A superb all-round performance by Dwayne Bravo (66 runs of just 36 balls and 4/38) helped his team to beat defending Twenty20 Champion India by 7 Wickets in their first Super Eights game at Lord’s.
Chasing the target of 154 for victory West Indies didn’t got off to start they would have liked from their Captain Chris Gayle (22 runs of 28 balls) and A.Fletcher (0 runs of 2 balls). Indian bowlers didn’t allowed Chris Gayle to settle in his own rhythm as e did against Australia at Group stage match. Indian bowlers kept pressure on him with Harbhajan Singh bowling a second maiden of the tournament.
At 42/2 in the eighth over it seems that India will easily grab the match in their bag but once D.Bravo arrived at the crease it was all different ball game. He didn’t allow any Indian bowlers to put pressure on him and he kept West Indies required rate in check and within the reach. He continuously kept collecting the boundary in each over from over number 9th till end and that how West Indies wrapped up this game.
Earlier Indian captain M.S.Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first but Indian top order were reeling from the pace and bounce of Fidel Edwards. At 29/3 in the fifth over it was all looking down and out for India but Yuvraj Singh (67 runs of 43 balls) played another of his gems to take them to a fighting total.
Yusuf Pathan (31 runs of 23 balls) also played well supporting role with Yuvraj and put on 64 runs of just 34 balls for the fifth wicket to put India right back into the game. While Yuvraj Singh at the crease Indian were looking to reach the score of 170 but F.Edwards removed him in the 18th over of Indian innings with short bouncer.
Now with the first game lost, defending world champions have real battle in their hand against England and South Africa. In 2007 world cup also they lost their first game to New Zealand by 10 runs and then bounce back to beat England and South Africa to reach the Semi Final of twenty20 world cup 2007.
One win can also do the trick for India from their last two remaining Super Eights game if other results will go like this:
If West Indies lost to South Africa badly on 13th June and then India beat England by big margin on 14th June and hopes that England will beat West Indies on 15th June. In such scenario England and West Indies will have one win from their three games and India still have one more game to play against South Africa on 16th of June and they know what they need to do to qualify for the Semi Finals of ICC World twenty20 2009.
But let’s hope that India will win their remaining two matches and will not depend on outcomes of other games.
D.Bravo was declared Player-of-the-Match for his brilliant all-round performance.
Match Summary (West Indies won by 7 Wickets)
India – 153/7 in 20 Overs
Yuvraj Singh- 67Yusuf Pathan –31
D.Bravo– 4-0-38-4F.Edwards- 4-0-24-3
West Indies– 156/3 in 18.4 Overs
D.Bravo- 66*L.Simmons–44
I.Pathan – 2-0-9-1Y.Pathan- 4-0-27-1
India v West Indies highlights – Yuvraj Singh 67 runs knock
