was expected to fail but i hope for the team, he soon finds his big hitting power. pathan too needs to come back into form. he hasnt performed upto expectations so far in the 3 matches!

Do you all think that this demonstrates the resurgence of the Windies or is this just some poor choices by Dravid and/or the selectors?

the team is being tested in conditions outside the subcontinent. in recent times, they have been fed with cricket in the subcontinent where they are so used to and so good that they are scratchy and rusty outside the conditions where they find it comfortable!

 

[aditya123]

`INDIA REVIVE CARRIBBEAN CRICKET` : Aditya

Yups, cricket is well and truly being revived in the islands.
3 cracking games and windies 2-1 ahead against a side that has steamrolled opponents in the recent past.
Well Done to the Windies.

and @ saisrini, these conditions are not too different from the ones back home.
It is`nt as if the ball is bouncing and seaming all around
These are the typical `subcontinental slow turners`.
There is no reason why we should be uncomfortable and that too against Gayle and Samuels bowling.

India, they just seem to have no clue to th likes of Sarwan and Chanderpaul.
Lara never seems to fire against India but those 2 always do.
Though this game went into the lst over, there was only on way he match was heading unless something dramatic occured.

India will still win this one. We`ve just lost 2 ODIs which can happen to any side and we do have it in us to come back and bite them hard.

I`ll still remain upbeat about our chances, especially with Sehwag amogst the runs .
His last 4 scores have been 77,22,13,96 . decent for a man out of form.

All we need is Pathan and Dhoni to fire and we`ll be back in business.
We should have scored 320 today and had no business getting bowled out for 245 after being 200/3 in 34 overs.

Venugopal Rao, in no way is a ODI player.
He does`nt rotate the strike (even in India-A games) and eats up far too many balls.
Hopefully, Yuvi will be back for the next game.

And, are we missing a bloke named Sachin Tendulkar ???
Cricket really is unpredictable.

 

[cricket_lover]

indeed we're missing Tendulkar, for many reasons. His mere presence will make a huge difference.

I agree, the conditions are no way different than India. Both the venues were very similar, and that shouldn't be a excuse. We just failed to execute our plans properly.

I also agree with Sai. Why shuffle? Have a stable batting line-up, and sometimes surprise the opposition. Doing it too often will only lead to confusion and higher entropy.

 

[surendar]

It was the poor performance by indians!!!
First if all we are unlucky...Yuvi was out at the last moment becos of spme muscular problms!!!!
Yuvi wud have been a ideal batsman at the last 15overs!!!!
I really wonder wht Rao played yestday...is he playing international level or street level...
Also last 15 0vers 42 runs were scored by India for 6 wickets!!!!
This is terrible..... Even weaker teams wud have scored more!!!!
I think last few players came form the dressing room after dreaming!!!! :
Pathan's dismissal was like a catch practice!!! Powar's one is another terrible one!!!!
Run out oh my god :hpraise ... i think they were practicing how to get run outs!!!!
The run out of kaif who was well settled changed the course of the match!!!!
I ve heard generally...The batsmen will go over the bowlers usually at last 15 overs....but yestday.. it was otherway!!!!
This match is one of the terrible match i have ever watched!!!!!
i feel Indians are very careless in WI....!!!!!

 

[irottev]

YAY Go the Windies!!!!

Good to see another win. Another thriller of a match. Chanderpaul dropping captaincy is the best thing hes done in his life, his batting is improving already and the whole team and spirit of it is. I could see how bad he was against Aus and NZ. Seemed like a pretty classy innings from Sarwan.

 

[James219]

A quick fire innings for Sehwag and the fact that he now has a platform for a fresh start is a positive for India to take out of the game, but judging from the scorecard, the middle order failed to establish themselves or support his efforts. The three run-outs suggest, I suppose, an energetic Windies outfit, but also irresponsibility and failure to execute the basics from India. A great ODI spectacle, once again, and it's great to see the Windies finding some form as a unit. Agreed, it was a great move by Chanderpaul to yield the captaincy- he's a class player with probably a great cricket brain, but not everyone has the ability to balance those two responsibilities effectively. Top stuff from Sarwan, I'd really like to see him fulfil his potential and find consistency with the bat in the near future, he's shown glimpses of it, but generally falls away again. Anyway, WI won!

 

[Ritwik]

indeed we're missing Tendulkar, for many reasons. His mere presence will make a huge difference.

Good to see that fact has started coming out of the closet. Tendulkar can make a hell lot of different in all departments of the game. Just goes to prove that while India may have been "unbeatable" at home over the past few months - some sort of experience is required to do well abroad.

 

[viral1991]

Well, that was a great match! This is a hat-trick of 99.5 over games! But still, we can win the series!

As for Rao, we often say that Kaif is not good in the slog overs & his talent is wasted down the order, but Rao is even worse than him! There is no place for him except No.3, which is why he shouldn't play ODIs! But, who knows, Rao could improve & maybe he could become one of those players that do not give away their wickets & yet score runs quickly, like Dravid is now!

 

[newzolt]

Good to see that fact has started coming out of the closet. Tendulkar can make a hell lot of different in all departments of the game. Just goes to prove that while India may have been "unbeatable" at home over the past few months - some sort of experience is required to do well abroad.

Now , I found this interesting piece of article:
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1030923&CatID=6

 

[puddleduck]

The nature of Odi cricket is that no matter how good your form is, or how well you have been playing, you can always lose.

Things like dropped catches or run outs can effectively cost you a game, and to suffer three run outs is almost unacceptable. I would have thought India learnt their lesson in Abu Dhabi were they had 3 batsman run out against Pakistan, and lost that game too.

Still, good to see the Windies proving me wrong, I really felt they were slipping further into obscurity and would struggle to beat anyone except the Zimbabweans and maybe Bangladesh. However it does seem that Chanderpaul resigning the captaincy has instilled a new sense of purpose to the side, as well as returning them to 11 players (his batting as captain was non-existant). Yet now without the captaincy he has been back amongst the runs and has been like a new player (or old player) for the Windies.

Nice to see Sarwan in a good run of form, always looks like a class batsman when he gets going, but too often seems to lose his way, perhaps Lara's experienced head is currently focussing the side towards fulfilling their potential?

All in all, one of the more memorable and interesting Odi series I have seen in a while. Hopefully it will continue in this vein.

 

[kodos]

Don't think the conditions have been the problem for india despite it being slighlt outside their comfort zone. Simple mistakes have costed India in every match. In the 3rd match the simple run outs was very costly and their last 15 overs was very poor by a team who takes pride in a strong batting line up. Still I would back India to take this series if they can rectify these simple errors and would be seeking for revenge in the next match.

 

[Sureshot]

42 runs in the last 15 overs from India!

Would reckon on them getting at least 90.

Credit to West Indies and in particular Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, for playing on with a muscle injury.