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Windies pull off last-ball win

Faisal Shariff

India vs West Indies: 1st ODI Jamshedpur, India

Scorecard Graphical Analysis Snap Shots

"I don't think we should get very carried about that," said Indian coach John Wright, when asked about India losing just a single of its last 12 one-day games.

"I have been seeing advertisements on television about bringing home pieces of silver of various shapes and colours from South Africa. That thing looks a lot like a cup to me," he joked, adding that the team is still a long way from achieving that form.

After suffering its fifth loss in six games at Jamshedpur in a last-ball finish in the first of the seven-match one-day series against the West Indies, reality dawned again; all is not well with the Indian team.

As Ramnaresh Sarwan hit a boundary off the last ball to get the West Indies home by six wickets, the Indian dressing room balcony saw a dejected Wright hitting his lap-top keys frantically. Obviously, he was listing the flaws to be ironed out over the next few weeks.

The victory not only gives the West Indies the lead in series, but also provides the much-needed thrill on their visit to India.

Indian innings

Yet another Indian brainwave struck gold when Ajit Agarkar, promoted to number three, scored a career-best score of 95. With useful partnerships and improvised strokes, India scored 283 for 6 while bating first at the Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur.

On a hard and dry wicket, Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat, eager to experiment and iron out some lacunae in the Indian batting line-up. With Sachin Tendulkar out of the series with a hamstring injury, Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Jai Prakash Yadav won his first international cap.

Virender Sehwag and Ganguly got the innings off to a screaming start punishing any minute error in line or length. Sehwag unloaded his stockpile of strokes as soon as he reached the crease, driving and cutting the West Indian opening pair of Mervyn Dillon and Pedro Collins to bewilderment each time they failed to keep the length between overpitched and short-pitched.

Ganguly, the more subdued of the opening pair, was unforgiving too, sending the ball flying to the cover fence when Collins bowled one wide outside off. He then rocked on to the back foot and pulled the ball to the mid-wicket boundary.

Hooper swapped Dillon --- whose first four-over spell cost 26 runs --- with medium-pacer Vasbert Drakes and the move paid off almost immediately.

Drakes surprised Sehwag with a well-directed bouncer that continued to climb on the batsman even as he shaped for the pull shot and gave a simple skier to the bowler. India lost Sehwag, who scored a quickfire 28 off 26 balls, at 43 in the ninth over.

Coach John Wright has quite a few i's to dot and t's to cross and get the balance of the team right for the World Cup campaign early next year. One of the major concerns for him is the fifth bowler who can bat anywhere in the first seven and bowl 8-10 overs of medium pace.

With 14 games to the World Cup, the Indian think-tank sent Agarkar at number three in pursuit of its attempt to identify the bowling all-rounder. The sight of Agarkar walking out to bat provided some fodder for the commentators who have played the game themselves at the highest level. Questioning the wisdom of sending in a pinch-hitter to suspecting Agarkar's batting prowess, they rubbished the move without a second thought.

Agarkar's first scoring shot was a wristy flick scurrying through mid-wicket for four. Ganguly, piqued by the marginal fall in scoring rate, then chanced his arm, heaved at a gentle in-swinger from left-armer Pedro Collins, and got a thin inside edge onto his stumps (49-2).

V V S Laxman walked in at number four to join Agarkar inside the first 15 overs even as India crossed 50 in the 13th over. Both batsmen got into their groove and scored at a frenetic pace. Laxman opened his account by flicking a four. Agarkar, meanwhile, pulled Nagamootoo to the mid-wicket fence and straight drove Drakes to the fence.

After 15 overs, the Indian total read 68-2 despite losing the swashbuckling opening pair of Sehwag and Ganguly. Laxman with a marathon unbeaten 150-plus in the third Test at Kolkata played with newfound freedom and showed why he remains a threat to any bowling side in the world with the array of strokes he can summon at will.

Laxman was earlier dropped for his slack running between the wickets and depending too much on his stroke play. Today, the Hyderabad ace proved a point with the manner in which he approached his innings. He rotated the strike with regularity and continued to find the fence at will.

The duo brought up the 50-run partnership off 47 balls in the 20th over. A spurt of missiles chucked onto the field by spectators forced a brief stoppage of play at this stage.

In the 31st over Agarkar reached his second one-day fifty off 61 balls as India touched 144 for the loss of two wickets. The Mumbaikar played in the 'V' for the first 30-40 runs he scored and was not afraid to play the ball in the air.

Laxman was bowled for a 67-ball 47 by a leg-spinner from Nagamootoo that beat the batsman's defences and clipped the off-stump. Laxman's 98-run partnership with Agarkar had set the premise for a tall Indian total (156-3).

Agarkar, pepped up after repaying the coach and captain for the promotion, stepped on the gas thereafter and slammed Nagamootoo over his head for a huge six. In the next over he improvised and punished a full toss from Hooper past the short fine-leg fielder for four. The hosts were running away with the game as none of the West Indian bowlers could dry up the runs.

Rahul Dravid, at number five, played perfect foil to Agarkar, adding a swift fifty-run partnership in 33 balls. India crossed the 200-run mark in the 38th over as Agarkar was coasting towards his maiden one-day century.

Collins grassed a simple caught and bowled chance with Agarkar six short of the century mark, but was fortunate when the Mumbaikar drove him uppishly in the same over and was caught by Gayle in the covers for 95.

Yuvraj Singh failed to get going in his first international outing in a month and was caught at mid-off by Gayle driving at Hooper (235-5).

Debutant J P Yadav was promoted ahead of Mohammad Kaif, which was understandable since it was important to test his steel in a crunch situation and not be too harsh if he failed. With five overs left in the innings, Yadav heaved across the line and was bowled by Dillon for a blob (236-6).

Nineteen runs were scored between overs 42 and 46 for the loss of three wickets as India lost their way a bit in the slog overs. But Kaif then walked out to bat with Dravid and got down to business collecting the singles and smashing the ball to the fence with amazing alacrity.

Kaif scored a brisk 18-ball 31 and stitched together a 48-run partnership with Dravid, who remained unbeaten on 46 off 42 balls. Thus, with the help of this useful partnership, India ended at 283-6 in the 50 overs.

West Indies innings:

The challenge was daunting but not impossible. The West Indies could take heart from the fact that four out of six matches at the Keenan stadium have been won by the teams chasing.

Luck seemed to be sailing with the visitors when Ashish Nehra induced an edge from Wavell Hinds at the wicket in the fifth over of the day. Umpire Asoka DeSilva decided otherwise and turned down the appeal. Hinds celebrated the reprieve and smashed three boundaries in the same over to provide the thrust to the innings.

Chris Gayle, trying to clear mid-off, holed out to J P Yadav off Agarkar, as the West Indies lost their first wicket for 28 in the sixth over. Marlon Samuels was sent it at number three on the basis of his maiden century in the Kolkata Test.

The duo played contrasting innings and took Indian bowlers Nehra and Agarkar to the cleaners. Hinds bludgeoned the bowling with brute force while Samuels timed the ball to all parts of the park. The avenues differed, the destination didn't.

After 10 overs, the Windies totalled 55 for 1 and were well ahead of the required rate. Harbhajan Singh, who was the nemesis of the Windies in the Test series, also proved to be ineffective against the duo. Samuels smashed him for two boundaries to the long-on fence as the Windies threatened to cakewalk through the game.

Yadav dropped the simplest of return catches off Hinds in the 15th over with the score 76-1. Samuels completed a well-deserved fifty off 59 balls before Kumble reached another milestone in his illustrious career.

In his second over, Samuels, trying to run the ball down to third man, played it on to his stumps. It was Kumble’s 300th wicket in the abridged version of the game and released the pressure valve on the Indian bowling. (114-2)

Ramnaresh Sarwan, who failed to realise his potential in the Tests, cut Kumble for four to get off the mark. Hinds reached his fifty with a deft touch down to the third-man fence. His 11th boundary fetched him his eighth one-day half-century. The Windies seemed to be running away with the match at 135-2 in the 23rd over.

There was no respite for the two spinners (Kumble and Harbhajan) as the Windies batsmen discounted them from the equation, forcing Ganguly to look elsewhere at his part-timers to do the job.

Sarwan and Hinds registered their fifty-run partnership off 61 balls as the Windies run chase coasted at 167-2 in 31 overs. Sarwan’s innings was all class as he kept his side ahead of the Indian trail by rotating the strike and walloping the bad balls.

The Indian fielding was having its day off, with shoddy ground fielding and butter-fingers. When Mohammad Kaif drops a catch, it exemplifies standard of the fielding.

The West Indies required 103 runs off the last 15 overs with eight wickets in hand and the game seemed to be heading for a close finish.

Seven short of his century, Hinds nicked Nehra for the second time in the game and the umpire’s finger spoke. Hinds’s innings of 93, punctuated with 12 fours and a couple of sixes, was been the mainstay of the Windies riposte. (201-3)

Virender Sehwag restored some parity, bowling ten overs on the trot for 37 runs between the 26th and the 44th over and claiming the important wicket of Carl Hooper, caught at long on in the 40th over.

After 42 overs, the West Indies were 220-4; exactly the same score that India had reached after 42 overs. The match was on an even keel till then.

Harbhajan, bowling the 43rd over, delivered a wide ball that reached the boundary fence after Dravid failed to collect it. Another swipe by Sarwan saw the ball crash into the advertising boards at the mid-wicket fence and the Windies had taken the lead in the chase.

Harbhajan seems to lose the plot and bowls off beam when collared by batsmen. After Sarwan smashed him for another six of his next over that cost nine runs, India seemed to be waiting for the inevitable. Harbhajan’s ninth over (47th over of the innings) was the final nail in the Indian coffin as the Windies took 17 runs of it; 0,2,6,4,1,4 being the scoring shots. Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and Sarwan had during the over got a rapid fifty-run partnership off 40 deliveries. Harbhajan’s last three overs had cost India 37 runs and the match.

The West Indies seemed to be winning at a canter and required 13 runs of 18 balls when the Jamshedpur crowd, which had been threatening to explode all day, interrupted the game, hurling missiles on to the field.

Match Referee Mike Procter strolled out to the middle and after much deliberation decided to call off the match and award the game to the West Indies under the Duckworth Lewis system, by 17 runs.

But with the light fading and confusion spreading across the stadium the game resumed as the crowd decided to calm down.

Sarwan smashed a boundary and ran a couple off Agarkar as the target fell to 7 of 12 balls. Off the first ball of the next over bowled by Nehra, Chanderpaul swung at a delivery and holed out to Ganguly at mid-wicket.

India sniffed a glimmer of hope in the dark Keenan stadium as Ridley Jacobs walked out to bat. Nehra bowling an immaculate line, gave just a single run in the over, leaving the Windies six to get off the last six balls.

Sarwan made room on the leg-side and left a delivery from Agarkar outside the off anticipating a wide. The umpire thought otherwise and the West Indies required 6 off 5 deliveries. Sarwan managed to scamper through for a single and brought Jacobs in strike. Playing the next ball straight back to the bowler, Jacobs ran a suicidal run and was run-out for a blob.

The visitors had lost their sixth wicket for 279 and required five runs off the last three balls. The good thing for the Windies was that Sarwan was on strike, having crossed over during the run-out. Sarwan swung at Agarkar but only managed a single as new-man Mahendra Nagamootoo took strike. The leg-spinner failed to connect and merely got a single giving Sarwan back the strike to get three to win the match.

Sarwan took strike and, anticipating Agarkar to bowl a yorker, stepped out, took the ball on the full at knee level and smacked it through extra cover for a four. The West Indies had won the game by four wickets and Sarwan, with an unbeaten 83, was the hero of the chase.