Cricket: India vs W.I Final O.D.I.

The series ended before it actually ended. Good things come to an end so does India’s good run, what ever comes up comes down. The only thing being it was not expected against West Indies. It is a bitter dose to swallow but nothing is as harsh as reality. I remember Dean Jones saying that West Indies would cruise to victory.

Poor start for both teams.
If anything was to go buy the catch that Dhoni dropped in the very first over was writing on the wall. It set the tone for West Indies. Sreesaanth seems to be unlucky with edges, they always seem to slip away from fielders hands. Poor soul I wish his luck changes in Test series. Agrakar ruined the day for the other West Indian opener claiming he for nothing. An Indian opener Robin Uthappa also failed to get going when Indian turned into bat.

It is a threatening Gayle.
Gayle looks ready to blow away the Indian bowling. It will be a very interesting series. I was always looking for to test series. If we are to loose the test series then it is a matter of concern. Gayle has got the better of Indian spearhead Irfan Pathan. He was ordinary at best against West Indies. He has a problem with bringing the ball back into left hander.

No wicket at all.
The Indian bowling has always struggled in the regions beyond Arabian Sea. The lack of penetrative bowling often cost as more than any other team. A team which has a good bowling attack will always look threatening in any form of cricket. The matters look bleaker with forced absence of Agarkar. Sarwan and Gayle and then Lara and Sarwan build a nice platform for them to accelerate in the end.
Indians playing an extra batsman meant that Viru had to bowl. I think he and Yuvraj should be often used as a bowling option as both are thinking bowlers. Viru knocked of Gayle after being struck for two consecutive fours.

Bravo is indeed very good.
Bravo helped them winning Champion Trophy couple of years back. As far as I remember it was a tight match. He also batted well against the Aussies in Aussies earlier in the year. He is a good prospect for West Indian team. There is a flourish in his strokes which is often a hallmark of a genuinely good batsman. He did not murdered the bowling put stepped on the paddle with Hinds and made sure the Indians have a tough task on their hands. The matters were helped by giving an extended spell to Agarkar in the death.

Indian also start poor.
Robin Uthappa was sent packing for nothing. Dravid came in and tried steadied the innings was run out soon. Indians looked in shambles. The batsmen scored at a rapid pace but the rate of batsmen getting out seemed to be quicker. No two batsmen seemed eager to sew a partnership and steady the innings. Then Kaif was given a raw deal asking hin to bat way below. I think Kaif a steady player same mould as Dravid. He is more of grafter rather than a basher and seems to need some time before accelerating.

No partnerships sank the ship.
There were not enough building blocks of runs which could have bought Indians closed to the target. The partnership looked threatening. The West Indians cleaned up most of what Indian batting had to offer. The end result was obvious. The Indian batsmen have undermined themselves and the body language was that of a person going about his job after resigning. I think Indian team had a very bad body language.
Does India losing 1-4 makes Dravid a bad captain and Chapell a bad coach?

The game of cricket is never over unless the last wicket is taken and the last run score.
This series reiterated this cricketing adage. I hope Indians put up a better show in Tests.