Scorecard:

West Indies: 169 for 6 (20 overs)

(Gayle 98 off 66 balls, Chanderpaul 23 off 29 balls, Nehra 3 for 35)

India: 155 for 9 (20 overs)

(Dhoni 29 off 18 balls, Roach 2 for 38)

The West Indians didn’t expect to reach beyond this stage. So they went about their task in a very sedate manner, just keeping their wickets intact. They had 80 runs for the first wicket partnership in 11.5 overs. Not impressed? Me too! However, Gayle as is his wont tore apart the bowlers in the next few overs and brought about an impressive addition of 89 in remaining 8.1 overs.

However, 169 could not be too far for an Indian batting line up. Or was it? Indians tried too hard to get into the drivers seat of a vehicle running down the slope. They couldn’t. They couldn’t get over the nightmare of the Gayle blow. They kept running till the end but never arrived. Dhoni tried his bit, but his bit has become too less lately. To their discredit, the West Indian bowlers never looked impressive, and the complete credit must go to the Indian batsmen for losing their own wickets.

Tweet This Post