Tag-Archive for » West Indies «

Scorecard:

West Indies: 105 all out (19 overs)

(Sarwan 26 off 31 balls, Chanderpaul 24 off 18 balls, Smith 3 for 20, D Hussey 2 for 3, Johnson 2 for 22)

Australia: 109 for 4 (16.2 overs)

(Haddin 42 off 46 balls, Warner 25 off 12 balls, Perera 2 for 19)

West Indies elected to bat in their crucial match. A Prime West Indian strategy is to elect to bat and pray for Gayle to strike. This was same when Lara was there, the only difference being that the actors have changed but the plot is the same - Lara has been substituted by Gayle as the saviour. Well, this is one play which is difficult to reenact all the time. Today was no different. Gayle hit a 4 on the first ball he faced (one being wide) and was out the next! And the script ended here. Now it was upto the actors to come up with dialogues and none was capable enough. To their credit Chanderpaul and Sarwan batted for some time before tossing everything aside to enjoy proceedings from the pavillion. David Hussey took 2 wickets for 3 runs and Smith scalped 3!

West Indians had already given up even before Australia came to bat. Australia opener Warner smashed a few runs to send off any remaining spectators who had the heart to stay behind in the hope of a miracle. Soon, Haddin and Clarke took over to complete the formalities. The result, Australia and Sri Lanka went through to the Semi Finals from this group.

VN:F [1.8.9_1076]
Rating: 5.5/10 (2 votes cast)
VN:F [1.8.9_1076]
Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

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.

VN:F [1.8.9_1076]
Rating: 7.2/10 (5 votes cast)
VN:F [1.8.9_1076]
Rating: +1 (from 7 votes)

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post