James Edmonds, who'd of thought he would of been in charge of India's first One Day International against West Indies? After a very convincing win against a mediocre Guyana team, many experts and pundits are tipping India to win the Series and win it comfortably. That series starts today. Well the pitch today is going to be absolutely crucial for... the bowlers. They hype for the first One Day game has been good and Shivnarine Chanderpaul spoke out during midweek boasting that the team is ready to beat the Indian team. Possible? James Edmonds has chosen his team and the team to face West Indies in the first match will be:
Three changes to the team that hammered Guyana. Virendar Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Harbhajah Singh all come in to replace Subit Biswal, V.V.S Laxman and Anil Kumble. On a fast bowlers pitch Khan, Sharma and Pathan are all going to be expected to bowl brilliantly and will be essential for India. The top order is as strong as ever and the middle order is incredibly strong also. Chawla and Kumble didn't play well at all last time against Guyana but this time Mr.Edmonds has opted with Chawla and Singh. Interesting choices. Hopefully it will pay off for him. Sachin Tendulkar is Captain of the squad again and Dhoni is minding the wickets. Rawat, Jaffer, Patel and G.Singh all still haven't made an appearance but all have been promised at least one game, however tight the series is. I believe this time is definitely good enough to beat West Indies but will they prevail?
Gayle
Ganga
Lara(*)
Chanderpaul
Sarwan
Hinds
Baugh(+)
Bravo
Smith
Mohammed
Jaggernauth
A good team put out by West Indies including team vocalist and vice captain Shivranine Chanderpaul. A strong middle and top order as ever with all top 5 batsman capable of getting a good score. Hinds and Bravo aren't bad with the bat either. Onto the bowling front and they have opted for 3 all rounders and two bowlers. Dave Mohammed and Amit Jaggernauth are the two pure bowlers and both are strangely worthy of getting some real good figures, Bravo, Smith and Hinds making up the bowling attack with Hinds being the best of the all rounders. Even though it is a good team put out by West Indies you can't really see past the team of India. Some real quality in there.
Coin Toss
Hello and thank you for joining down here at the Coin Toss. The pitch here today has to tobe favouring the bowlers and with such a nice forecast expected for the match you can't really disagree.. The bounce is uneven which means the Fast bowlers should get some rewards and the wear is average and isn't going to help the batsmen. The outfield isn't particularly fast and the light is very good. The forecast is sunny all day and if the toss is won then bowling first is a necessity. Sachin Tendulkar makes the toss of heads and... loses! Brian Lara then decides to bat first on the pitch! A strange decision as I am sure most captains would of chosen to bowl first. Strange tactics.
Thanks for the comments you two, much appreciated. Sorry about no update today, had sports day and am now shattered. Will try my best to update tomorow, I should be able to put up the first innings.
Harbhajan Singh celebrating after getting his 5th wicket
The start of the match and start of the One Day series. The players are out and the umpires are out. Irfan Pathan will be opening the bowling with Joginder Sharma, whilst opening the batting for West Indies will be Christopher Gayle and Sherwin Ganga. We are bound to be for a good match here and the bowlers should be rubbing their hands waiting for a chance on this pitch.
Opening 10 overs
Best start possible for India came in the second over as Shervin Ganga got caught by Dhoni off Sharma's bowling for a duck off 5 balls! What a start by India. A brilliant wicket maiden. With Sharma bowling brilliantly with figures of 1-11 of 4 overs, Pathan was letting him down with 0-23 off his 4 overs. This sparked a change of bowlers and Zaheer Khan came on to bowl the 8th over. West Indies carried themselves through the last overs till the 10th over where they had batted very fast and found themselves 46/1. some very good batting to get themselves from the poor start. Gayle 26*(25) and Lara 20*(30)
20 overs gone
With the pace attack getting worse and worse it was time for a bowling change and in came Piyush Chawla who bowled miserably against Guyana. Luckily for us though, he got 1 wicket for 3 runs in his first over. Catching Gayle himself for 36 off 40. In his next over he then got Lara! Brian went to play a cover drive but miss-timed it and ended up getting caught by Singh at close in. Lara gone for 34 off 47. West Indies then went on to bat themselves into the 20th over, playing some very attacking cricket. 97/3 the score off 20 overs, Sarwan on 17* and Chanderpaul 8*. Both played for Guyana in the last match.
30 overs gone
Stumped! Their biggest batting threat left, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, got stumped off Harbhajan Singh's bowling. A quick fire 14 doesn't look like it is going to be enough today for West Indies. Chawla all over again! Singh then went and got Sarwan for 30 off 31 as he got caught by Sehwag. Singh has been the best bowler so far, only bettering Chawla on economic basis. 3 in 3 overs! Singh went and got newcomer Carlton Baugh for 2 runs off 14 balls as he got caught LBW. Singh finished his spell with amazing figures of 3-10 off 5 overs, including a wicket maiden. West Indies managed to scamper to the 30th over without losing anymore wickets. Hinds and Bravo both in and their last chance of getting a good score. 138/6 and West Indies aren't looking good.
40 overs gone
Some brilliant economic bowling by all the bowlers then got us rewarded as Hinds tried to up their run rate and got caught in the process. His day ending off 39 balls, getting 26 runs. Pathan the man to get his wicket. A very boring 10 over spell then came to an end as not alot of runs and only the one wicket happened in it. Only 24 runs off it and at this rate I can't see West Indies posing any threat to the Indian batting lineup.
End of Innings
More and more economical bowling came and we finally got the breakthrough after 4 overs. Chawla getting his third wicket as Dwanye Bravo went for a slog and got bowled all ends up. 20 off 52 for Dwayne. Harbhajan Singh has been the main difference in the match so far and this was obvious as he went and got another wicket in his last over. Ok, I lied. He went and got two wickets in his last over! Firstly he got Dwayne Smith with his 3rd ball, bowling him for 7 runs off 25 balls. Then his last ball of the over, and he goes and gets Jaggernauth for a duck off 3 balls, getting caught LBW. 178 all out is the score which is the exact same Guyana got! Harbhajan Singh is on course to get Man of the Match though with his brilliant 5-18. Top class.
At the end of the first innings, West Indies had got to 178 and they had been quite fortunate to get their considering all their close chances. Gayle, Lara and Sarwan the only batsmen to get over 30 runs and all got out to a spinner! The spinners absolutely ripped the West Indians apart and the Pace attack helped when needed. Harbhajan Singh obviously was the pick of the bowlers with his match winning figures of 5-18 and even Chawla chipped in with 3-52, a tad expensive but with Singh at the other end it didn't matter much. Zaheer Khan was the only man not to get a wicket and the other pacemen bothg got 1 each. The pitch is still a bit on the favour for the bowlers but that can still change, but can India go and get the score required? We will soon find out.
West Indies 178 all out Gayle 36 Singh 5-18 Lara 34 Chawla 3-52
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.