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Gayle blows India over
at Nagpur

Faisal Shariff

India vs West Indies: 2nd ODI Nagpur, India

Scorecard Graphical Analysis

It was a case of sour oranges as India suffered its second successive defeat in the one-day series against the West Indies, in the orange city of Nagpur.

To call the Indian bowling mediocre would be a compliment. The Windies batters though didn't complain as they blitzed through the bowling with minimum fuss.

The tourists won the game by seven wickets; Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, with a cavalier 32-ball 39, and Ramnaresh Sarwan, with a rapid 39, batting till the end.

India seem to have taken the Windies rather lightly and experimented way too much in the two games. They desperately need to win the remaining games to keep the confidence going.

India innings

Two hundred-run partnerships and a fluent 99 by V V S Laxman saw India set the West Indies a target of 280 in 47 overs in the second one-dayer.

A delayed start reduced the game to a 48-over affair, in the orange city of Nagpur.

Carl Hooper won the toss and inserted India on the small Vidarbha Cricket Association ground. The West Indies was forced to make a change; they included seamer Corey Collymore for injured left-arm seamer Pedro Collins. India, on their path, showed uncharacteristic impatience with all-rounder J P Yadav, sitting him out of the game after a single outing and including the veteran pacer Javagal Srinath.

Vasbert Drakes, who had Virender Sehwag dismissed with the shorter delivery at Jamshedpur, drifted down leg-side with his first ball in the second over of the morning. Sehwag swiveled on his foot and hit it straight to Mervyn Dillon at fine-leg boundary.

India lost their first wicket for five and 'Operation Experiment' for India began. Ajit Agarkar walked out to join his skipper, Sourav Ganguly, and played an exquisite cover drive off the back-foot to open his account.

With Sehwag's early departure Ganguly upped the ante and attacked the opening seamers. He pulled Drakes to the mid-wicket fence off successive deliveries in the fourth over of the innings.

Mervyn Dillon set Agarkar's dismissal by pitching two short-pitched deliveries and then pitching one up for Agarkar to pat the ball to Ramnaresh Sarwan at mid-on. India lost two wickets for 20 in the fifth over.

Ganguly sent Dillon to the square-leg fence to cross 8000 runs in one-day internationals and bring up the team fifty. The Indian captain, who has a top-score of 130 on this ground, went after Colleymore in his first over, at the end of which 30 runs had been scored between 10-12 overs.

Laxman and Ganguly stitched a fifty-run partnership in 49 balls, with the bulk of the scoring being done by the skipper. Ganguly got to his 48th half-century off 51 balls, inside the 14-over fielding restrictions. (Since the match was 48 overs, the fielding restrictions were for 14 overs)

Despite the loss of early wickets, India were a healthy 85 for 2 after 14 overs, with Laxman getting into his groove after getting a measure of the pitch.

In the 16th over, another incident of crowd-disturbance stalled the proceedings, forcing the match referee to dock another over from the innings. The authorities in Nagpur had been forewarned to avoid a repeat of the Jamshedpur one-dayer and yet failed to stop the unruly crowd behaviour.

The brief stoppage, however, failed to interrupt Ganguly's fluidity as India crossed the 100-run mark in the 18th over. Laxman was complimenting his skipper by taking the singles and twos and ticking the scoreboard. Laxman's remarkable improvement in taking the singles has improved his strike rate. His singles always equal his dot balls -- another simple arithmetic the team coach Wright believes is imperative for one-day success.

Ganguly danced down the wicket to leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo and holed out to Gayle at long on for a 99-ball 78. With the score reading 148-3 in the 28th over, the Indian think-tank sent in Harbhajan Singh at number five -- a move that simple defied logic. According to coach Wright, the team needs to find a bowling all-rounder who can bat anywhere from 1 to 7. Ajit Agarkar, J P Yadav, Sanjay Bangar and dark-horse Reetinder Singh Sodhi seem the likely candidates to take that spot. To send Harbhajan Singh at five with Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif among their ranks seemed rather intriguing.

Laxman coasted to his half-century off 64 balls, with three fours, in the 30th over before the Harbhajan Singh experiment failed. Swinging wildly at Nagamootoo, Singh offered a skier to substitute fielder Ricardo Powell, running in from long-on.

Laxman and Rahul Dravid kept the scoreboard ticking though Hooper dried up the boundaries with a defensive field. Laxman's ability to pick up the singles showed when on 64, he had 40 singles against 30 dot balls.

Realising the need to accelerate, the duo began striking the ball and finding the fence. Laxman danced down the wicket and drove Chris Gayle past the extra cover fielder to bring up the 200 in the 36th over.

The technically correct Dravid played the most delectable reverse sweep and brought up the 50-run partnership with Laxman, off 48 balls. The boundaries flowed from both ends as Laxman continued to play his strokes instead of slowing down in search of his second one-day hundred.

Dravid has blossomed in the number five position with his new-found ability to rotate the strike and find the fence. He reached his half-century in only 39 balls in the 43rd over with the score 255-4.

Both batsmen played pure cricketing shots at a rapid rate as India seemed to touch the 300-run mark.

Laxman tried to convert an easy single into a well-run couple and threw his bat up in the air to acknowledge his hundred only to turn around and see his partner Dravid walk back to the pavilion, failing to reach his crease.

Disturbed by Dravid's run-out, Laxman swished at Chris Gayle, missed the ball and was stumped for 99. His 110-ball essay had set the Indians up for a huge total. Now dropping him from the eleven will prove to be a huge headache when Sachin Tendulkar returns.

Yuvraj Singh, Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble failed to accelerate at the end as Indian batsmen rolled over like dominoes. India lost five wickets in 17 balls, adding 12 runs to the total.

Mohammad Kaif was once again wasted while coming in at number eight, though he finished the innings with a four off the last ball, as India set the West Indies 280 to get in 47 overs.

Despite the failure of Sehwag at the top of the order; Yuvraj failing in his second successive game and Kaif hardly getting any overs to bat, the Indian total exhibited the depth in batting. Laxman's ability to stitch together partnerships (he had two hundred-run partnerships today) has helped India cross the 250-run mark with ease in the two one-dayers.

West Indies innings

Wavell Hinds collared Ashish Nehra, who opened the bowling with Javagal Srinath, in the second over of the innings for three boundaries. He smashed the first through mid-wicket; then sent a smart chip over the covers and the final one past mid-off.

Srinath bowled with metronomic consistency, giving 19 runs in his opening spell of five overs, only for Nehra to ease the pressure from the other end by giving 25 runs in three overs.

Gayle played spectator as Hinds took most of the strike and walloped the bowling. With the adrenalin gushing through his veins, Hinds tried one shot too many and holed out to Agarkar at mid-off for a breezy 27.

The script was similar as Marlon Samuels walked out to the middle and sweetly timed Srinath to the cover fence. Gayle, having spent enough time to realise that the wicket was a dream track for stroke makers, got into the act and sent Agarkar to the long-off fence, edged him to the third-man fence and cover drove the third boundary.

Ganguly tossed to ball to Sehwag, in a surprise move in the 12th over, and Samuels took toll of the part time spinner, sending him sailing over the mid-wicket fence for six.

The visitors scored 83 off the 14 overs, with Samuels and Gayle bringing up a fifty-run partnership in 45 balls.

The aggressive approach of the Windies batters had taken the game away from India. Gayle danced down the wicket and sent Agarkar over the ropes to bring up the Windies 100.

In Samuels, the West Indies have found a classic number three batsman who can accelerate at will and direct the innings at the pivotal position. An inside-out shot, which almost crossed the ropes on the full off Kumble, had the stamp of authority on it.

Samuels swept Harbhajan Singh for another boundary and brought up the 100-run partnership off 103 balls. Hitting through the line, Gayle brought up the 150 of the innings off a Harbhajan delivery.

The Samuels-Gayle duo was toying with the Indian spinners with deft improvisations and some brutal stroke-play.

Samuels, who reached his second half-century of the series, pulled Sehwag through mid-wicket and lost his wicket, trying to repeat the stroke. Kaif, at mid-wicket, took the catch as the West Indies lost their second wicket at 176. The 134-run partnership with Gayle had turned the tide towards the visitors to go 2-0 up in the series.

The toothless Indian bowling lacked imagination and were shell-shocked by the Windies offensive. In the absence of Zaheer Khan, barring Srinath, the other two seamers were wayward and rather expensive. Before India searches for a bowling all-rounder, it would augur well to find a competent third seamer for Srinath and Zaheer Khan.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, the hero of the Jamshedpur one-dayer, began playing his shots right from the word go and played an innings blended in fortune and flair.

Gayle got his second century in limited-overs internationals and the target was 67 off 60 deliveries.

Srinath got through the defenses of Gayle (103) and gave India a glimmer of a chance. (221-3)

But Shivnarine Chanderpaul slog swept Sehwag to the mid-wicket fence and then swept him to the fine-leg fence for another boundary. In the next over Chanderpaul split the on-side field with a smart boundary off Agarkar.

It all seemed too simple for the Windies. The Indian team, which still made a match of it, will be steam rolled by a stronger side like Australia with a performance like this. The fielding lost its edge and the bowling was lacklustre and shoddy.