Once again the famed batting lineups collapse like a pack of card. Except M.S.Doni and R.P.Singh no batsmen showed maturity and patience of staying at the wicket and that cost not only the match but it can also hurt India badly if they will lose the series being 1-0 up after first game.
From 82/8 no one has thought that India will post 189 runs target to West Indies but thanks to valiant effort from R.P.Singh despite of being a bowler he showed maturity and stayed at the wickets almost till the end of Indian innings. He and Dhoni put on record partnership for the 9th wicket to give some respectability to the Indian total.
M.S.Dhoni was involved in a 101-run stand for the ninth wicket with RP Singh, who chipped in with a valuable 23 runs. It was the fifth instance of a ninth-wicket pair putting on a century-partnership, and it saved India's blushes after they were in danger of being bowled out for under three figures.
189 runs target was always going to be tough or we can say impossible for the Indian bowlers to defend such totals on a flat wicket. In the end West Indies achieve the target with the loss of just two wickets and 89 balls to spare.
In the post match conference Dhoni did admitted that his batsmen misread the pitch which cost them match. Now India have to win remaining two matches if they would like to lift the Digicel ODI Cup for the second time in the history.
Earlier after winning the toss M.S.Dhoni has no hesitation in electing to bat first, but it was all different story in the 2nd over of Indian inning. The comeback man Ravi Rampaul bowled an exceptional spell to reduce the Indian score to 7/3 in the 2nd over. Then Dhoni and Yuvraj tried to steady the Indian innings and when the pair looks threatening for West Indies, J.Taylor remove dangerous looking Yuvraj Singh (33 runs of 32 balls) to bring West Indies back on track.
Ravi Rampual completed his quota of 10 overs with his career best figure of 4 for 37. J.Taylor and D.Bravo also chipped in with three wickets each.
M.S.Dhoni top scored for India with 95 runs of 130 balls.
Ravi Rampaul was declared Player-of-the-Match.
Now India will take on West Indies on 3rd of July and 5th of July at St.Luica.
Indian team knows they survived a scare in the first ODI at Sabina Park, Kingston, having taken a 1-0 lead in four match series they need to maintain the same level of intensity which they have showed in past to take an unbeatable lead of 2-0. West Indies is suddenly not an easy team to beat in their backyards. Past records are also in favour of West Indies where India manage just one series win on last five tours.
India somehow manage to win first ODI’s by the margin of 20 runs at Kingston, Jamaica after setting a mammoth total of 339/6 on the board. Who have though that West Indies needing 75 runs in last eight overs with three wickets in hand will reach that much closer?
Indian captain MS Dhoni did not appear to be a happy man as he shook hands with the West Indian batsmen after the game and in post match presentation also he indicated that his boys has thought that game was in their bag in the 42nd over and that was the big mistakes for his team. It was Ashish Nehra who bagged two crucial wickets in the end that save India from loosing the game after dominating the game for almost 42nd over of West Indian innings.
Indian team has few sign of concern, first is how to handle the short pitch stuff from West Indian pace attacks and second is their bowling department. Ishant Sharma looks really way wards with his line and length. In batting also India need to shot out the issue very quickly because is such short series you don’t have too much time to bounce back.
Bowling in the slog overs continued to remain an area of concern for India as home side was in the game till the end despite the tourists plucking seven wickets in 40 overs. They conceded 29 runs in extras.
West Indies did well to get so close to a monstrous target but they could have done better and pulled off a stunning chase if one of their top-order batsmen played a long innings. Four batsmen Gayle Morton, Srawan and Chanderpaul really started well but they didn’t batted till end otherwise the results could have been different for West Indies.
Watch out for
Yuvraj Singh: A man on mission. In the absence of Sehwag, Sachin and Raina he has taken the entire burden on his shoulders and that showed in the previous game. With his team 32/2 he showed his calm and collectiveness and in the end he showed how dangerous he can be when he is in full flow.
Chris Gayle: He has given his team a perfect start in the last game but didn’t carry his inning longer and that was the reason West Indies fail short by 20 runs. His hard hitting ability can be seen once again at flat SabinaPark.
Pitch & Condition
The pitch at SabinaPark, Kingston will be good wicket for batting and once again team winning the toss would love to bat on the wicket. As we have seen in the last game with short boundaries it was easy for both the teams to hit sixes and we can expect more in today’s encounter. Any score above 300 plus will be defendable total on this wicket.
Teams
India may opt to go with Praveen Kumar instead of expensive Ishant Sharma. Otherwise rest of the team looks settled.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle may opt for Ravi Rampaul instead of Lionel Baker who was not impressive in the last game.
Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 20:00 PMIndia Time)
India Squad: Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra.
West Indies Squad: Chris Gayle (Captain), Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Suleiman Benn, Ravi Rampaul.
Stats
There was total 23 sixes hit in the last game and that was the most number of sixes hit in a game in West Indies.
Yuvraj Singh blistering 131 was the second highest score by a batsman in West Indies.
J.Taylor figures of 1 for 74 were his most expensive spell in one day international.
Who have thought that West Indies will reach as closer as 319 runs in reply to India 339/6? At end of 42nd Over of West Indian innings the match almost looks like in the hands of India with West Indies requiring another 75 runs in the last 8 overs with three wickets in hand.
But West Indies wicket keeper batsman Dinesh Ramdin (29 runs of 26 balls) and D.Bernard (19 runs of 20 balls) kept West Indies in hunt with 44 runs partnership of just 32 balls for the eighth wicket before comeback man Ashish Nehra removed Bernard to bring India right back into the game. He also removed Dinesh Ramdin to close the match for India.
No body thoughts that West Indies lower order batsman will fight till the end. Despite of loosing wickets at regular Interval they were always ahead of India scores. But in the end it was Yuvraj inning that made the difference. With help of Yuvraj Singh brilliance India collected 62 runs without loosing a wicket in batting powerplay on the other hand West Indies manage 36 runs for the lost of three wickets in their batting powerplay and in the end this was the vital difference between two teams.
Earlier after electing to bat first India were struggling at 32/2in the 8th over. Once again Indian top orders were tested by short pitch stuff from West Indies pace attack. After giving India a steady start opener Gautam Gambhir (13 runs of 14 balls) and Rohit Sharma (4 runs of 12 balls) got out by short pitch delivery.
Yuvraj Singh joined D.Karthik to rebuild the innings from 32 for 2. His approach made up for the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina and allayed fears of weakness in the batting order. Yuvraj revived the Indian innings by adding 135 with Karthik for the third wicket and then 86 runs in just 57balls with Captain M.S.Dhoni(41 runs of 46balls), both partnership that laid the platform for only the second ODI total in excess of 300 in Jamaica.
In the end Yusuf Pathan (40 runs of 38balls) and Harbhajan Singh (19 runs of 13balls) played well to get pass India total close to350 runs mark.
Yuvraj Singh was declared Player of the Match for his blistering knock of 131 runs of just 102 balls.
Match Summary (India won by 20 Runs) India – 339/6 in 50 Overs
Yuvraj Singh- 131 Dinesh Karthik– 67
D. Bravo– 10-0-66-2 D.Bernard- 8-0-50-1
West Indies– 319/10 in 48.1 Overs S.Chanderpaul- 63 R.Srawan– 45 Ashish Nehra– 7.1-0-49-3 Yusuf Pathan- 8-0-56-3
India who faced debacle after an early exit from world twenty20 is now ready to face the next task on their hand that is to beat West Indies in West Indies. It will be not as easy as it looks for M.S.Dhoni and his men. India have only manage to won a single series (2001-02 under captaincy of S.Ganguly) so far of their last five tours. India will be desperate to avenge their recent defeat against the West Indies in World twenty20 Super Eights in this four match ODI Series.
India who is playing without some of their key players is hopeful of good show in Caribbean. Dhoni is confidant that his team packed with all rounders in Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja besides the likes of star batsmen Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma would do better in West Indies.
India who lost there all Super Eights game would love to start the series with a win to boost their confidence and morale. On the other hand West Indies who manage to reach up to Semi Final of world twenty20 is flying high with confidence and West Indies captain Chris Gayle is confidant that his team will do well against weekend Indian team.
Irrespective of their recent Super Eight match win over India in the Twenty20 World Cup in England, the West Indies apprehend that the Indians will be "a handful in the Caribbean".
In the absence of Tendulkar and Sehwag, India will rely on Gambhir, Yuvraj and Dhoni to do bulk of scoring in batting department while in bowling they will feel good with return of experienced Ashish Nehra in the team. In the absence of Zaheer Khan, he is the most experience bowlers after Harbhajan Singh to lead the pace bowling attacks along with R.P.Singh and Ishant Sharma.
Watch out for
Ashish Nehra: He last played for India in 2005 and who has thought that after long gap he will make comeback to the International side and why not he has done justice to himself by performing exceptionally well in IPL. He was the third-highest wicket-taker with 19 at 18.21 each. It will be interesting to see how he approaches his first game after long break from his International career.
Chris Gayle: He may have failed to lead his team to twnty20 triumph but he has performed exceptionally well with his bat in any format of the game in recent times. He is one of most destructive players at top of the order. His approach to this game is nothing different than twenty20 at top of the order.
Pitch & Condition
Kingston wicket is expected to be on slower side with little bounce on the wicket however early moistures will help a ball little bit to move in the air and it will be good for bowlers like Nehra, R.P.Singh. Any team winning the toss would love to have a bowl first and try to resctrict the opposition below 250 runs.
Teams
After a dismal performance in twenty20, India will be eyeing to settle some score against West Indies. With absence of some of their star players like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Raina and Zaheer it will be good opportunity for some of the younger’s player like Badrinath, Abhishek Nayar and comeback man Ashish Nehra. India is likely to go into the match with three pace trio R.P.Singh, Nehra and I.Sharma. Badrinath, Vijay and Nayar is likely to sit out from this game because of their late arrivals.
West Indies team selection for the first ODI’s really raise eyebrows of few peoples by omitting L.Simmons and D.Sammy from the squad. However it is good chance for R.Morton and Darren Bravo to show their class against Indian team.
Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 20:00 PMIndia Time)
India Squad: Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra.
West Indies Squad: Chris Gayle (Captain), Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Suleiman Benn, Lionel Baker.
Stats
So far on West Indies tour India have only won one ODI Series that is in 2001/02 Series under the captaincy of Saurav Ganguly.
From 1983-2006 tour, India have played 20 One Day International and won just 5 and lost 15 one day international.
In 2009, India have played 10 ODI’s in which they have won 7 and lost two one day internationals. On the other hand West Indies have played 11 ODI’s and have won just three while lost 7 ODI’s.
Here are the stats of how India performed on previous Tours to West Indies
No place for inaugural Twenty20 Winner in ICC World twenty20 XI
Former World twenty20 Champions India faced another decline in world cricket when ICC announced the best twenty20 XI with no player from India. The ICC on Monday named its eleven and not surprisingly, after losing three consecutive matches in the Super Eights, no Indian player made the cut.
In the best XI picked by ICC, four players from Pakistan, three from South Africa, two players from each West Indies and Sri Lanka is included in the squad. Younis Khan was named captain for the team announced by ICC.
However, there was one Indian face figuring in the Women's XI announced by ICC and it was that of bowler Rumeli Dhar.
This is really socking news for a M.S.Dhoni and his team which was expected to win the twenty20 2009 world cup.
ICC World XI (Men): Chris Gayle (West Indies), Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Younis Khan (Pakistan, Captain), Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Kamran Akmal (Pakistan, Wicketkeeper), Wayne Parnell (South Africa), Umar Gul (Pakistan), Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka). 12th man: Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
ICC World XI (Women): Shelley Nitschke (Australia), Charlotte Edwards (England, Captain), Claire Taylor (England), Aimee Watkins (New Zealand), Sarah Taylor (England, wicketkeeper), Suzi Bates (New Zealand), Lucy Doolan (New Zealand), Rumeli Dhar (India), Laura Marsh (England), Holly Colvin (England), Sian Ruck (New Zealand). 12th player: Eshani Kaushalya (Sri Lanka).
Younis Khan said bye-bye to Twenty20 Cricket
After leading his team to World cup glory, Pakistan Captain Younis Khan quits twenty20 cricket. Younis Khan used Cricket’s grand stage to announce his retirement from twenty20 Cricket. He said he is not getting younger anymore at 34 he wants to focus only on ODI and Test cricket. Younis dedicated Pakistan's World Twenty20 triumph to his former coach Bob Woolmer, who died during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.
Now after his retirement from the shortest version of the game Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal is the front runner for leading Pakistan in twenty20 cricket.
Under his captaincy this is for the second time Pakistan able to win major ICC Events after 1992 50-over World Cup.
Md. Ashraful sacked from captaincy Job
Bangladesh Captain has been sacked from the captaincy job after poor show with bat in the recently concluded twenty20 World Cup. His team was also beaten by Ireland at Group stage that didn’t allow Bangladesh to make it to the Super Eights of ICC World Twenty20.
His deputy Mashrafe Mortaza, a fast bowler, is likely to take the Captaincy job.
Md. Yusuf and Abdul Razzak back in Test Squad for Sri Lanka tour
Pakistanis selector on Monday announced the 15 member squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. Stylish right hand batsman Md.Yusuf and Abdul Razzak recalled in the team. But selectors ignored the fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar who was initially ruled out of world twenty20 due to skin infection.
Yousuf, who has played 79 Tests, was delighted to be back. Pakistan cricket team will leave on Saturday to play three test match series followed by five ODI’s and a Twenty20 International.
Shahid Afridi was also not included in the test squad since he wanted some rest before going into ODI series.
Pakistan 15 Member Squad: Younis Khan (Captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (WK), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rauf, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam.
No place for Vaughan and Harmision in England Training Ashes Squad
Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, and Steve Harmison have both been left out of England's pre-Ashes camp ahead of the much-anticipated series against Australia which begins later this month. However England selectors included three spinners Adil Rashid, Panessar and Swann in the squad.
M.Vaughan was expected to make return to international arena but now he may have to wait little longer after selector’s ignorance from Ashes squad.
England selector will pick the final squad on July 6 two days before the first test match.
England Test squad for pre-Ashes camp: Andrew Strauss (Captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann.
The result could not have been better than this for both Pakistan cricket team as well as for their nation. It was not a nail biting final like last time but it has given lots for Pakistani fans to cheer about for years to come. After Imran Khan, Younis Khan became the first captain to lead his team to win a major ICC Events.
This was Pakistan first major title in the 17 years. They last won the major event in 1992 World Cup under captaincy of Imran Khan in Australia.
Chasing the target of 139 runs to win, Pakistan chased down the score easily with six balls to spare to beat Sri Lanka by 8 Wickets and become ICC World Twenty20 Champions. Shahid Afridi once again played a match winning knock of unbeaten 54 runs of 40 balls and picked up one wicket in the game.
From the moment tournament most runs scorer T.Dilshan got out in the first over, Pakistan had a grip on the match. After deciding to bat first Sri Lanka lost their first wicket in the very first over of their inning and that to of Dilshan. From there on they lost their momentum and at one stage they were struggling at 70/6 in the 13th over.
But thanks to skipper Kumar Sangakkara (64 runs of 52 balls) and Angelo Mathews (35 runs of 24 balls) partnership of 68 runs of 42 balls which helped Sri Lanka to put decent fighting total on the board.
Pakistan started their run chase well with opener Kamran Akmal (37 runs of 28 balls) and S.Hasan (19 runs of 23 balls) gave decent start by putting 48 runs in 43 balls before Jayasurya broke through with his first delivery in the next over when he beat Akmal in the air with his left-arm spin and had him stumped for 37 off 28 balls.
M.Muralitharan then removed S.Hasan caught by Jayasurya to give Sri Lanka second breakthrough but Afridi and S.Mallik ensured no further hiccups. Both batted with calm and composure. They have put on unbeaten 76 runs partnership of just 57 balls which took Pakistan home amid loud celebrations from their fans in the stands.
Shahid Afridi was declared Player-of-the-Match for his super all-round performance both with bat and ball.
Tilakratne Dilshan was declared Player-of-the-Series for scoring the 317 runs in seven innings with an average of 52.83.
Umar Gul once again proved that he is the most dangerous bowlers when it comes to twenty20. Like 2007, he once again ended up with most number of wickets in ICC World twenty20 2009 with 13 wickets to his name.
T.Dilshan of Sri Lanka scored the most number of runs in the tournament with 317 runs with an average of 52.83 in seven innings that he has played.
Yuvraj Singh of India hits the most number of sixes (9) in the tournament.
Chris Gayle of West Indies hit the biggest six of the tournament with 105 meters.
Pakistan team will travel in the end of December for three match test series, five match ODI series and one twenty20 international. The tour will start with Boxing Day test match at M.C.G from 26th of December to 30th of December.
Second test match will be played at S.C.G from3rd of January 2010 to 7th of January 2010 while last test will feature in Hobart from 14th Jan to 18th Jan 2010.
Pakistan v Australia Fixtures (All timings are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
West Indies cricket team will tour Australia in two parts in the later part of November for three match test series and then will travel to Australia again for five ODI’s and two twenty20 internationals.
West Indies v Australia Fixtures (All timings are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
Timing
Teams
Venue
Thu 26 Nov – Mon 30 Nov
05:30 AM
1st Test – Australia v West Indies
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane
Fri 4 Dec – Tue 8 Dec
05:30 AM
2nd Test – Australia v West Indies
Adelaide Oval
Wed 16 Dec – Sun 20 Dec
08:00 AM
3rd Test – Australia v West Indies
Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth
