India won the toss and chose to bat first on the Chennai track which had something for everyone. This was proved from the first wicket itself, which fell in the first over itself of Sachin Tendulkar for Ravi Rampaul. He had a look in as Roach was not playing. For India, Sehwag was out of the game and Gambhir opened with the little master but the first 2 wickets fell under 10 overs. Then saved by Yuvraj and Kohli's stand of 122 runs which was a steady stand and both the batsmen got their half centuries. Then Kohli got out after making a watchful 59 while Yuvraj scored his first century in a world cup. It looks like the stylish left hander relishes on big tournament as he has been the most successful player for India. He scored 113 runs off 123 balls but perished at a crucial moment. He was absolutely brilliant with his stroke play and looked be at best of his form in years. His innings was studded with 10 fours and 2 huge sixes.
After the 40 overs, India repeated their dismal show as they scored only 59 runs and lost 7 wickets off the last 10 which also included the batting powerplay. It looks like Indian players were not sure whether to go out against the bowlers or bat for the entire quota of overs. They failed to do both and were all out in the last over for 268 runs, probably enough to defend.
For the West Indies, Ravi was magnificent both with the new ball and the old reverse swinging ball and he finished up with a match haul of 5 for 51 runs. Russel and Pollard on the other end kept a good line and kept pressure. The fielding was patchy at some points with some difficult catches being dropped but overall a very good effort considering they were missing the main stay Kemar Roach.
Chasing this total, the West Indies started rather well without their star batsman Chris Gayle. Devon Smith was very good and looked at best of form and was hitting boundaries regularly. With his help, Windies got to 90 runs off 15 overs. Smith made 81 runs from 97 balls with 7 fours and a six. He was easily the most comfortable batsman for Windies at crease and was the only one to be so. No other batsmen could have any impact on the Indians and were running back to pavilion quicker and quicker. At 30 overs, they were evenly poised with India with 154 for 2. After that, Zaheer came back and struck immediately with beautiful reverse swing and got Smith out. Once he was out, there was no momentum in the innings and Sarwan at the other end was batting painfully slow and was struggling like a fish out of water. He could not even take singles while the other batsmen were getting bowled over by the Indian bowlers. Finally he perished for 39 runs from 67 balls. Yuvraj Singh the star with the bat today, continued his brilliance with the ball as he took 2 wickets. Zaheer Khan was at his best in his second spell and finished with 3 wickets.
In the end India won by 80 runs and they will face Australia in the quarter finals and West Indies will play Pakistan.
India 268 in 49.1 overs (Yuvraj 113, Ravi Rampaul 5 for 51)
West Indies 188 (D Smith 81, Zaheer 3-26)
Man of the Match : Yuvraj Singh
After the 40 overs, India repeated their dismal show as they scored only 59 runs and lost 7 wickets off the last 10 which also included the batting powerplay. It looks like Indian players were not sure whether to go out against the bowlers or bat for the entire quota of overs. They failed to do both and were all out in the last over for 268 runs, probably enough to defend.For the West Indies, Ravi was magnificent both with the new ball and the old reverse swinging ball and he finished up with a match haul of 5 for 51 runs. Russel and Pollard on the other end kept a good line and kept pressure. The fielding was patchy at some points with some difficult catches being dropped but overall a very good effort considering they were missing the main stay Kemar Roach.
Chasing this total, the West Indies started rather well without their star batsman Chris Gayle. Devon Smith was very good and looked at best of form and was hitting boundaries regularly. With his help, Windies got to 90 runs off 15 overs. Smith made 81 runs from 97 balls with 7 fours and a six. He was easily the most comfortable batsman for Windies at crease and was the only one to be so. No other batsmen could have any impact on the Indians and were running back to pavilion quicker and quicker. At 30 overs, they were evenly poised with India with 154 for 2. After that, Zaheer came back and struck immediately with beautiful reverse swing and got Smith out. Once he was out, there was no momentum in the innings and Sarwan at the other end was batting painfully slow and was struggling like a fish out of water. He could not even take singles while the other batsmen were getting bowled over by the Indian bowlers. Finally he perished for 39 runs from 67 balls. Yuvraj Singh the star with the bat today, continued his brilliance with the ball as he took 2 wickets. Zaheer Khan was at his best in his second spell and finished with 3 wickets.
In the end India won by 80 runs and they will face Australia in the quarter finals and West Indies will play Pakistan.
India 268 in 49.1 overs (Yuvraj 113, Ravi Rampaul 5 for 51)
West Indies 188 (D Smith 81, Zaheer 3-26)
Man of the Match : Yuvraj Singh
No comments:
Post a Comment