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Gayle, Hinds power Windies
to victory

Faisal Shariff

India vs West Indies: 5th ODI Vadodara, India

Scorecard Graphical Analysis

India skipper Sourav Ganguly used nine bowlers but they failed to stop the West Indies from winning the fifth one-dayer at Vadodara by five wickets and seven balls to spare.

The West Indies reached the target of 291 runs after a rapid 132-run opening partnership in 17 overs took the wind out of the Indian bowling.

They go 3-2 up in the seven-match series and it seems the winner will be the one who calls right at the toss as both sides are packed with batsmen.

Man-of-the-match Wavell Hinds brutalized the Indian attack with his 61-ball 80, which was punctuated with five sixes and ten fours, and set the tone for a Windies win.

India innings

Half centuries by Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman saw India pile 290 for 8 in their innings, which was reduced to 48-overs-a-side due to the wet outfield. The Windies spinners pulled the brakes on the Indian scoring, giving just 132 runs in the 25 overs they bowled.

In a series dominated by the bat, the West Indies won the toss and elected to chase, ignoring the nature of the strip. Looking to strengthen their batting line-up, they included Ricardo Powell and Corey Colleymore for leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo and Mervyn Dillon.

The Indian melee began in the third over when Virender Sehwag plundered Pedro Collins for three boundaries through mid-wicket, past point and straight past bowler. Sourav Ganguly swiveled on the back- foot and pulled Vasbert Drakes for his first boundary. Eight boundaries were scored in six overs, as Sehwag seemed determined to make up for the Ahmedabad debacle, when the short ball did him in.

Without his main pace bowler Mervyn Dillon, the Windies skipper tossed the ball to Wavell Hinds to bowl his gentle seamers in the eighth over of the innings. It was a gamble that went awry for the visitors as 16 runs came off the over and India seemed to have got off to yet another flier. Sehwag picked the slower one early and sent it soaring over the mid-wicket fence for six. Flicking the next one past square leg for another four, he pulled the next delivery through mid-wicket for another four.

With the Indian openers in such ravaging mood, none of the bowling changes managed to stem the run-flow. In his first over, Ganguly slammed two fours off Hooper to send the run-rate climbing to a bizarre eight an over.

Sehwag’s ninth four -- a blistering straight drive -- got him to his half-century, off 37 balls. In the same over, he flicked a fullish length delivery straight to Shivnaraine Chanderpaul at mid-on.

Losing their first wicket at 88 in the 11th over, India seemed set for a tall score, with a batting line-up that has Sanjay Bangar --- the hero of the fourth one-dayer – coming in at number seven.

VVS Laxman played out a maiden off Hooper’s second over as the momentum of the innings was interrupted following Sehwag’s dismissal. Unlike in Ahmedabad, where Laxman rotated the strike with ease, he struggled early on the Vadodara strip.

38 runs were scored between the 11th and the 20th over as Colleymore and Hooper bowled a tight spell, keeping Ganguly away from the strike for long periods of play. Ganguly registered his 50th half-century off 51 balls before he shaped to cut Hooper off the back-foot and only managed to edge the ball, which dislodged the bails before resting into Ridley Jacobs’s gloves. (144-2)

Rahul Dravid’s arrival at the crease saw the scoring rate climb up the charts again as he improvised and pushed Laxman to up the tempo. Unlike the previous game in Ahmedabad, where Laxman and Dravid kept scoring at 6-an-over without any undue risks, the duo failed to score at will. The 20-30 over period fetched 49 runs with only four boundaries. Laxman sauntered through for a single to bring up his 50 off 81 balls. The innings had 46 dot balls and 26 singles with two boundaries.

The good start Sehwag and Ganguly got off to helped India reach the 200-run mark, setting a neat premise for stroke-makers Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif to do get India past the 300-run mark.

Dravid, after playing some sumptuous strokes, rocked back to pull offie Marlon Samuels and only managed to hole out to Gayle at deep midwicket for 33. Mohammad Kaif was sent ahead of Yuvraj Singh and though he was dismissed for four, the Indian team would do well to persist with the promotion. Kaif desperately needs a huge knock before the series is over. Failing to get the singles, he holed out to Ramnaresh Sarwan at deep mid-wicket. (223-4)

Laxman, in an attempt to up the tempo, was dismissed for 71, hitting Pedro Collins straight to Carl Hooper at mid-off. Yuvraj Singh departed for 15, flicking Collymore straight to Carl Hooper at midwicket.

Bangar swung his bat around and managed to get India close to the 300-run mark but the fall of wickets saw India end up at 290 for 8 off the 48 overs.

Yuvraj Singh and Kaif’s failures to lift the innings after Laxman’s dismissal saw India end 30-35 runs short of the desired target.

West Indies innings

A hundred and twenty-six runs were scored off the first 15 overs without a single West Indian wicket falling. The Indian bowling plunged to new depths as the dangerous opening pair of Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds punctured the attack with some luscious stroke-play.

Twenty-one-year-old pace bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji was welcomed into international cricket with a cracking cover drive by Hinds. The lanky Chennai bowler went for 14 runs off his first over, bowling too wide outside off, offering the left-handers enough room to have a swing at the ball. And though a single match is never enough to assess any cricketer, Balaji does not make the cut for international cricket just yet.

The Windies openers also collared Javagal Srinath after a respectable first over. Off the first 17 deliveries of the Windies innings, seven were sent to the fence.

Balaji's three overs cost 35 runs, forcing Ganguly to introduce Harbhajan Singh into the attack. Spooking the Indian bowlers with his blitzkrieg, Hinds reached his 50 off only 32 deliveries, paling Sehwag’s onslaught early on. The Windies were screaming along at 126-0 after 15 overs, with Ganguly trying as many as five bowlers.

Harbhajan was unfortunate when Hinds edged him to Laxman at first slip. The ball popped in and out of the fielder's hands as Harbhajan threw his hands up in the air.

Sehwag eventually got India the breakthrough when Hinds, looking to sweep, got a top edge and was caught by Ganguly, who stationed himself at first slip. (132-1)

Hinds, with a blistering 61-ball 80 – spiked with 5 sixes and 10 fours, had put the Windies in the driver’s seat. Harbhajan got into the act, inducing an edge from Marlon Samuels with a top-spinner, which was brilliantly caught by Ganguly, who dived to his left. The Windies had lost two wickets for the addition of three runs as India clawed back into the game.

Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan struggled to keep the pace set by Hinds as Ganguly set attacking fields and employed spin from both ends. Gayle got to his 14th half-century in the 21st over even as the Indian spinners -- Harbhajan, Sehwag and Murali Kartik -- dried up the runs.

In between the 19th and the 28th over, the Windies batsmen managed to score merely 27 runs. The slow nature of the wicket helped the tweakers as they bowled the right length besides getting considerable turn from the track. Kartik, in particular, was a revelation with his uncomplicated easy approach to the wicket and his slow turning tweakers that had the batsman mistiming their shots. His accuracy and temperament mark him as a spinner who could form a potentially threatening pair with Harbhajan Singh once Kumble retires. His ten overs cost 33 runs and the wicket of Sarwan (33), who was beaten by the turn, getting an edge that was taken by Ganguly at slip.

Gayle got his hundred off 105 balls, with 10 fours and three huge sixes. With his fluent stroke-play hewill be the key player for the West Indies in the World Cup and with his third hundred of the series and Hinds’s brilliant batting at the top, the West Indies have found a quality opening pair.

Chanderpaul and Gayle undertook a clinical approach to the chase and the Windies seemed to be taking the game away before both were dismissed in a single Harbhajan over (39th over). Chanderpaul played the ball on the off-side and Gayle called for a quick single. A moment of indecision cost Chanderpaul his wicket. The Windies plummeted into further trouble when Gayle got a dubious caught behind decision even as keeper Dravid did not bother to appeal for the catch.

The Windies required 50 runs from the last nine overs and Ricardo Powell, with his big hitting, and skipper Carl Hooper, with his deft placements for singles, took them to a five-wicket win.

Ganguly used nine bowlers, including VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh, but the rocketing start provided by the openers saw the Windies take a 3-2 lead in the seven match one-day series. The Indian bowlers seemed to have surrendered to the fact that the wickets are not receptive and threw in the towel even before the contest began.

India’s shoddy fielding must have sent coach John Wright into a frenzy, especially since he believes that it has been the most positive improvement in the team. Laxman dropped two catches and also made a few goof-ups in the field even as the young Kaif failed to hold on to a sharp chance.