Month: January 2007

The third ODI was another experiment from both teams. WI and India tried their various team combinations and at the end WI came out on top thanks to a fine show by Lara. This victory underscored the value of Lara’s mere presence to the WI team. Samuels who hasn’t been in the best of form, scored a brilliant innings in the company of his captain. Lara was at his very best. He literally toyed with the Indian bowling. He mastery over spin was commendable. The late cuts, the placements and the big hits were all at display. Lara never looked in trouble and India never looked like pulling off a win except at the very end by which time it was too late.

India’s lack of bowling resources made matters worse. Harbhajan’s absence was strongly felt. Even if he didn’t take wickets his ability to curtail the runs has been a great asset to the team. After the initial mayhem, neither Kumble nor Powar were able to restrict the flow of runs. And with Tendulkar as the fifth bowler India never really resources to put up a fighting bowling performance. It is becoming increasingly clear that Sreesanth is too much of a “loose canon” to be used in ODIs. He is best saved for Test matches and simply lacks the experience to be successful in the shorter version of the game. This match was virtually lost in his first over. Agarkar on the other hand seems to be the best bet to spear head India’s bowling attack. He generates a fair amount of pace even with short seemingly less menacing run up. Most importantly, he appears to use his head while bowling unlike most of his fellow seamers.

Apart from Lara’s brilliance and Samuels fine knock, the other highlight of this match was the batting of Robin Uthappa. Once again, Uthappa showed signs that he has what it takes to open India’s innings at the higest level. The dashing start that was Viru’s trademark is no longer his alone. Uthappa showed that he is capable of similar razzle-dazzle. His performance here is hard to ignore. The fact that he is a right hander and with Ganguly having virtually sealed the other opening spot, Uthappa certainly has the edge over Gambhir for the World Cup team. To make matters worse, Gambhir blew another chance to impress.

With the series in 2-1 state, the final ODI should now be of special interest. Both teams are likely to field their best combinations. With Tendulkar struggling in the middle order, it might be time to return to the famed Ganguly–Tendulkar opening combination. Pathan is virtually certain to return for this match, while Dhoni, Zaheer and Ganguly all likely to return to the playing 11. Given the importance of this final game to winning the series, India would be inclined to bring back Harbhajan as well. This means that most likely Powar will be forced to sit this one out? Perhaps Raina will given another chance while Dhoni sits out another match? The team management is going to have a hard time deciding on the final combination.

After a long drought of victories, India managed to pull off a win in a high scoring ODI at Nagpur. While the team deserves credit for the win, the margin of victory should be a reminder that team India is still far from overcoming its seemingly endless troubles.

Without Viru, the opening partnership almost automatically improved. Ganguly returned with a welcome bang. Dada’s hunger was back and the desire to excel was most visible. Gambhir was his usual aggressive self. Sachin continues his poor run of form. In fact, India lost momentum when he was at the crease. So much for the strategy to use his services for the middle overs! In hindsight, India could have sent in Dhoni at number 3 considering the situation. Thankfully India did a fine job of the finish with Dravid at his best and Dhoni finally making a solid contribution. The very fact that Dravid decided to come in for the home stretch as opposed to relying on Dinesh Karthick is a clear indication of the captain’s confidence in his own abilities to accelerate at the death. His big hitting was a revelation and matched Dhoni purely from a run rate perspective.

The bowling clearly benefited from the huge target. Tendulkar did well to fill in the fifth bowler slot. Bhajji brought in the much needed wickets while Zaheer Khan more than justified his return. Sreesanth is very much a Test cricket bowler and his tendency to be expensive (as he was in the WI) might justify trying alternatives like RP Singh, Joginder or VRV.

Chanderpaul deserves credit for his superb knock. He almost single-handedly took WI to victory. It appears that he’ll continue to make big scores against India because he hardly appeared to be in trouble against the Indian attack. In hindsight Lara made at least a couple of errors of judgment. Sending in the opposition on a batting beauty proved to be a mistake and coming in to bat so late in the batting order was adding insult to injury. Perhaps Lara was deliberately using this opportunity to give the younger WI batsmen a chance to prove themselves?